James Thompson (16 October 1964 – 2 August 2014) was an American-Finnish crime writer based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. He had a master's degree in English

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

from The

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, where he also studied Finnish, in which he was fluent. He studied six languages. He published four crime novels with the Finnish inspector Kari Vaara as the protagonist. ''Helsinki Noir'' was published by Akashic Books November 2014. It is an anthology edited by Thompson and it includes one story he wrote. Thompson died unexpectedly in his home town of

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, Finland in August 2014.

Inspector Vaara series

Kari Vaara, police chief in the town of Kittilä,

Lapland Lapland may refer to: Places *Lapland or Sápmi, an ethno-cultural region stretching over northern Fennoscandia (parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia) **Lapland (Finland) (''Lappi''/''Lappland''), a Finnish region *** Lapland (former pr ...

, debuted in Thompson's first novel, ''Snow Angels''. In the second novel, ''Lucifer's Tears'', he moves to Helsinki. While he is portrayed as a good cop in the first two books, in the next installment, ''Helsinki White'', we see Vaara turning into a rogue and corrupt cop. ''Helsinki Blood'' takes on further along the same line, with Vaara trying to tie all loose ends and redeem himself.

Bibliography

Inspector Vaara series

* ''Snow Angels'' (2009) * ''Lucifer's Tears'' (2011) * ''Helsinki White'' (2012) * ''Helsinki Blood'' (2013) * ''Helsinki Dead'' was scheduled for release in 2014 but remained unfinished at the time of Thompson's death.

Other literary endeavors

James Thompson was first reviewed and later became a reviewer at New York Journal of Books. Following his very early death, ''New York Journal of Books'' added to his reviewer biography, "James Thompson passed away in August 2014. The world of literature has lost a tremendous talent. And those at New York Journal of Books who came to know the person he was have lost a treasured friend who was blessed with talent and humanity in equal measure. He is and always will be greatly missed."''New York Journal of Books''
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Books only published in Finnish

* ''Jerusalemin veri'' (2008) * ''Jumalan nimeen'' (2010)

Other works

Thompson was also editor of the anthology ''Helsinki Noir'' (November 2014, ).

References

External links

*
James Thompson on Akashic Books' website

James Thompson on Penguin's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, James Finnish writers University of Helsinki alumni Deaths by drowning 2014 deaths 1964 births American expatriates in Finland Finnish people of American descent