Leena Katriina Lehtolainen (born 11 March 1964) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

crime novelist, best known for her series of novels about the policewoman Maria Kallio. Lehtolainen was born in

Vesanto Vesanto is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbour municipalities are Keitele, Konnevesi, ...

Northern Savonia North Savo (or Northern Savonia; fi, Pohjois-Savo; sv, Norra Savolax) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of South Savo, Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and North Karelia. Kuopio is the largest city in the r ...

. Her first novel was released when she was only 12 years old. She studied literature in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

until 1995 and wrote crime novels from 1993 on. Since about 2007 she has written other genres of books. Her works have been translated into various languages:

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, Lithuanian,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

, French,

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Estonian,

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

. Leena Lehtolainen is married to Mikko Lensu and she has two children (Konsta Johannes, born in 1991 and Otso Olavi born in 1994). She lives in Degerby, west of Helsinki.

Awards and honours

Lehtolainen won the Finnish crime novel society yearly prize in 1997 and 1998. She received the

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

city Award of Arts in 2000, and was nominated for the

Glass Key award The Glass Key award ( sv, Glasnyckeln, da, Glasnøglen, no, Glassnøkkelen, fi, Lasiavain-palkinto, is, Glerlykillinn) is a literature award given annually to a crime novel by an author from the Nordic countries. The award, named after the nove ...

in 2003. In 2020 she received the national ''Pro Finlandia'' medal for her artistic merits.

Bibliography

*'' Ja äkkiä onkin toukokuu'' (1976) *''Kitara on rakkauteni'' (1981) *''Ensimmäinen murhani'' (1993) (published in UK as ''My First Murder'', 2012) *''Harmin paikka'' (1994) *''Kuparisydän'' (1995) (published in UK as ''Copper Heart'', 2013) *''Luminainen'' (1996) *''Kuolemanspiraali'' (1997) *''Tuulen puolella'' (1998) *''Tappava säde'' (1999) *''Ennen lähtöä'' (2000) *''Sukkanauhatyttö ja muita tarinoita'' (2001) *''Kun luulit unohtaneesi'' (2002) *''Veren vimma'' (2003) *''Jonakin onnellisena päivänä'' (2004) *''Rivo Satakieli'' (2005) *''Viimeinen kesäyö ja muita tarinoita'' (2006) *''Luonas en ollutkaan'' (2007) *''Väärän jäljillä'' (2008) *''Henkivartija'' (2009) *''Minne tytöt kadonneet'' (2010) *''Oikeuden jalopeura'' (2011) *''Paholaisen pennut'' (2012) *''Rautakolmio'' (2013) *''Kuusi kohtausta Sadusta'' (2014) *''Surunpotku'' (2015) *''Tiikerinsilmä'' (2016) *''Viattomuuden loppu'' (2017) *''Tappajan tyttöystävä ja muita rikoksia'' (2018) *''Valapatto'' (2019) *''Jälkikaiku'' (2020) *''Ilvesvaara'' (2021) *''Joulupukin suudelma'' (2021) *''Antti Ruuskanen – Rätingin paikka'' (2022)

References

Webarchive of her German website (biggest book market presence)

External links

Homepage ''English''Leena Lehtolainen in 375 humanists 25.03.2015, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki
1964 births Living people People from Vesanto Writers from North Savo Finnish crime writers Finnish feminists Finnish women novelists Women crime writers {{Finland-writer-stub