Mikko Pietari Porvali (born 15 April 1980) 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 ...

author, historian, lawyer and a

Detective Chief Inspector Chief inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police (CIP). Usage by country Australia The rank of chief inspector is use ...

of the

Finnish Police The Police of Finland (, ) is a national government agency responsible for general police and law enforcement matters in the Republic of Finland. The Police of Finland is subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior and consists of the National ...

. Porvali has published several books on historical themes, mostly dealing with topics such as

military history Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

and

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

, as well as the history of the

. His books have been published in Finland by Atena Publishing and in Sweden by Lind & Co.

Life

Born in

Petäjävesi Petäjävesi (; lit. "pine water") is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Western Finland, next to the city of Jyväskylä, and is part of the Central Finland regions of Finla ...

, Porvali is a son of a policeman and a grandson of a family of Karelian evacuees. His family roots are in Kuokkala, Terijoki (presently

Repino Repino (russian: Репино) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities ;Urban localities *Repino, Saint Petersburg, a municipal settlement in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg ;Rural lo ...

Zelenogorsk Zelenogorsk (russian: Зеленогорск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, a closed town in Krasnoyarsk Krai *Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, a municipal town in Kurortny ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

), and many of his books are based on this setting and the lives of his elder relatives. This includes especially his grandfather, a Finnish soldier and a

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Gua ...

on the Russian border of the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...

. Porvali has served in the

since 2001, proceeding from a rural area

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

to higher ranks of the

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

branch. He has graduated from the Finnish Police College and the Faculty of Law of the

University of Lapland The University of Lapland is located in the city of Rovaniemi, Finland. It was founded in 1979. While UiT The Arctic University of Norway is the northernmost university in the world, the University of Lapland is the most northern university in t ...

. Porvali served the

Finnish Defence Forces The Finnish Defence Forces ( fi, Puolustusvoimat, sv, Försvarsmakten) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime the Finnish Border Guard (which i ...

both domestically and on

crisis management Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and envir ...

missions abroad reaching the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Books

An author of fact and fiction

Porvali has published five non-fiction books about the Finnish

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. His books describe the development of the Finnish military long range patrolling as well as the Finnish efforts on

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

during the war. His book ''Operaatio Hokki'' was nominated for the Finlandia Prize for non-fiction in 2011. Two of Porvali's books depict colorful personal stories of the wartime era. The first, ''Kaatunut Normandiassa'' (Killed in action, Normandy) narrates the story of his relative killed as a member of the Canadian troops during the

Normandy Campaign Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norma ...

, and the second, ''Rautasormus'' (An Iron Ring) is a collection of exceptional wartime love stories. In addition to non-fiction books, Porvali has written two crime fiction novels based on true stories stemming from the history of the Finnish police force. The first of these books, ''Sinisen kuoleman kuva'' (Face of the Blue Death), was published in 2015. The second, ''Veri ei vaikene'' (Blood never remains silent), published in 2016, was awarded as the year's best crime fiction book in Finland.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

* ''Vakoojakoulu: Päämajan asiamieskoulutus jatkosodassa'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2010. * ''Kaatunut Normandiassa: Suomalaissotilaan tarina'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2011. * ''Operaatio Hokki: Päämajan vaiettu kaukopartio'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2011. * ''Salainen tiedustelija: Suomalaisen vakoojaupseerin kirjeet 1940–44'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2012. * ''Rautasormus ja muita sota-ajan rakkaustarinoita'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2013. * ''Hyökkäyksen edellä: Kaukopartio Kannaksella kesällä 1941'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2013. * ''Vanki, vakooja, sissi'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2015. * ''Tiedustelun näkymätön historia - Antiikista maailmansotiin'', Atena, 2018. * ''Kohti itää - Päämajan kaukopartio-osasto Vehniäinen 1941'', Atena, 2021. * ''Syvärin takana - Päämajan kaukopartio-osasto Vehniäinen 1941-43'', Atena, 2022.

Novels

* ''Sinisen kuoleman kuva. Karelia Noir I'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2015. * ''Veri ei vaikene. Karelia Noir II'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2016. * ''Kadonneen kaupungin varjo. Karelia Noir III'', Jyväskylä: Atena, 2018.

Translated into Swedish

* ''Bakom Röda arméns linjer: Finska fjärrpatrullens sista uppdrag'' Stockholm: Lind & Co, 2012. * ''Bakom fiendens linjer: Den första finska fjärrpatrullen på Karelska näset'' Stockholm: Lind & Co, 2015. * ''Fånge, spion, partisan'' Stockholm: Lind & Co, 2016. * ''Spionskolan: Finlands hemliga agentverksamhet under andra världskriget'' Stockholm: Lind & Co, 2017. * ''En blå död, Karelia noir I'' Stockholm: Lind & Co, 2017. * ''Blod döljer inget''. Lind & Co, 2018.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porvali, Mikko 1980 births Finnish male novelists University of Lapland alumni Finnish police officers Living people 21st-century Finnish novelists 21st-century male writers Nordic Noir writers Finnish crime writers