Leena Lehtolainen is Finland’s bestselling female crime author, so it says on her Amazon author’s page. I find that statement easy to believe after reading her firs of many books, all of which have won awards.

In this story, Maria Kallio is taking a break from law school by taking a temporary assignment with the Helsinki police. Being the only officer available, she takes on her first murder case, one involving several people she has known for several years. She struggles to prove herself to all the chauvinist men in the department as she struggles to prove herself to herself.

It is a well written story of the life of a human with failings who has to deal with the failings of others to find the solution to the failing called murder.

A good read.

Mike Lawrence