Twenty-three-year-old law student Maria Kallio is recruited for a temporary position at the Helsinki police department. Sweet-faced but tough and hot-tempered, Maria faces pushback from her new squad � so when a young playboy is murdered at his family�s summer villa, the new detective is out to prove herself.
Found floating facedown at the water�s edge after a night of partying, Tommi Pelatonen appears to have been murdered by one of his closest friends � but why? As Maria discovers, bitter passion and jealousy seethe under the placid surface of the group�s privileged, carefree lifestyle. As Maria uncovers the victim�s unsavory secrets, motives for all seven suspects come to light. Now it�s up to her to untangle the clues before the killer strikes again.
The first book in Leena Lehtolainen�s international bestselling Nordic crime series starring Detective Maria Kallio, My First Murder serves up murder with a slice of life in the Finnish upper crust.
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From Publishers Weekly
First published in 1993, this solid first in a mystery series from Lehtolainen, billed as �Finland�s bestselling female crime author,� introduces 23-year-old Sgt. Maria Kallio, of Helsinki�s Violent Crime Unit. Kallio�s initial low-level cases and paper-pushing lead her to begin law school, but boredom with her studies prompts her to return to the force for a six-month stint as a substitute officer. Her provisional status and sexist male colleagues complicate her first homicide inquiry, into the death of singer Tommi Peltonen, the leader of a quartet, who appears to have drowned in the sea off his parents� summer house, though a blow to the head could have been a contributing factor. Peltonen was organizing a summer musical event for a double quartet, whose surviving members become the obvious suspects. The author does a good job integrating her dogged detective�s inner life with the murder inquiry. (Dec. 2012)
Review
�Leena Lehtolainen has a winner with her debut thriller (My First Murder, Book 1 in Maria Kallio series). Detective Maria Kallio deserves a place alongside literature�s best tough but vulnerable detectives.� � *Mystery Scene Magazine
�It has taken 20 years for the highly-regarded Leena Lehtolainen's first Maria Kallio novel to be translated from Finnish, so plaudits to Amazon Crossing (an American imprint) for allowing English-language readers to experience her work, and to Owen Witesman for a smooth translation� � Eurocrime.Co.Uk*