Book info

• Title My First Murder
• Author Leena Lehtolainen
• Year 1993
• Genre Mystery

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.

Thoughts

I’ve had this in my to read list for a really long time, to the point that I have no idea what made me want to buy it in the first place. It’s an okay police procedural but there was quite a big cast of characters and I didn’t really care very much for any of them. I did like that there were a few suspects for the murder, and plenty of motives for what happened, but to me, it was really obvious whodunit as soon as the detective started being overly friendly with them. An okay read but nothing to write home about, really.

Rating: 2 / 5