Helsinki Blood

by James Thompson

Published 5 June 2013
Kari Vaara is recovering from the physical and emotional toll of solving the Lisbet So˜derlund case when he's approached by an Estonian woman who begs him to find her daughter, a young woman with Down syndrome who was promised work and a better life in Finland ... and has since disappeared. It's one more missing girl for an overburdened police department. But for Kari, the case is personal: it's a chance for redemption, to help the victims his failed black-ops unit was intended to save, and prove himself to his estranged wife.

Snow Angels

by James Thompson

Published 1 May 2010

‘Kept me captivated from first to last page!’ MICHAEL CONNELLY

Kaamos: Just before Christmas, the bleakest time of the year in Lapland. The unrelenting darkness and extreme cold above the Arctic Circle drive everyone just a little insane… perhaps enough to kill.

A beautiful Somali immigrant is found dead in a snowfield, her body gruesomely mutilated, a racial slur carved into her chest. Heading the murder investigation is Inspector Kari Vaara, the lead detective of the small-town police force. The vicious killing may have been a hate crime, a sex crime-or one and the same. Vaara knows he must keep this potentially explosive case out of the national headlines or else it will send shock waves across Finland, an insular nation afraid to face its own xenophobia.

The demands of the investigation begin to take their toll on Vaara and his marriage. His young American wife, Kate, newly pregnant with their first child, is struggling to adapt to both the unforgiving Arctic climate and the Finnish culture of silence and isolation. Meanwhile Vaara himself, haunted by his rough childhood and failed first marriage, discovers that the past keeps biting at his heels: He suspects that the rich man for whom his ex-wife left him years ago may be the killer.

Endless night can drive anyone to murder.


Lucifer’s Tears

by James Thompson

Published 17 March 2011

Inspector Kari Vaara of Helsinki is thrown into a case that sees a beautiful young woman murdered in an apparent sadomasochistic attack… But his investigation leads to him coming up against a wall of silence that implicates the very highest levels of power.

His previous case left Kari Vaara with a scarred face, chronic insomnia and a full body count's worth of ghosts. A year later, in Helsinki, and Kari is working the graveyard shift in the homicide unit.

Kari is drawn into the murder-by-torture case of Iisa Filippov, the philandering wife of a Russian businessman. Her lover is clearly being framed and while Ivan Filippov's arrogance is highly suspicious, he's got friends in high places. Kari is sucked ever deeper and soon the past and present collide in ways no one could have anticipated…

Discover the hottest new voice in Scandinavian crime-writing, perfect for fans of Jo Nesbo.


Helsinki White

by James Thompson

Published 1 March 2012