The Nightingale Murder

Maria Kallio, Book 9

By: Leena Lehtolainen, Owen F. Witesman - translator

Narrated by: Amy Rubinate

Award-winning author Leena Lehtolainen's heart-stopping series continues as investigator Maria Kallio's hunt for a killer gets dark, dangerous, and dirty…

A grievously mutilated young woman arrives at the hospital in Espoo, Finland—only to vanish without a trace. Though the victim refused to identify herself, Violent Crimes Unit Commander Maria Kallio suspects she's connected to the city's sex-worker underworld. The next day her suspicions grow when celebrity call girl Lulu Nightingale is murdered during a live television broadcast.

The victim's clients included some of the top names in Finnish society, but the list of suspects is even longer: her infatuated bodyguard, a suicidal TV producer, and a talk-show host with political aspirations. But how is Lulu's murder connected to the tortured woman's disappearance?

As the body count keeps rising, Maria plunges into the dark demimonde of the sex trade. And this time, searching for answers may shatter all that she has.

©2005 Leena Lehtolainen (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Translation © 2018 by Owen F. Witesman

Though provoking

A different perspective on a very sensitive issue. Sheds a different light on a sensitive hot button issue. It presents a different viewpoint on two very different but linked issues, immigration and sex workers. The reader is left to refine their own opinion on each.

A little too real!

murder-investigation, Finland, mutilation, law-enforcement, illegal-trafficking, noir -----
Scary stuff just a little too real. Excellent portrayal of the life of cops anywhere with the problems of departmental budget and inadequate staff as well as the overflow into home life. As a procedural it is very good in that it clearly depicts the frustrations of due diligence in trying to track down a particularly disgusting murderer before it happens again. Well done. I can only assume that the translation is just as well done.
I won the ebook in a Goodreads Giveaway and started a few chapters when I realized that I could get the Whispersync audio for less! So I did, and I enjoyed the audio interpretation by Amy Rubinate.

Maria Kallio suspense mystery Book 9

The Nightingale Murder is an excellent police procedural set in Finland and written by world famous Finnish crime author Leena Lehtolainen. I have written reviews of the other eight novels in the series. This novel is about murder of Russian women who participate in prostitution in Finland. Protagonist Maria Kallio is a senior police detective with a law degree. The novels in the series deal with her career and her police detective team as well as her family (husband, daughter and son). There are four additional novels in the series that have not yet been translated to English. All of the novels in the Maria Kallio series rate at least 4 stars and most earn 5 stars. Amy Rubinate narrates all of the novels in the series. She is an outstanding narrator.

I highly recommend the Maria Kallio series.