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WORK TITLE: Holy Ceremony
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 6/20/1953
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: Finnish
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born June 20, 1953.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, and journalist. Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, crime reporter.
AWARDS:The Clue (twice), Finnish crime writing award.
WRITINGS
Books have been adapted into a movie and television series.
SIDELIGHTS
Harri Nykänen is a Finnish journalist and novelist who has worked as a crime reporter for the the largest daily periodical in the Nordic countries. In his crime novels, Nykänen draws from his reporting experience and reveals the Helsinki underword’s customs and rules. His novels typically provide the viewpoints of both the police an the criminals. In Finland, Nykänen is especially noted for his books featuring the antihero Raid, a hard-nosed hitman. Nykänen is also the author of a series of books featuring Ariel Kafka, a policeman who also is part of the Jewish community in Helsinki.
Nights of Awe
Several of Nykänen’s novels have been translated into English. Nights of Awe features Finnish detective Ariel Kafka, a middle-aged bachelor working in Helsinki. Ariel may be the only jew on the entire Helsinki police force. However, the police force is not the only place without many Jews. The fact is Helsinki’s Jewish community has been getting smaller and smaller over the years. Now it is so small that the quorum dictated for prayers often cannot be fulfilled at the local synagogue.
Ariel’s superiors think it is appropriate to assign Ariel to investigate a series of murders that may include hate crimes. The murders include two men who may have been Arabic. Before they died, they were believed to be calling out Jewish obscenities. The investigation takes place in the weeks prior to Yom Kippur. Not only is Ariel feeling pressure from his higher ups to solve the murders, the local jewish community is also outraged and applying even more pressure on Ariel. In addition, Ariel is not sure that interventions via Mossad, the Israeli secret service, and the Finnish Secret Services are taking place to help or hinder his investigation.
“Jewish themes with the traditions of Nordic crime makes for a refreshing tale with wide appeal” wrote Jessica Moyer in Booklist, who also noted the novel’s “subtle humor.” A Publishers Weekly contributor commented: “The resolution will satisfy noir fans.”
Behind God's Back
In Behind God’s Back, Violente Crime Unit investigator Ariel Kafka is investigating the murder of a Jewish businessman name Samuel Jacobson. It turns out that the bachelor Ariel once dated Jacobson’s daughter and that Jacobson did not deem Arile suitable husband material for his daughter. Ariel learns from Samuel’s widow that he had helped facilitate a loan via Kafka & Oxbaum, a law firm that Ariel’s brother, Eli, co-owns with the brothers’ second cousin, Max Oxbaum. The loan was brokered via Baltic Invest owned by Benjamin Hararin, an Israeli businessman. It turns out that Benjamin is a front man for the Russian mafia figure Amos Jakov.
In addition to shadow loans brokered by his relatives, Ariel must also deal with an upsurge in Neo-Nazi violence. When a another murder occurs, the case becomes even more personal for Ariel. Once again, Mossad may be involved and the Finnish Security Police try to intervene. “A compelling read from beginning to end, Behind God’s Back …is an impressive and suspenseful mystery,” wrote Michael J. Carson in Reviewer’s Bookwatch. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the novel “perhaps the oddest Scandinavian mystery to have crossed the ocean yet.”
Holy Ceremony
In Holy Ceremony, the third mystery in the “Ariel Kafka” mystery series to be published in English, Ariel finds himself assigned to a case in which a naked woman named Roosa Nevala is found dead with Biblical citations scrawled on the back of her naked body. It turns out, that the woman had actually died the day before. This discovery was made by the medical examiner who remembered the woman being brought in to be examined following her death from an overdose of sedatives.
As Ariel investigates the crime scene, he is surprised to find that under Roosa’s body is a letter to him. The letter is signed by “The Adorner of the Sacred Vault,” which refers to a holy ceremony having to do with an evil dragon. The investigation turns up another surprise when Roosa’s body once again disappears. The person who snatched the body ends up contacting Ariel and gives him a cryptic message about following signs of fire.
Meanwhile, Ariel’s prime suspect in what may or may not have been a murder is Roosa’s boyfriend, Reka, since her body was found in his apartment. A cellist, Reka is known by the police for his criminal past. In addition, he had recently worked at a funeral home and had belonged to a secret society called the Sacred Vault when he attended Daybreak Academy as a youth. When Ariel goes to the academy to begin his investigation, he eventually ends up discovering numerous suspicious deaths that somehow connect to the academy. It turns out an old teacher there was accused of abusing boys. However, the accusations seemed to have been covered up by other people.
“Less distinctively woolly than Behind God’s Back … but just as intricate in its layers upon layers of corruption, murder, suspect cops and public officials, and seriously dirty secrets,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked: “Nykanen is careful to plant the clues to whodunit and why fairly.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 15, 2012, Jessica Moyer, review of Nights of Awe, p. 21.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2014, review of Behind God’s Back; February 1, 2018, review of Holy Ceremony.
Publishers Weekly, March 12, 2012, review of Nights of Awe, p. 40.; ecember 8, 2014, review of Behind God’s Back, p. 58; January 22, 2018, review of Holy Ceremony, p. 65.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, March, 2015, Michael J. Carson, review of Behind God’s Back.
Xpress Reviews, March 30, 2012, Jennifer Rogers, review of Nights of Awe.
ONLINE
Elina Ahlback Literary Agency website, https://www.ahlbackagency.com/ (June 23, 2018), author profile.
HARRI NYKANEN
Harri Nykanen
Harri Nykänen, born in Helsinki in 1953, was a well-known crime journalist before turning to fiction. He won the Finnish crime writing award "The Clue" in 1990 and in 2001. His fiction exposes the local underworld through the eyes of the criminal, the terrorist and, most recently, from the point of view of an eccentric Helsinki police inspector.
Harri Nykänen
Harri Nykänen is an industrious novelist who draws on his 20 years of experience as a crime reporter at Helsingin Sanomat, the largest daily in the Nordic countries. An author since 1986, he has written dozens of books portraying the customs and rules of the Helsinki underworld – through the eyes of both criminals and members of the police force. Nykänen has won the Finnish crime writing award The Clue twice, and was nominated for the Glass Key for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel in 2004.
Nykänen’s brutal antihero Raid, starring in ten of his books, has become iconic in Finland. His story has also been adapted into a movie and TV series. Television rights to the original Finnish series have been sold in Russia, and Nykänen has also received interest in television remake rights from the U.S. His newer Ariel Kafka series, starring a cool-headed policeman who is also a member of Helsinki’s Jewish community, has received praise in international press. Drawing from current events, the series is firmly rooted in the streets of the Finnish capital. In his latest standalone novel, To Earth Again (Mullasta maan, CrimeTime 2014), a crime story set in Northern Finland, he delves into “Arctic Noir.”
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Print Marked Items
Nykanen, Harri: HOLY CEREMONY
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
NykAnnen, Harri HOLY CEREMONY Bitter Lemon Press (Adult Fiction) $14.95 3, 13 ISBN: 978-1-
908524-898
The third case for Lt. Ariel Kafka, of Helsinki's Violent Crimes Unit, begins with a twice-disappearing
corpse and just gets wilder.
It doesn't take a minute for medical examiner Dr. Esko Vuorio to identify the body found in an apartment in
the TA A lA district: it's psychiatric patient Roosa Nevala. And Vuorio should know, because he examined
her only yesterday in the city morgue, from which her body has been stolen, laid out, and adorned with
scriptural references. There's no sign of violence but many signs of weirdness, not the least of which is the
vanishing of Roosa's body from the morgue a second time so that it can be immolated in a forest outside the
city. Roosa's boyfriend, Reijo "Reka" LaurA@n, a cellist with a criminal past who's worked most recently
at a funeral home, is clearly implicated, since he lived in the apartment her corpse visited briefly. But
LaurA@n, who in his school days at the repressive Daybreak Academy belonged to a secret society called
the Sacred Vault, insists he's not a killer.. Maybe Reka hasn't killed Roosa, but the trail that begins at
Daybreak Academy leads to an awful lot of other suspicious deaths. Is Reka seeking revenge on Vesa
SAnrkijAnrvi, the old teacher who's been accused of abusing many of the boys in his care, and other figures
who may have covered up his assaults? Or has someone else battened on to the ancient grievance Reka
shares with several other schoolmates, some of them slated for their own homicidal ends, for an even more
sinister purpose?
Less distinctively woolly than Behind God's Back (2014) but just as intricate in its layers upon layers of
corruption, murder, suspect cops and public officials, and seriously dirty secrets.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Nykanen, Harri: HOLY CEREMONY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461650/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ead7997a.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
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Holy Ceremony
Publishers Weekly.
265.4 (Jan. 22, 2018): p65.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Holy Ceremony
Harri Nykanen.trans. from the Finnish by Kristian London. Bitter Lemon, $14.95 trade paper (248p) ISBN
978-1-908524-89-8
In Nykanen's complex third mystery featuring Helsinki cop Ariel Kafka to be translated into English (after
2014's Behind God's Back), Kafka is summoned to an apartment where the naked corpse of Roosa Nevala,
who had a history of psychiatric problems, lies on a sofa, her back adorned with ominous Biblical citations.
The case becomes even more bizarre when the medical examiner recognizes her as the same woman who
fatally overdosed on sedatives the day before and was brought to his morgue to be autopsied. Kafka is
further unsettled when a letter to him is found under Nevala's body, signed by "The Adorner of the Sacred
Vault," who refers to a holy ceremony that will end only after an evil dragon is slain. When Nevala's corpse
vanishes again, Kafka is called by the thief, who advises him to "follow the signs of fire" to learn the truth.
The solution to the subsequent murders that Kafka eventually learns of is particularly clever, and Nykanen
is careful to plant the clues to whodunit and why fairly. Readers will look forward to Kafka's next outing.
(Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Holy Ceremony." Publishers Weekly, 22 Jan. 2018, p. 65. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525839783/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7e4316c9.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
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Nykanen, Harri: BEHIND GOD'S BACK
Kirkus Reviews.
(Dec. 15, 2014):
COPYRIGHT 2014 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Nykanen, Harri BEHIND GOD'S BACK Bitter Lemon Press (Adult Fiction) $14.95 2, 1 ISBN: 978-1-
908524-42-3
A Helsinki businessman apparently murdered by the most awkward suspect possible launches Detective
Ariel Kafka, of the Violent Crimes Unit, on his second case (Nights of Awe, 2012). Helsinki's Jewish
community is small enough that everyone knows everyone else. Its community of police officers is even
smaller. So you'd think that Kafka, a member of both of these exclusive sets, would know the uniformed
cop who gunned down office-supply-chain owner Samuel Jacobson just outside his swanky home. For
better or worse, though, evidence soon points away from the police to an imposter, presumably someone
hired by Leo Meir, of Cemicon Ltd., who's been under 24-hour surveillance ever since he came to town,
reportedly to arrange "a high-profile assassination." So Kafka's left to make inquiries among Jacobson's
circles, who correspond roughly to Kafka's own friends and relatives. Kafka used to date Jacobson's
daughter Lea. His brother Eli is a corporate attorney deeply involved in Jacobson's affairs. So is Eli's law
partner, Max Oxbaum, who's Kafka's second cousin. The few suspects who aren't related to Kafka directly
all have close ties to Israel, from Benjamin Haranin, the suspected money launderer who owns Baltic
Invest, to Amos Jakov, long suspected of being his silent partner, to Haim Levi, the exchange student who
spent a term living with the Jacobsons years before being named Israel's Minister of Justice. Now Kafka,
whom the dead man long since dismissed as son-in-law material, wonders if he can rise to the occasion by
avenging Jacobson's death. Perhaps the oddest Scandinavian mystery to have crossed the ocean yet, a
mixture of Jo Nesbo's portraits of Nordic political corruption with Jerome Charyn's waggish Borscht Belt
tales of Isaac Sidel, the Pink Commish of New York.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Nykanen, Harri: BEHIND GOD'S BACK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2014. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A393255057/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=68916c26.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A393255057
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Behind God's Back
Publishers Weekly.
261.51 (Dec. 8, 2014): p58.
COPYRIGHT 2014 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Behind God's Back
Harri Nykanen,trans. from the Finnish by Kristian London. Bitter Lemon, $14.95 trade paper (204p) ISBN
978-1-908524-42-3
In Nykanen's intricately plotted second Ariel Kafka novel to be published in English (after 2012's Nights of
Awe), the Helsinki Violent Crimes Unit cop looks into the shooting murder of Jewish businessman Samuel
Jacobson, whose daughter he once dated. Jacobson's widow reveals that her husband recently engineered a
major loan through Kafka & Oxbaum, a law firm owned by Kafka's brother, Eli, and a second cousin of
theirs, Max Oxbaum. Kafka already knows that Eli and Max brokered their clients' loans from an Estonian
company, Baltic Invest, which is owned by Israeli businessman Benjamin Hararin, a front man for Amos
Jakov, who's believed to have links to the Russian mafia. Family ties and the tight-knit dealings within
Finland's small Jewish community complicate the investigation, but the sympathetic Kafka manages to
perform a delicate balancing act on his way to an unexpected resolution of the crime. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Behind God's Back." Publishers Weekly, 8 Dec. 2014, p. 58. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A393350278/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7117d129.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
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Nights of Awe
Jessica Moyer
Booklist.
108.18 (May 15, 2012): p21.
COPYRIGHT 2012 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Nights of Awe.
By Harri Nykanen. Tr. by Kristian London.
May 2012. 247p. Bitter Lemon, paper, $14.95 (9781904738923).
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Nyknen's twist on Nordic crime fiction may be the most inventive of the year. Ariel Kafka, a middle-aged
bachelor, is a detective in Helsinki (think early Harry Hole) and, as far as he knows, the only Jew on the
entire Helsinki police force, which is why he's picked to head up the investigation of a series of murders
that began with two Arabic-looking men who may have been shouting Jewish obscenities as they died. Set
during the days leading up to Yom Kippur, this complex tale moves quickly, as Ari attempts to figure it all
out. With pressure from his colleagues, police administration, his brother, and the local Jewish community,
can he uncover everything before the holiest day in the Jewish calender? The clever combination of classic
Jewish themes with the traditions of Nordic crime makes for a refreshing tale with wide appeal. And the
subtle humor, combined with a hero who is not completely depressed and alcoholic, makes it even better.
Not just for readers of Nordic fiction, this should also be suggested to those who relate to New York Jewish
detectives, including Lenny Briscoe (from Law & Order) and John Munch (from Homicide and Law &
Order: SVU), as well as readers who enjoy the black humor of Stuart MacBride.--Jessica Moyer
Moyer, Jessica
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Moyer, Jessica. "Nights of Awe." Booklist, 15 May 2012, p. 21. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A291352076/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=fd27c404.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A291352076
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Nights of Awe
Publishers Weekly.
259.11 (Mar. 12, 2012): p40+.
COPYRIGHT 2012 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Nights of Awe Harri Nykanen, trans, from the Finnish by Kristian London. Bitter Lemon, $14.95 trade
paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-904738-92-3
Professional responsibility and ethnic affiliation clash in Nykanen's intriguing first novel starring Finnish
police detective Ariel Kafka. With Helsinki's Jewish community dwindling, the local synagogue often lacks
the required quorum for prayers, but Kafka believes he serves his community best by dedicating himself to
his duties with the city's Violent Crimes Unit rather than being a regular synagogue attendee. Ironically,
Kafka is relieved to be called to a homicide scene to get out of an uncomfortable conversation with his
rabbi. Near a railway bridge, someone shot a young male foreigner four times and stabbed him twice, then
sliced off his nose and ears. A second dead man, possibly the killer, appears to be an Arab, who broke his
neck after jumping onto a moving train. When two more bodies surface shortly afterward, Kafka becomes
concerned that the bloodshed is linked to the impending visit of the Israeli foreign minister. The resolution
will satisfy noir fans. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Nights of Awe." Publishers Weekly, 12 Mar. 2012, p. 40+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A283261109/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0249bb97.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A283261109
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Nykanen, Harri. Nights of Awe
Jennifer Rogers
Xpress Reviews.
(Mar. 30, 2012):
COPYRIGHT 2012 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Nykanen, Harri. Nights of Awe. Bitter Lemon, dist. by Consortium. Apr. 2012. c.247p. tr. from Finnish by
Kristian London. ISBN 9781904738534923. pap. $14.95. M
Ariel Kafka is one of two Jewish policemen in all of Finland, and nobody lets him forget it. In the days
leading to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Kafka faces a growing body count from murders in Helsinki.
Some of the dead are Arabs, some are Israelis, and a few are Finns who happened to be in the way. As
Kafka meanders through the investigation, Israeli Secret Service Mossad and the Finnish Secret Services
step in ... but are the interested parties there to help or to hinder Kafka in the investigation?
Verdict Nykanen attempts to include a bewildering number of leads, clues, bodies, and very long last
names, all of which accumulate to a series debut that is overly confusing and, ultimately, unsatisfying.
Nykanen, a longtime journalist and crime fiction writer, has written over 30 novels and is the author of four
different mystery series. Followers of his other series will no doubt be interested; however, newer fans may
be harder to attract.-Jennifer Rogers, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll., Richmond
Rogers, Jennifer
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Rogers, Jennifer. "Nykanen, Harri. Nights of Awe." Xpress Reviews, 30 Mar. 2012. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A286972015/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5bcbaff5.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
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Behind God's Back
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer's Bookwatch.
(Mar. 2015):
COPYRIGHT 2015 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Behind God's Back
Harri Nykanen, author
Kristian London, translator
Bitter Lemon Press
37 Arundel Gardens, London, W11 2LW, United Kingdom
www.bitterlemonpress.com
Meryl Zegarek Public Relations
9781908524423, $14.95, 247pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: There are two Jewish cops in all of Helsinki. One of them, Ariel Kafka, a lieutenant in the Violent
Crime Unit, identifies himself as a policeman first, then a Finn, and lastly a Jew. Kafka is a religiously nonobservant
forty-something bachelor who is such a stubborn, dedicated policeman that he's willing to risk his
career to get an answer. Murky circumstances surround his investigation of a Jewish businessman's murder.
Neo-Nazi violence, intergenerational intrigue, shady loans--predictable lines of investigation lead to
unpredictable culprits. But a second killing strikes closer to home, and the Finnish Security Police come
knocking. The tentacles of Israeli politics and Mossad reach surprisingly far, once again wrapping Kafka in
their sticky embrace.
Critique: A compelling read from beginning to end, "Behind God's Back" by Harri Nykanen is an
impressive and suspenseful mystery replete with unexpected plot twists and turns. A riveting novel,
"Behind God's Back" is highly recommended and entertaining. An enduringly popular addition to any
community library collection, for personal reading lists it should be noted that "Behind God's Back" is also
available in a Kindle edition ($9.99).
Michael J. Carson
Reviewer
Carson, Michael J.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Carson, Michael J. "Behind God's Back." Reviewer's Bookwatch, Mar. 2015. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A405678642/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5694a54e.
Accessed 4 June 2018.
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A405678642