FACTS

JUHA TAPANI BAGGE

b.2.10.1962 Kerava, Finland.

Tapani Bagge has published over 60 books. Among them, there are 13 crime novels (two written with Harri István Mäki), two short story collections and numerous books for children and the young. He has also written radio plays, TV screenplays, and comic scripts.

Bagge’s crime novels and stories are hard-boiled and noir, with plenty of black comedy. His closest counterparts are Dashiell Hammett, Donald Westlake, Elmore Leonard and Lawrence Block, with a bit of Jim Thompson thrown in.

At the moment there are six Hämeenlinna Noir crime novels where Bagge depicts the cops and cons of his home town with dark irony and warm humour.

Bagge’s historical crime series of Detective Sergeant Mujunen of the State Police started out in 2009 with Valkoinen hehku (White Heat), where several assassins are plotting a hit against Minister Kekkonen in 1938. The second book in the series, Sininen aave (Blue Phantom), is situated in 1940, just after the Winter War, and came out in 2011. You can get a sample of it here: http://www.suomitranslation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tapani-Bagge-The-Blue-Phantom-Sample-22.4.2011.pdf

There are also two books of the misadventures of hard luck lawyer Onni Syrjänen from Kerava, a small railroad town near Helsinki. Two short stories about him are available here: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/onni.html

For the children Bagge writes adventure and other stories with warm and sometimes absurd humor. For the young and for young adults he has written crime novels, mysteries and science fiction, plus five humorous e-mail novels with Karo Hämäläinen.

Bagge has received multiple awards, most recently the Clew of the Year Award of The Finnish Whodunnit Society in 2007 for his novel Musta taivas (Black Sky). Musta taivas was also the Finnish candidate for the Nordic Glass Key Award in 2008.

Musta taivas (Schwarzer Himmel) will come out in German in March 2012: http://www.suhrkamp.de/buecher/schwarzer_himmel-tapani_bagge_46319.html