Matti Joensuu is a best-selling Finnish crime fiction author, probably the most popular crime writer in Finland. He has for most of his life worked as an arson and explosives expert with the Helsinki police. This is his tenth novel featuring Detective Sergeant Timo Harjunpää of the Helsinki force, 
The detective in his books is DS Timo Harjunpää. In To Steal Her Love he is plagued by strife at home and at work. This detective may well be a relative of Kurt Wallander and inspector Van Veeteren – he has some similar features. Like many Scandinavian policemen, Harjunpää is so angst-ridden that even seemingly simple things – like washing his hands -remind him how unhappy he is: “There was something other than just talcum powder that needed to be removed from his hands, from himself, his life.” And, as well, and even though he is a married man, he has some kind of a mid-life crisis, and he is now in love with his colleague Onerva.
In this book he is up against a tormented young lock-picker and nocturnal sneak known as “Tweety”. This somewhat mentally disturbed man breaks into young women’s homes and fondles them while they sleep. Numerous women have awakened to an unknown presence in their bedrooms. But nothing has been stolen or destroyed.
Matti Joensuu’s writing is wonderful. A little laid back, at times a little dark and gloomy, definitely Finnish, and really excellent on the detective work. To Steal Her Love is a terrific police procedural. And exciting and interesting as well.
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