Author(s)
Mika Waltari
Illustrator(s)
Publication date
1962
Publisher
WSOY
Format info
292 pages

It is Written in the Stars, Inspector Palmu!

Tähdet kertovat komisario Palmu

The final instalment of the Inspector Palmu crime trilogy

Miss Kaino Pelkonen is out walking her dog when she stumbles across a body. The press rush to the scene immediately. That’s when Inspector Palmu and his team turn up, tasked with solving the crime in the midst of all the mayhem.

It is Written in the Stars, Inspector Palmu! is the final instalment in Mika Waltari’s Inspector Palmu crime series, featuring the much-loved sixty-year-old inspector, who has a the unique ability to see through suspicious behaviour and identify the innocent.

It is Written in the Stars, Inspector Palmu! was turned into a film by Matti Kassila in 1962.

Mika Waltari (1908-1979) is the most popular 20th century Finnish writer who is best known for his magnus opus The Egyptian. Over a career that spanned five decades, Waltari published well over 100 works, of which 200 translations have been made. His works include at least 30 novels, 20 plays and 15 novellas, as well as short stories, poems, screenplays and essays. In 1957 he was appointed to the Academy of Finland, having previously won the state literature award five times. Waltari’s works have been translated into over 40 languages.

Series

1939: Who Murdered Mrs. Skrof?
1940: Inspector Palmu’s Mistake
1962: It is Written in the Stars, Inspector Palmu!

Rights sold

Czech (Odeon 1975  / Euromedia 2002), rights reverted
French (Le Masque 1952)
German (Lubbe 1974)
Estonian (Eesti Raamat 1996)
German (Paul Neff 1974 / Lubbe 1985)
Greek (Kalendis 2007), rights reverted
Hungarian (Europa 1978)
Polish (Wydawnictwo 2010), rights reverted
Russian (Raduga 1991)
Slovakian (Smena 1979)
Spanish (Ediciones G. P. 1965)

Reviews

“Such a master of everything, this writer is!” – Goodreads reviewer