Loukko by 
We are over the moon to let you know that the three-way auction in Germany for the Thriller of the Fall – Martta Kaukonen’s GUIDE ME, BUTTERFLY has now happily ended!
Three amazing publishers taking part were really enthusiastic about the title and we now can announce the winner: Heyne Verlag!
Heyne is the German Stephen King and Stieg Larsson publisher and they couldn’t praise Martta Kaukonen highly enough!
Not only did they acquire Martta Kaukonen’s Guide me, Butterfly (March 2021) but also her upcoming thriller (2022-2023).
Download the English synopsis and sample for GUIDE ME, BUTTERFLY by clicking here
Here’s what the German publisher said:
I have never read a thriller like this. A female serial killer whom we root for and not one unreliable narrator but four whose narratives are woven into each other with such skill. This plot-driven, emotional and wonderfully written book is what our readers have been waiting for.
– Janina Dyballa, Editor, Heyne Verlag, Germany
The very first rights for the title were sold only yesterday to Estonia (Hea Lugu).
GUIDE ME, BUTTERFLY is an exciting debut thriller about a 20-year old female serial killer Ida, that starts visiting a celebrity therapist, to avoid a seemingly inevitable jail sentence.
Told by 4 different narrators, the story unfolds and twists in neck-breaking speed, not all is how it seems and even the most trustworthy people can let you down.
FINNISH PRAISE:
”Kaukonen succeeds in tricking the reader time and again: just when you think you’ve figured it out, the narrator changes and the tables turn.”
– Maaseudun tulevaisuus newspaper
GUIDE ME, BUTTERFLY
by Martta Kaukonen
An addictive psychological thriller in the spirit of Gillian Flynn
Ida, 20, a serial killer who was abducted as a child, starts therapy with celebrity therapist Clarissa. Only one of them knows that they share a mutual secret from the past. Will the other one realize it before she gets murdered?
Clarissa is a middle-aged psychotherapist, the best in her field. She is familiar to everyone from her TV appearances and from glossy magazines. For her, every patient is a princess. And someone only she can save. Or can she? Clarissa already has one suicide to answer for; a teenage boy’s death never seizes to haunt her.
When Ida becomes Clarissa’s patient, a cat-and-mouse game begins in which rules are followed by no one. The kind of game that never ends well.
Martta Kaukonen (1976) lives in Helsinki and is a film critic, whose reviews have been published in both Finland’s biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and a popular women’s weekly magazine Me Naiset. Martta has a master’s degree in arts. She has interviewed the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Justin Bieber. Martta met her future husband at his second hand bookshop and fell in love. Alongside writing, Martta loves psychological thrillers, film noir, flea markets, abandoned houses and travelling.
Martta’s debut novel GUIDE ME, BUTTERFLY was published in March 2021
RIGHTS SOLD:
FINLAND: WSOY (orig.)
ESTONIA: Hea Lugu
GERMANY: Heyne
(two-book deal)
