Minna Lindgren’s SUNSET GROVE series goes to production in 2023!

We are thrilled to report as highlighted in Variety that the TV series SUNSET GROVE, based on Minna Lindgren’s bestselling series and produced together with Fire Monkey for streaming service Elisa Viihde Viaplay, is rapidly progressing!

Aurora Studios is developing “Sunset Grove” with Elisa Viihde described as “feel-good crime story.” The shooting will start in September 2023, with three seasons planned. The comedy thriller, pitched at the last Mipcom, is written by Mikko Pöllä (White Wall, Black Widows). Through eight episodes, made in co-production with Fire Monkey, “Sunset Grove” will follow three elderly ladies from different backgrounds as they settle in a retirement home where “growing old is the least of your problems.” Aurora Studios’ producer promises a different take in the show that will combine “Miss Marple” and “Golden Girls”.

The Sunset Grove -trilogy’s books Death in Sunset Grove, Escape from Sunset Grove, and End of Sunset Grove have sold in 17 languages – and keep selling, with the latest deal to Hungary!
Rights are still free in The Netherlands, Japan, Thailand, Norway, Poland etc. 

Join the family of Minna Lindgren’s happy foreign publishers and enjoy Minna Lindgren’s heart-warming humor and cosy crime novels – meet these amazing 90’s ladies solving mysteries like Miss Marple!

Download the full English PDFs for the SUNSET GROVE trilogy here!

 

Death in Sunset Grove

Who could imagine that anything illegal – whether it be suspicious deaths, thefts or the covert trading of medications – could happen in Sunset Grove retirement home? Its 90-year-old residents Siiri and Irma certainly can’t.

The lives of Siiri, Irma, and other Sunset Grove inhabitants are filled mostly with empty time punctuated by glasses of red wine, tram rides and funerals. Investigating the sudden strange occurrences at Sunset Grove, however, proves to be a more interesting pastime than playing cards – not to mention the never-ending arts and crafts sessions, gym classes or accordion evenings (which the residents of the house attend mostly out of pity towards the employees).

Death in Sunset Grove is a devilishly funny and suspenseful story about old age, friendship and life in a relatively ordinary retirement home. Here the only fate worse than death is being drugged up and locked away inside the dementia ward. Even the sharpest senior can’t decipher all the nuances of this place; thankfully a few young people, including members of the biker gang and a grandchild’s boyfriend, offer some help.

 

Escape from Sunset Grove

Sunset Grove retirement home turns into a kind of hell when it is taken over by foreign construction workers cursing fluently in Finnish. The noise is deafening, a hole appears in the wall, things disappear and residents have to use a portable toilet.

Residents Siiri, Irma and Anna-Liisa, all older than 90, decide to move into a shared apartment in the exotic neighbourhood of Hakaniemi. All three have their own habits and quirks, and life together isn’t entirely free of friction. The women also learn about the sad differences in quality with at-home assistance, and are forced to become familiar with terminal care and questions surrounding euthanasia.

Our heroes also can’t help looking into the suspicious plumbing project at Sunset Grove. As the mystery unfolds, they begin to find out that few people in this world have a fully clean record.

 

The End of Sunset Grove

The final part of the trilogy marks a return to the retirement community. But the place no longer feels like home, and has turned into a state-funded, technology-driven pilot project in elderly care. The conclusion brings together characters lost along the way, and murky details are brought to light. Legal justice is also served – in unexpected ways. A natural, long-awaited death finally collects some, but still not all, of our main characters.

Kuolema Ehtoolehdossa
Teos, November 2013, 305 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Teos, ARABIC: Al Arabi, CZECHIA: Albatros Media / XYZ, DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard, ESTONIA: Varrak, FRANCE: Calmann-Lévy, GERMANY: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, GREECE: Enalios, HUNGARY: Kossuth, ISRAEL: Yedioth Books, ITALY: Marsilio, LATVIA: Petergailis, LITHUANIA: Obuolys, SLOVAKIA: Albatros Media Slovakia s.r.o., SPAIN: Santillana, SWEDEN: Norstedts, WORLD ENGLISH: Pan Macmillan, TV & FILM RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Reading materials: English edition

 

Ehtoolehdon pakolaiset
Teos, November 2014, 256 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Teos, CZECHIA: Albatros Media / XYZ, DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard, FRANCE: Calmann-Lévy, GERMANY: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, GREECE: Enalios, HUNGARY: Kossuth, ITALY: Marsilio, LATVIA: Petergailis, SLOVAKIA: Albatros Media Slovakia s.r.o., SPAIN: Santillana, SWEDEN: Norstedts, WORLD ENGLISH: Pan Macmillan, TV & FILM RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Reading materials: English edition

 

Ehtoolehdon tuho
Teos, November 2015, 289 pp.

Rights sold: FINLAND: Teos, CZECHIA: Albatros Media / XYZ, DENMARK: Jensen & Dalgaard, GERMANY: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, GREECE: Enalios, HUNGARY: Kossuth, ITALY: Marsilio, LATVIA: Petergailis, SLOVAKIA: Albatros Media Slovakia s.r.o., SPAIN: Santillana, WORLD ENGLISH: Pan Macmillan, TV & FILM RIGHTS: Aurora Studios

Reading materials: English edition

 

About author


Minna Lindgren

Minna Lindgren (b. 1963) is a freelance journalist and columnist known for her whimsical writing style and fearless approach to topics as strange as opera and death. In addition to novels, she has authored nonfiction books on classical music. In 2009, Lindgren won the Bonnier Journalism Prize for her article entitled “Father’s Death” (“Isän kuolema”).

Lindgren is best known for the Sunset Grove trilogy, which has been sold to 18 territories, and the final part, The End of Sunset Grove, was nominated for the International Dublin Literature Award in 2019. She has also written four standalone novels and a non-fiction book about the history of opera.

Minna Lindgren’s books have been critical and commercial successes, in Finland and internationally.

Bibliography


2020, Literary Fiction, Humor

Hope Never Dies

Minna Lindgren


2019, Literary Fiction, Humor

A Far, Far Love

Minna Lindgren


2018, Literary Fiction, Humor

Angry Widow

Minna Lindgren


2015, Literary Fiction, Humor

The End of Sunset Grove

Minna Lindgren


2014, Literary Fiction, Humor

Escape from Sunset Grove

Minna Lindgren


2013, Literary Fiction, Humor

Death in Sunset Grove

Minna Lindgren