Red Shadow

Tapani Bagge

Tapani Bagge (born 1962) is known for his versatility. He has written more than 20 books for children and teens, more than 50 Jerry Cottons, as well as television series, radio plays, TV screenplays, and comic scripts -more than 70 books in total. Among them are also several crime novels, hard-boiled and noir, with plenty of black comedy. Bagge’s closest counterparts are Dashiell Hammett, Donald Westlake, Elmore Leonard and Chester Himes, with a bit of Jim Thompson thrown in.

In his Hämeenlinna Noir crime novels, Bagge depicts the cops and cons of his Finnish home town with dark irony and warm humour. Bagge’s most recent crime series, starring Detective Sergeant Mujunen, is set in Finland during World War II.

Bagge’s story Hard Rain is featured in the Helsinki Noir anthology, published by Akashic Books in the U.S in fall 2014.

For kids, Bagge writes adventure and other stories with warm and sometimes absurd humor. He has written about Bud and Bella (Tahvo and Bella), as well as the spirited adventures of Chloe (Kaisa) and the Black Dog Detective Agency.

Bagge’s accolades include the The Finnish Whodunnit Society’s annual award in 2007 for his novel Black Sky (Musta taivas). Black Sky was also the Finnish candidate for the Nordic Glass Key Award in 2008. Tapani Bagge’s children’s book On the Country (Maalla) was nominated for the Finlandia Junior Prize in 2010.