Nykänen had a long career as a crime reporter for Helsingin Sanomat.
Harri Nykänen was one of Finland’s most successful crime writers. The *Raid* series of books was the most popular. They were made into a 12-part TV series and a follow-up film in 2003.
The series is available on Yle Arena:
The film can be watched on Yle Arena:
A crime reporter cavorted on both sides of the law
Nykänen had a long career as a crime reporter at Helsingin Sanomat from 1981 to 2001.
Through his work, Nykäne had a wide circle of acquaintances, both policemen and robbers. He told Yle’s Poliisi-tv (http://vintti.yle.fi/ohjelmat.yle.fi/poliisitv/raportit/poliisienkaveri.html) that he had no major conflicts about making friends on different sides of the law.
– When I have acted in the meantime, the police have accepted the rules of the game. For example, if I shared some information or passed on a stolen object to the police, it was pointless to ask me where it came from.
Harri Nykänen was a guest of Yle Puheen Aamu in 2015, when he had published the memoir *Likainen Harri. 20 years as Erko’s ring*. In the interview, he told, among other things, what kind of stains the crime reporter’s career has left on him.
– The starting situation was that I wanted to tell my children what my father has been involved in. It was not intended to take revenge, but to share memories for posterity. Yes, I have more friends than enemies. Hasn’t he already forgotten those haters in 15 years, Nykänen said at the time.
You can listen to the interview below:
Nykänen received the Lumilapio award for investigative journalism in 1994 after reporting on the corruption of the police leadership.
A story related to the same entity also led to the end of Nykänen’s long career at Helsingin Sanomat.
After the incident, Nykänen resigned from the newspaper and became a freelance writer.
Harri Nykänen was very prolific as a writer. In addition to *Raid*, he wrote *Ariel Kafka* and *Johnny
He received the Finnish detective club’s Lead of the Year award twice in 1990 and 2001.