Lakeside Murders (Finnish: Koskinen) is a Finnish crime drama and Nordic noir television series created by Riku Suokas [fi] and starring Eero Aho. The series is based on the Koskinen book series by Seppo Jokinen[1] and follows Inspector Sakari Koskinen and his team in the Violent Crimes Unit as they try to solve murders in the Finnish lakeside city of Tampere.[2]
Lakeside Murders is produced for Nelonen by Aito Media Oy. Filming of the series began in October 2020 in Tampere, Finland.[2][3] The first season, which consisted of ten episodes, premiered in Finland on 29 November 2021 on Ruutu+streaming service.[1] Season two premiered on 15 June 2022.[4] The series has been licensed to North America, Australia and Latvia.[5]
Overview
The series follows Inspector Sakari Koskinen and his team in the Violent Crime Unit of the Central Finland Police Department in Tampere. Koskisen's diverse team includes Ulla Lundelin, a mother of three who treats alcohol stress; Risto Pekki, who uses Tinder diligently; and the passionate Ilves fan Markku Kaatio. Half a year has passed since the events of the first season. The bomb that exploded at the wedding of Luttinen and Taru has left its mark, and the author, Kai Hurme, has fled abroad, avoiding the police. During the season, Koskinen and the team will face a series of drownings, a series of strange persecutions in the neighborhood of Kaleva's "Great Wall of China", a cycle of exploitation and vengeful violence across the country, and the head of a man found on the stairs of Tampere City Hall.
A computer virus has been attached to the Tampere tramway control. Virus messes up the entire test-phase operation of the tramway and causes a power outage.
As if Koskinen wasn't busy enough, a nightmare scenario takes place in the Hervanta area, Tampere: a 16-year-old girl is found strangled with a fishing line.
Koskinen's former colleague Roine has been admitted to a mental hospital. When the patients start to die of strange heart attacks, the old criminal investigator's suspicions are aroused.
The Violent Crimes Department is put in a tough spot when an unknown body turns up in the west side of Tampere. He had no chance of escaping the attacker because he was in a wheelchair.
A peculiar gang of disabled men have made the assisted living centre their home. Soon another attack takes place and a terminally ill woman, has no chance to escape from the killer's clutches.
An old man is beaten within an inch of his life in the Nekala area of Tampere and arson takes place in Hervanta. The main suspects are a teen gang. Soon one of the gang members turns up dead.
Chief inspector Koskinen and his team start investigating this senseless series of crimes. It is not an easy assignment, and it also causes distress in the youth caught up in the situation.
The body of a drowned man is dragged up from the Tammerkoski rapids. Although the man was found in Lake Näsijärvi, he was not drowned in lake water but well water, and the marks found on his wrists are determined to be caused by a rope.
Koskinen and his son are sailing near the area where the first body was found and Koskinen gets an idea and goes to investigate a nearby cluster of islands. Koskinen unwittingly puts Antti in great danger.
An uninvited guest visits people's flats and leaves behind threatening messages. A resident who has been stalking and terrorizing his neighbours is found killed in his flat. Almost every resident in the house has a motive.
As the investigation progresses, only a few suspects remain. A young girl's tragic suicide in another part of the city indirectly provides Koskinen with the missing piece of the puzzle.
A bachelor living a quiet life has been stabbed in his flat and he swears he did not know the attacker. Koskinen gets on the trail of crimes that have been committed all over Finland in which lonely men have died or gone missing.
The perpetrators turn out to be two women swindling money from lonely men. The women are not only driven by a lust for money but also their desire to take revenge on their victims for the humiliations they suffered in their previous lives.
Environmentalist opposing to an artificial lake that's being planned in Lake Näsijärvi demonstrate against the project and go on hunger strike. The demonstrators are attacked violently.
Koskinen finds out the spiral of violence related to the case began years ago. The Mayor's twin brother has gone missing. The case gets a horrifying twist when a severed finger is found between the pages of the Constitution of Finland.
The finger found in the library belongs to the mayor's brother. A headless body is found at the foot of the Mannerheim monument. The police receive a threat about five bombs having been armed around Tampere.
The retired Roine gets interested in the case, finds the group behind the acts and gets captured by them. The group intends to execute the mayor of Tampere at the town hall square and live stream their declaration of war online.
Memos left by Vanninen lead Koskinen and his team deeper to the exposure the crime reporter was working on. Trail lead Koskikeskus, where gunfight breaks out between police and Estonian mafia.
While investigating the boy's death Koskinen also has to deal with spiral of revenge between two businessmen. The cases are intertwined in a surprising way.
Pekki's upcoming wedding is a cause of stress. Meanwhile, police have difficulty comprehending the motive of gruesome string of assaults and murders made using a crowbar. Amid all Koskinen has strained relationship with his son.
Koskinen finds out that he has information leak in his team. However he makes progress on the case of masked serial killer putting himself and his family on mortal danger.