Helene Tursten (born in Gothenburg on February 17, 1954) is a Swedish writer of crime fiction. The main character in her stories is Detective Inspector Irene Huss. Before becoming an author, Tursten worked as a nurse and then a dentist, but was forced to leave due to illness. During her illness she worked as a translator of medical articles.
Tursten has also written two non-Irene Huss books.
Several films have been made derived from Tursten's works featuring Irene Huss, produced by Illusion Films and Yellow Bird Films. These are in Swedish with Danish and English sub-titles.
Irene Huss movies are a collection of films about a fictional Swedish police played by Angela Kovács. A total of twelve 90-minute films produced between the years 2007 to 2011. All but three movies based on the books of the same name titles, written by author Helene Tursten. The last three films have been produced based instead on the books' characters and are thus independent stories. Films set in the Gothenburg area, where viewers get to follow both Irene Huss in the work as a police officer but also in her family, which are often strongly influenced by her work.
The twelve films were made in two installments; a first round in which the films were released in 2007-2008 and then a second round in which the films were released in 2011. All films except the first one was released directly on DVD, while the first film went up to the cinema before it was released on DVD. The films have also been shown countless times on Kanal 5 in Sweden and ARD in Germany, as these have been some of the financiers to the movies. Johan Fälemark and Hillevi Råberg were film producers in the first season while Daniel Ahlqvist added as the third film producer in the second season.