An intricately constructed locked-room murder mystery that demands your full attention or you'll be lost quickly in its multiple characters, subplots, and flashbacks. Joel Rinne is a delight as the wily Inpsector Palmu, and he is surrounded by an effective supporting cast, with Elina Pohjanpää especially cute as Irma. There may be a tad too much talk in this film, but the sheer novelty of watching a Finnish production, and a well-done at that, in this genre is enough to hold your attention. It was followed by three sequels, all with the same star and director, and I am sufficiently motivated to check out at least the first of them and see how it goes. The title is a bit strange, though - I didn't see any "error" on Palmu's part. *** out of 4.

By all accounts prolific Finnish writer Mika Waltari suffered from manic depression and should he have seen the Hollywood version of his great historical novel 'The Egyptian' his condition could only have been exacerbated. By way of contrast his contribution to the crime genre, the Inspector Kalmu Trilogy, has been brought to the screen with tremendous flair and imagination by fellow Finn Matti Kassila and features one of his country's most respected artistes Joel Rinne as the bluff detective, made up to bear a remarkable resemblance to Joseph Stalin which may or may not have been coincidental.

The second in the trilogy, it is the first to be filmed and the modus operandi of the 'murder mystery' is on full display here with its twists and turns, red herrings galore and an ensemble of deliciously diverse characters, some of whom verge on the caricature. Kassila has choreographed his players well, the pacing is spot on and Osmo Lindeman's score suitably bizarre.

It has been voted by Finnish critics and journalists as Finland's greatest film but this viewer is not sufficiently well up on that country's cinema to judge whether this status be justified.

This inventive, darkly humorous pastiche is eminently watchable however and has the advantage of being sub-titled. How best to describe it? The phrase 'Agatha Christie on steroids' springs to mind.