Career
Mäki published his first novel Enkelipölyä in 1985. His most well-known character is private detective Jussi Vares who was first introduced in the novel Moukanpeli released in 1986. A total of 25 novels about Jussi Vares have been published to date (in addition to his other non-Vares books).
All novels take place in the portuary city of Turku, and in its grim granite jail, Kakola prison (maximum security prison, abandoned in 2007, see ).
Nine of the Vares novels have been made into feature films. The first two (2004-2007) feature Juha Veijonen as Jussi Vares.
The next seven (2011-2015) feature Antti Reini. The first six of these (2011-2012) have been released on Digital Video Disc in Region 1.
Some films have been released in movie theaters in Finland and some straight-to-Digital Video Disc. Mäki is one of the most influential modern Finnish authors.
His most recent novel Cowboy was released in 2014 and is the final book in a trilogy (the other two are Sheriffi and Intiaani).