Indrek Hargla, real name Indrek Sootak, is one of Estonia's most important science fiction and mystery writers. His "Apothecary Melchior" series has become a movie series, the first of which is the most successful film in Estonian cinema history. The story revolves around a pharmacist who must uncover the truth behind a terrible wave of murders in medieval Tallinn.

"I don't write psychological realism or any of that real or serious literature, I write crime, and I've tried a little science fiction," Hargla, who studied law and worked in the Estonian Foreign Ministry before becoming a professional writer, said.

His first stories were published in 1998, when he was 28 years old. "I always admired literature, so I slowly started writing stories and novels, and I really began to enjoy it. Of course, I can't pick up my writings from the late 90s and early 2000s; they're terrible."

Genre is important, but not necessarily essential. "Perhaps the essence of literature is an arc of sensibility, ideas, and technique. I've shifted my priorities so that technique is now most important to me, and I've only started to feel comfortable with it in my writing in the last six or seven years," he said.

"Science fiction is best at asking the three most fundamental questions of humanity: Where do we come from, does God exist, and where do we go from here? Through science fiction you can get the most realistic answers," he said.

The Melchior series has not become a literary event in Estonia, Hargla said.

"It's very much a 'whodunit,' and in Estonia detective fiction is such an inferior genre that the mainstream media doesn't really want to deal with it. Melchior didn't get any coverage or reviews in the Estonian mainstream press. It's the kind of indie fiction that is more for mystery fans," he continued. "These books are even better known in Finland than in Estonia. The Finns have no problem recognizing crime fiction as literature."

Melchior's eighth book will be published next year. "Right now, he's still young and tough. I think he definitely has 10 to 15 years left in him," he said of the protagonist.

Melchior is also being translated into Arabic and Ukrainian, and the first book in the series has just been published in Greek. "'Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St. Olaf's Church' is probably the worst book in Estonian literature that has been translated into so many languages," he said.

"Apothecary Melchior and the Mystery of St. Olaf's Church" has been adapted as the film "Apothecary Melchior," released in 2022.

"I've read Lennart Meri's 'Silver White' several times since the language is so pure. The Estonian language of the 1970s and 80s is much more literary than today's," Hargla said of the writers who inspired him.

"I'm not part of the larger literary scene here; I'm more of an indie writer, writing exactly what I find interesting, what I hope others will appreciate, and what hasn't been done before," he said about his future plans. "But crime fiction, let alone science fiction, will probably not be considered real literature in Estonia in the near future. We just have to accept this, there is no point in fighting it," he said.

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