One of Palmu's most notorious techniques for solving crimes is baiting the murderer to reveal his/herself. For instance, he has Virta reveal that a suspect spent the night at the mansion of the deceased victim in order to smoke out the murderer whose identity he has already deduced, but he needs to catch him red-handed in order to have him arrested. This, and Palmu's bluntness, often lead to arguments between him and Virta, whom Palmu constantly keeps in the dark and talks down to. Nevertheless, Palmu shows respect for Virta's abilities. Palmu has a tendency to take credit for Virta's ideas, but he also turns to him whenever he has trouble remembering sophisticated terminology. Virta eventually rises to outrank Palmu by the time of "The Stars Will Tell, Inspector Palmu". Despite their differences, Virta has a level of respect for Palmu and even takes a bullet for him in the first movie.