fullybooked2017

Anni Korpinen is sales director at a firm called Steam Devils. They make stoves for saunas and are based in the little Finnish town of Phutijärvi. She is 53 years old, and married to a waster called Santeri. He is obsessed with historic F1 motor racing, and spends most of his time replaying classic races via scratched VHS tapes. He also buys and sells F1 memorabilia, such as socks reputedly worn by Mika Haakinen. Sadly, he never turns a profit.

When the new CEO of Steam Devils, Ilmo Räty, is found burned to a cinder in his own sauna, the hunt is on for his killer. When the firm’s founder, Erkki Russula, calls a meeting and states that he sees Anni as the obvious successor to Räty, she becomes the person with most to gain from his death. Key personnel at Steam Devils include:
Susanna Luoto – Finance Manager
Mirka Paarmajarvi – Logistics Manager
Jarkko Mutikallio – CEO’s PA
Porkka – Technical Director
Kaarlo – Senior Advisor

Of course, the sauna is completely central to Finnish culture, and part of the accoutrements are little squares of towel cloth which separate the bum cheeks from the wooden bench, and are essential both for hygiene and preventing the skin from becoming stuck to the wood. They are known, at least in English, as ‘bumlets’. When one of the bumlets from Anni’s home sauna, conveniently embroidered with her name, is found in the vicinity of Ilmo Räty’s sauna, she knows she is in big trouble. Reijo Kiimalainen is the community’s senior policeman, and he harbours a grudge against the Korpinen family. Many years ago, both he and Anni’s late father had both been stalking the same elk, the largest in the local forest. The hunting season started at 6.00 am, and at precisely one minute past, Anni’s father shot the beast. Ever since then, Kiimalainen has been convinced that skulduggery had taken place.

Once Anni realises that she is prime suspect in the Rati murder case, she does what all wrongly accused prime suspects do (at least in crime novels) – she turns detective. Although she realises that she is not Sherlock Holmes, but a stove retailer, she is intelligent and resourceful. Her investigations take her to an abandon resort with a sauna the size of a sports stadium, and here she witnesses another sauna related death. This time the victim – the engineer Porkka – is stabbed in the head with the sharpened metal handle of a ladle used to sprinkle water on the hot stones which are an integral part of Finnish saunas.

Anni’s task is made more complicating by the strange behaviour of Kahavuori, a holiday complex owner, to whom Anni had been hoping to sell 64 sauna stoves. When he hears of the death of Raty, he refuses to close the deal. Instead, he adopts what seems to be a very unhealthy obsession with finding the killer. The problem is that Kahavuori is an ardent fan of True Crime documentaries, and he has a vivid imagination. When Anni catches him snooping in her sauna, she clouts him with a lump of wood. When he recovers consciousness, he outlines his theory, and Anni wonders if the crack on the head hasn’t further addled his brain

There is a genuinely touching backstory behind the hunt for the murderer. They are both in their fifties now, but three decades earlier, Anni and policeman Janne were engaged and in love. It was Anni who handed back the ring, but now, as Janne reveals that Anni’s husband Santeri is not the clueless bungler she thinks he is, events take an unexpected turn.

On the cover of the book is a quote from The Times: “Tuomainen is the funniest writer in Europe.” He may well be, but humour is a complex business and takes many forms. I don’t think you will be belly laughing as you read The Burning Stones, and I do wonder how well humour in one language survives translation into another, but I did enjoy the sheer freakery-geekery of Santeria and his idiotic obsession with old motor races. Is he mad? Probably not in a medical sense, but I did wonder why Anni married him in the first place. That aside, The Burning Stones is a beautifully written and engaging murder mystery. It is translated by David Hackston, published by Orenda Books and available now. You can find out more about Antti Tuomainen on social media – he is @antti_tuomainen on X, and on Facebook facebook.com/AnttiTuomainen