The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen – blog tour

Translated by David Hackston

I’m delighted to be helping to lead off the blog tour for Antti Tuomainen’s latest novel, a standalone murder mystery set in the world of saunas, all done with his surefire comic touch. Once again, in 53-year-old Anni Korpinen, as with Henri Koskinen in Tuomainen’s wonderful Rabbit Factor Trilogy, he has created a narrator that we’ll root for from the start and care for instantly.

Saunas are an integral and important part of the Finnish way of life I read in wikipedia, which explains at length their tradition and how they work, including the all important stove. I say this because The Burning Stones is set in Steam Devil, a company that manufactures said items – high quality, artisanal-made, wood-burning stoves with unique features such as a handle to the wood burning compartment that doesn’t get hot!

Anni is top in the sales league, and is about to close a big order for 64 stoves with a builder, when a tragedy happens that rather puts the builder, a fan of true crime drama, off his stride. Ilmo Räty was about to be appointed as CEO of Steam Devil. He was taking a sauna in his garden cabin by the lake, and found himself locked inside by a black-garbed intruder, who kept loading the stove with more wood – baking him to his death with superheated steam and for the cabin to burn to the ground. The police believed it was deliberate.

Anni was unable to close the deal that day, and on her drive back, ruminates about what happened. At 75, Erkki ‘The Stove King’ Ruusula, who founded Steam Devil and was its main shareholder had announced his intention to retire to the Costa del Sol. His annointed successor Ilmo had ruffled some feathers when he said that relocating the company might improve its waning fortunes. Anni believed that as artisanal makers, their village setting was the key, moving would end in the company being bought out by a larger concern.

Of course, this doesn’t look good for Anni. And then when Erkki announces that he will pick another successor soon, and that Anni is currently in top place, she is definitely the prime suspect for many. Of course Anni didn’t do it! We’re on her side. It does make for an awkward interview though when police officer Janne, her old flame from her twenties, has to ask the questions. We can tell he doesn’t believe it either, and we hope that both are secretly holding a torch for each other but can’t admit it, especially once we meet Anni’s waster of a husband, Santeri. He collects, buys and sells F1 merchandise and memorabilia – making a fortune from socks ‘signed’ by Finnish racing driver hero Mika Häkkinen. Santeri has been acting very strangely lately – could he have been involved?

The mystery of Ilmo’s death is one that Anni is going to have to investigate by herself. She has no alibi, having been on her own that night and having a sauna in her own lakeside cabin. Janne’s boss is convinced that she has motive too. Can she solve the whodunnit in time before she is arrested and jailed? Which of her colleagues could be involved? The accounts lady; Erkki’s odd male secretary; the man who makes the stoves; or the marketing lady amongst other perhaps? The clock is ticking…

Then there is the case of the missing ‘bumlets’. I can hear you asking, ‘What is a bumlet?’ (See the Urban dictionary definition and derivation here). Simply, it’s a square of cloth you sit on when naked in the sauna to keep the benches clean! Some of Annie’s monogrammed linen ones are missing, and a remnant was found in Ilmo’s burnt-out cabin! Another nail in the coffin so to speak!

I’ve never had a sauna, but I learned a lot about them from this novel! Tuomainen milks all the comedy he can get from this unlikely source, succeeding well, and as we’d expect he also uses all the internal politics and the differing personalities of Anni’s colleagues to great advantage. Add to this the will-they-won’t-they-get-back-together-again romance between Anni and Janne, and the oddness of what Santeri is doing, and the situation is completely set for a very enjoyable mystery indeed. Although there are gruesome murders, there is a certain cosiness to proceedings which again adds to the fun. I also love the way that Tuomainen and his regular translator are able to keep the action to fewer than 300 pages which keeps things taut, the suspense high and the plot moving on.

I’m not now a sauna expert, but somehow, I think it unlikely that there’s scope for a further mystery for Anni to get involved in while she remains at Steam Devil – unless they diversify! As a standalone The Burning Stones is super, I very much enjoyed it.

Source: Review copy – thank you. Orenda Hardback, 276 pages, pub 24 Oct.

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