The Burning Stones
By Antti Tuomainen
Translated By David Hackston

After very much enjoying the quirkiness of The Rabbit Factor Trilogy, which drew me into a different type of Scandi-Noir I hadn’t seen before and enjoyed a little more than the traditional bleakness of it, I jumped at the chance to review The Burning Stones, thanks to Orenda Books for gifting me a copy.
Set in a sauna, you may never see a spa treatment in the same light again…
Find below the blurb and my review as well as buy links.

Blurb

Saunas, love and a ladleful of murder…

A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered … in the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death?

The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam Devil.

And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough, Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…

From the international bestselling author of The Man Who Died and The Rabbit Factor, comes a darkly funny, delightfully tense new thriller that showcases humanity at its most bare – in middle age, suspected of murder and, of course, in a sauna…

Review

I was pleased to see that Antti Tuomainen hasn’t deviated from the quirkiness. He used to write darker material pre-Rabbit Factor, but I feel he has really found his niche in taking Scandi-Noir and turning what you think you know about it on its head.

Anni works at the Sauna, Steam Devil. It’s a great name, I reckon. Anni is out to clear her name. The CEO has been murdered. It seems there’s definitely potential weapons we, now rather ironically think of as tools for wellbeing in a sauna…
Aside from that, Anni is quite a normal person, with her marriage in a bit of a rut with her Formula 1 loving husband. She could be the successor, so presents with motive, but so could anyone and all the staff upped their game when retirement was announced, but if she didn’t commit murder, then who did?

Weaving domestic life with a murder mystery is done rather well in The Burning Stones, with added dark humour. This is what Antti Tuomainen creates rather well, making it so easy to get hooked in. It really works so well and changes everything in this genre.

The Burning Stones is great for anyone wanting light relief, but still some dark mystery to solve, whether you’ve read this author previous or not and for those who like The Rabbit Factor.

Whether you’re a fan of Scandi-Noir or not, Antti Tuomainen may just change your mind or add to your reading of this genre.