Antti Tuomainen is one of those writers who I'd be able to recognise blindfolder (well, I guess I could if it was an audiobook)

Bitingly sharp, witty and highly observant with a strangely cold but still inviting style of writing that I've never found anywhere else. Immaculate settings, fast moving paces and every little detail always have a reason without a single line wasted.

Not a bad mystery but does read kind of slow. The start took a bit to ramp up. But over time the reader falls for Anni and her ruminating. High marks for the word bumlet.

People are dying in bizarre ways, a mysterious killer is on the lose at a Sauna company and the poor narrator being accused of the murders are just trying to make sense of it all with the driest humor.

3 stars for me. At first I was pretty confused - the writing style threw me off a bit, but once I got into the rhythm, things started to click. I really enjoyed the investigative elements and the thrill of trying to piece together the killer's identity. The murders ? Definitely bizarre. The reason? Even stranger. But somehow, its all made sense in a darkly humorous way. What didn't work for me was the ending. It felt rushed, like the final scene got snipped mid-chase. I would have loved to see the actual moment of justice. Still, I'd recommend it to mystery fans who appreciate a bit of oddball flair in their crime fiction.

A senior executive of a sauna company, due to take over from the current aging CEO is found burnt to death in his own sauna. But who is responsible? As the investigation progresses, Anni Korpinen, now the favourite to become the company's next CEO is a prime suspect. She knows she's innocent, so she must do everything in her power to solve the case and prove her innocence. This Finnish nursery mystery is very much a light hearted quick, easy read.

Normally I love reading translated works but I struggled a little with this book, which is the reason I didn't rate it 4 stars. I'm unsure if it was the translation itself as the writing came across a little stilted to me. Having said that, overall the storyline is darkly humourous and quite enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Antti Tuomainen once again proves he's the king of quirky noir with The Burning Stones. Blending crime, comedy, and a healthy dose of existential dread, this book walks a tightrope between suspense and absurdity—and never loses its balance. The protagonist is delightfully offbeat, the plot unpredictable without being incoherent, and the setting oozes atmosphere.

Tuomainen's signature dark humor is alive and well here, making even the grimmest situations feel oddly charming. If Kafka opened a detective agency in Finland, it might read something like this. That said, the pacing dips slightly in the middle, and a few threads could have used a tighter knot—but the originality and wit more than make up for it.

A refreshing, clever read that stands out in a crowded genre. Four stars, and a sly grin.

I received this story as an ARC from NetGalley.

I have just finished this story and I have mixed feelings. I enjoyed the story but it was as if bits were missing, for example the climactic ending it just happened and then moved on.

The story follows Anni as the fore runner for the new CEO of the sauna company she works, following the step down of the current CEO. However she isn't the only person going for the job and one of these people, have just turned up dead.

I liked the dark humour, and how this was used throughout the story.

This was the first book I’ve read from this author, and I will be reading more. I really liked how the book started out with action and immediately drew you into the book. I also liked that the characters were quirky and had their own personalities, I feel like I don’t read that very often anymore. I also unlocked a new fear of saunas. I definitely recommend anyone interested in a murder mystery.

this book was pretty good! i like the way the author adds the humor and dark humor in a serious topic or scenario. I think it was well weritten, it had a few unrealistic situations, but it was good overall. I liked it!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

Comic Nordic noir, about the 50ish employee of a Sauna company whose coworkers keep dying around her. It has a good sense of place, this small Finnish town and the oversized impact of its Sauna company. I never fully invested in the mystery, but enjoyed the world enough to go on the journey.

I wanted to like this one - it felt like a completely different slant on the classic contemporary whodunit, and the darkly comedic potential was clear. Unfortunately, I could not get into the story at all. There is rather a lot about saunas and stoves - more so than, frankly, I needed or wanted, and it felt like it came at the expense of driving the plot forward. This one just wasn't a good fit for me.

Antti Tuomainen is a master at blending dark humor with the Nordic noir genre, creating a story that is both completely absurd and strangely relatable at the same time. It's one of the reasons I couldn't resist adding The Burning Stones to my shelves... I mean: a murder inside a sauna?! I just HAVE to know more about that! And while the story itself was a tad too light on the absurdness to my taste, I still had an excellent time discovering the truth behind the sauna murder.

I admit that I'm not a big sauna fan in real life, but sauna business sure does make for a great backdrop for this story and it also provides us with some pretty hilarious situations as well as crafty murders along the way. It is also something typical of Antti Tuomainen: taking a small town and a local business and turning it into something so much more. The fact that the characters in play mostly seem like ordinary people makes it so much easier to relate to them, with certain information then crossing the line to the more unique, quirky or absurd. In a way I wish there would have been more absurdness to be honest... Sure, we have Santeri's obsession with all things Formula One, Erkki's quirky behavior that disguises something more and Kahavuori thinking that he can solve the crime because he watches a lot of true crime, but it was all rather mild compared to some of his other stories.

The plot itself is basically the main character Anni trying to discover who is behind the murder before she is arrested for the crime herself. After all, she is the only one who KNOWS she is innocent after all. Since she is by no means a real detective, this of course leads to a lot of complicated situations... I do wish Anni's character would have been a little more interesting; sure, she has that dark secret of what happened 30 years ago hanging over her, but otherwise her character was rather bland for an Antti Tuomainen book. Not that I wasn't rooting for her... I could have done without the cheating element though.

This book might not be for everyone, but if you love dark humor sprinkled with a healthy dose of crime and a Finnish setting, The Burning Stones might just be the book for you. It's definitely not every day that a murder takes place inside an actual sauna! This book has reminded me that I really have to find time to return to his backlist some time soon.

This book was great, but it wasn’t what I expected at all. I picked it up because all the blurbs talked about how funny it was. Maybe I have a totally different sense of humor, but I didn’t think it was funny at all, other than maybe the jellybeans and the turkey. Two moments in the whole book. Now, this isn’t a big deal for me. I read serious books all the time. It’s the majority of what I read. But I grabbed this one specifically because I thought it would be a mystery with some hilarious hijinks, as it was advertised. Maybe something like The Booking Agents series or the Bless Your Heart series. No such luck here. With that being said, it was still an entertaining read despite being slow at times. I did find some of the dialogue to be awkward and stilted, but I’m wondering if that was more due to the translation process than a lack of writing skill. The rest of the book wasn’t like that. As far as the characters, oh boy! None of them seem to like each other and their interactions were very odd. It was hard to really like any of them, although Anni was the more likable of all of them. The only thing I genuinely didn’t understand for the life of me: if Anni was a suspect in not one, but two murders, why did she not get a lawyer? Why? Unless Finnish law works completely different than everywhere else, it seemed like a lost opportunity to add tension to some of the slower sections. But if you like Finnish mysteries and a bit of a slow burn, this book might be for you!

3.5 stars rounded up.

Huge thanks to Orenda Books and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my
Copy of this book.

Anni sells stoves for saunas. When her colleagues is murdered, she is the top suspect. Why is someone setting her up, she needs to figure it out!

This book was ok. I struggled with a bit and it nearly end up in my could not finish pile. I just didn’t care enough about the characters, or see the appeal of the sauna stoves. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. And that’s ok!

Loved this novel. Read it in three days. Hooked me from the first chapter. Will be recommending.
Did not see that ending coming.

3.5* rounded up.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is a cosy mystery set in a small company which designs and manufacture stoves for saunas. I learnt a lot about saunas while reading this, including the existence of 'bumlets'. The Finnish setting was strong and the translation excellent. Anni, a long time executive at the company sets out to prove her innocence as her colleagues are murdered and the police suspect her. That is, one of the police officers does; the other is a man she was engaged to decades ago. Then there is her husband who spends all his time watching historic Formula 1 races and buying and selling related memorabilia (or is that all he is doing?)

This was a quick easy read and I liked Anni. I didn't find it quite as humorous as the blurbs led me to expect, but there were moments, and the ending was satisfactory. I would read more by this author.

I don’t know if it was the original text or the translation which worked its magic, but the way this is written is absolutely divine. The author creates a realistic world in which an unlikely series of murders happens, and somehow the absurdity of the situation is balanced perfectly with a sense of near pathos about the passing of time and what it means. A seemingly mundane setting and ordinary people become compelling in the context of a series of sauna-related murders. I didn’t expect to be so entranced by this book, but I just couldn’t put it down.

Just could not get into it. Read half way thru and abandoned. Nothing happens or it happens slowly. And very Finnish centric. You can give it a try-you may think otherwise.

When her colleague is burned alive in a sauna, Anni soon realises that it is up to her to solve the case and prove that she is not the killer. As if she doesn't have enough to worry about with her long-term client refusing to buy the stoves she needs to sell to make her promotion, her boss acting less and less like himself, her husband locking himself away with old Formula One races, and her ex-fiancé investigating her for murder...

Antti Tuomainen is one of my favourite authors because you never know what to expect from him. The Burning Stones takes its title from the saunas at the heart of the book; as a pastime and form of employment for Anni and her colleagues, who manufacture and sell sauna stoves, and as not only a setting for murder but also the murder weapon itself. I'm not actually a huge fan of saunas, but even I was tempted by the evocative descriptions of characters ladling water onto fire and feeling the heat seep into their muscles. What I particularly loved about this focus is that it's easy for readers of all kinds to imagine and yet it's also a peculiarly Finnish custom, which is exactly the kind of thing that I read translated fiction for.

The Burning Stones also features plenty of Tuomainen's trademark humour (in case you couldn't already tell that from the book's synopsis), which made this page-turning mystery a highly entertaining read. I particularly loved the suspicious cast of characters who people this mystery, each of whom Anni investigates in turn, and who kept me guessing until the very end. If you haven't read any of this author's books before, The Burning Stones is as good a place to start as any.

Thank you to NetGalley, Antti Tuomainen and Independent Publishers Group for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I thought this book had a unique concept and beautiful setting. The humour was right up my alley from the very beginning and I was immediately intrigued to see where it went.

The storyline and main character were strong. Particular highlights for supporting characters were Janne and Erkki. Where this book fell short for me was having too many characters to follow. There wasn’t enough differentiation between some of the supporting characters for me to remember who was who and really try to solve the murder myself ahead of the reveal.

I’d recommend this book for fans of whodunnits that want a humorous twist on the genre.

A very tongue in cheek whodunit that I would have enjoyed so much more if it was in audio or TTS enabled (vision problems, not translation issues). David Hackston is to be commended for his translation. It's a fine gigglefest of a mystery with the sauna being both the instrument of murder and a real joy to experience. Rally hope to be able to buy an audio!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley/PDF from Independent Publishers Group | Orenda Books via NetGalley. Avail Apr 29 2025
#TheBurningStones by @anttituomainen #NetGalley @countertenorist #witty #cozymystery @goodreads @bookbub @librarythingofficial @barnesandnoble @waterstones ****Review @booksamillion @bookshop_org @bookshop_org_uk @kobo @filifinnishliterature @ipgbook @orendabooks #middleageissues #amateursleuth