Antti Tuomainen

Palm Beach Finland by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston is a combination Finnish crime suspense and comedy story that centers on the bungling of a trio of rather inept villains who accidentally murder someone while attempting to intimidate the owner of a house into selling her property to them. The boss of the trio has reopened an old summer camp, designed it to honor the 1980s American television show called Miami Vice and named it Palm Beach Finland in order to entice vacationers to the resort. He has big plans and has no intention of allowing anything or anybody to disrupt his plans.

Along with the clumsy criminals, we have Olivia, the owner of the house and Jan the undercover detective sent to investigate the crime. The story moves along quickly with plenty of comic situations as well as some tense and rather violent moments. Mostly the author keeps his story to the lighter side and relies on amusing dialogue, and slapstick situations to move the story along.

I enjoyed Palm Beach Finland although I did have a little difficulty keeping so many Finnish characters straight. Also a few of the characters were operating under assumed names which added to the confusion. While I usually prefer my crime stories to have a little more depth and darkness, this comic noir made a nice change of pace for me.… (more)

The Man Who Died functions as a darkly comic riff on the DOA narrative. A guy has been poisoned, and before he dies he needs to find out who did it. Add in the intricate details of the mushroom industry, poor eating habits, infidelity, and a missing samurai sword, and you've got yourself a stew!
Be warned, this book is absolutely disgusting. Its vision of the human body is of a fleshy tube covered in fluid-spewing orifices. Fair enough I suppose.
The best comparison in terms of style and tone is Dave Barry's novels from the late 90s and early 00s, Big Trouble and Tricky Business. Spicy, gross, comic misadventures packed with authorial voice. Definitely not for everyone, but some will get a real kick out of this one.… (more)