Antti Tuomainen's novels are darkly funny crime capers, and set in his native Finland. The Winter Job won the 2026 CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, and his latest novel The Fresh Cut was Finnish Crime Novel of the Year. It was published in the UK on the 5th of November 2026.
Describe your latest book in one sentence.
A sawmill operator in southeastern Finland gets entangled with the local gangster and the gangster’s supposedly murdered wife and finds love after a difficult period in life. It’s really a Finnish Midsummer Night’s romance with a few murders thrown in. And some lumber.
What soundtrack do you suggest readers should listen to while they read your latest book?
What a great question. It really does vary from book to book. This time I listened to so many different kinds of music while writing the book, everything from Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue to older AC/DC. But mostly I think I listened to Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, Lydia Loveless etc. Rootsy, twangy stuff. (Funny how it goes – now that I’m writing a new book I notice I’m listening to a lot of older punk music, Ramones, etc.).
What's next?
There’s going to be a series about a Helsinki crime family in the 1980s. It’s another dark crime comedy.
What was the first book you remember reading?
I suppose they were Richard Scarry’s children’s books. Good stuff. Then there were Finnish boys’ adventure books. The first ‘real’ book might have been S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. One of the firsts, anyway.
Please list your top five all-time favourite books (any genre)
I don’t really have all-time favourite books. Everything is always changing in my mind, and different things seem more important or better or just more to my liking at different times. But five books that either made me want to become a writer or influenced me as I was starting out were (and I’m excluding Finnish books as they are not available in English):
- A Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Celine
- Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- My Life as a Man by Philip Roth
- Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
- The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
What is the most underrated crime novel, and why does it deserve more attention?
Scott Phillips: That Left Turn at Albuquerque. A darkly funny, intelligent and ultimately moving noir novel about a not-so-perfect guy trying to make things right. Phillips had a big hit with his first novel The Ice Harvest, but has written other equally great books such as Rake and the aforementioned Albuquerque.
The Gumshoe Dude sneaks into your latest story while you’re not looking. What is he doing there?
Well, as I’m presently writing about a crime family getting ready to rob a place, I suppose GD is looking to either bust them or get in on the action… But both of those might prove dangerous, I have to warn...
And now for the quick questions:
Top book on your TBR (to-be-read)
Frédéric Gros: A Philosophy of Walking
Poirot or Rebus?
Full disclosure: I know Ian. So, Rebus.
Keyboard or pen?
Both, actually.
Audio or E-book?
E-book.
If you turn on the radio now, what station is playing?
I haven’t listened to radio in years. I do hear it in taxis from time to time. It’s always something I don’t recognise.
And finally, your writing beverage of choice?
Yorkshire Tea. Happily, it is now available in Finland as well.
Questions ©Bonnie Burke-Patel and Anneli Meeder; Responses ©Antti Tuomainen, author photo ©Antti Tuomainen
