The Man Who Died

When Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko discovers that he has been slowly poisoned, he sets out to find his would-be murderer … with dark and hilarious results. The critically acclaimed standalone thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir…

***Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year***

***Shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award***

Right up there with the bestTimes Literary Supplement

Deftly plotted, poignant and perceptive in its wry reflections on mortality and very funnyIrish Times

Told in a darkly funny, deadpan style … The result is a rollercoaster read in which the farce has some serious and surprisingly philosophical underpinningsGuardian

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A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just thirty-seven years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that hes dying. Whats more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him.

Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists.

With a nod to Fargo and the best elements of the Scandinavian noir tradition, The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller brimming with the blackest comedy surrounding life and death, and love and betrayal, marking a stunning new departure for the King of Helsinki Noir.

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The deadpan icy sensibility of Nordic noir is combined here with warm-blooded, often surreal, humour. Like the death cap mushroom, Tuomainens dark story manages to be as delicious as it is toxicSunday Express

An offbeat jewel … relentlessly funnyDon Crinklaw, Publishers Weekly

You dont expect to laugh when youre reading about terrible crimes, but thats what youll do when you pick up one of Tuomainens decidedly quirky thrillersNew York Times

A bizarre, twisty, darkly comic novel about a man investigating his own murder … a tightly paced Scandinavian thriller with a wicked sense of humourForeword Reviews

Smart, sensitive, and engaging, and guaranteed to be unlike anything else in your crime fiction library … the perfect blend of thrills, investigation, character development, and comedyCrime by the Book

Hugely entertaining and satisfying … like Carl Hiassen transported to Finland. Its full of black comedy and has an unlikely hero in Jaakko, who youll root for to the very endKevin Wignall, author of A Death in Sweden

A delightful mad caper of a story, which will make readers snort out loud with laughter and would have made an excellent 1930s screwball comedy directed by Frank CapraCrime Fiction Lover

Combines a startlingly clever opening, a neat line in dark humour and a unique Scandinavian sensibility. A fresh and witty readChris Ewan

Dark and thrilling, funny and intelligent, this Fargo-like novel contains lethal doses of humour … and mushroomsSofi Oksanen, author of Purge

A book I will never forgetMatt Wesolowski

This one is a winner right from the first sentenceBooklist

Antti Tuomainen is a wonderful writer, whose characters, plots and atmosphere are masterfully drawnYrsa Sigurðardóttir