Palm Beach, Finland (2017) by Antti Tuomainen
Good Reads meta-data is 332 pages rated 3.66 by litizens.
Genre: krimi.
DNA: Finland.
Verdict: Loved it.
Tagline: Goofy did it!
It is all in the title. An enterprising entrepreneur, enthused by an MBA to think big and bold outside the box (aka reality), opens a resort on the Baltic Coast of Finland. He has invested in cabanas, floats, sailboards, tanning mirrors, sand pails, outsized towels, surfboards, pedal boats, sunbrellas, banana chairs, floppy hats, the whole Waikiki beach shebang. However, banks do not lend outside the box, so he borrows the money outside the box of legality. The debt collectors cometh.
She works there as a life saver, never mind that few can swim in the Baltic Sea…and survive without wearing two wet suits even in high summer. Beach resorts must have lifeguards. Having inherited her father’s cottage nearby and jobs are few, lifeguard it is for her, while she sets about renovating the house. Then one day she came home from work and to find a deadman in her open doorway. Who was he? Why was he there? What happened to him? Will there be more trouble? WTF?
It makes no sense to her, and so she gets on with her life. The local plods are at a loss and so in the time-honoured tradition of real life, they blame the victim, no not him, her. They begin surveillance, not to protect her from another incursion, but to implicate her in the crime. To add to the fun, they call her in for questioning time and again hoping to catch her in a contradiction. All this pointless activity is noticed at the National Crime Agency which sends in an uncover agent to sort things out.
While Undercover is chatting her up in a bar, her garden shed explodes. Ditto WTF! Undercover is pretty sure she had nothing to do with this second event, but the local plod are sure she did…. Another touch of realism when the cops work against each other rather than the krims.
I enjoyed the trip through the north woods, and the portrayal of the Laurel and Hardy villains. But, mystery remains, I never did grok why Anton was there in the first place. Maybe I blinked.