The Finnish Whodunnit Society

Finnish Whodunnit Society's awards 2026

(for works published in 2025)

CLUE OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO ANTTI TUOMAINEN

 The Clue of the Year Award, presented by the Finnish Whodunnit Society for the best Finnish crime novel of the previous year, has been awarded to Antti Tuomainen for his novel Hyvällä tai sahalla (Otava, 2025). Established in 1985, the Clue of the Year Award is Finland's most prestigious crime fiction award. This year's winner was chosen by a three-member jury consisting of Päivi Kuntze (chair), Anssi Linkoaho and Marja Litja-Salminen.

The jury justified its choice as follows:

Hyvällä tai sahalla is Antti Tuomainen's fourteenth novel. His transformation from a chronicler of dystopia and gloom into a trailblazer of the crime genre is both fascinating and enviable. Tuomainen draws the reader into the life of sawmill owner Heikki Nevalainen from the opening lines of the book. The narrative, with its vivid imagery, flows effortlessly, and the plot is surprising yet coherent and compelling. The characters become familiar to the reader, even relatable. Readers will find themselves hooked and unable to put the book down. Even after several readings, they are left breathless in a good way. 'Europe's funniest writer' has not disappointed.

 Antti Tuomainen (born 1971) is one of Finland's most internationally successful contemporary authors. His works have been published in over 30 countries and translated into more than 30 languages. Tuomainen has previously received the Clue of the Year award for his novel Parantaja (The Healer, 2011), as well as the Petrona Award for the best Nordic crime novel of the year for Pikku Siperia (Little Siberia, 2020). He has also worked as a freelance journalist and as a screenwriter for film and television.

 Debut crime novel of the year award goes to Joel Kangas

The Clue of the Year jury has selected Kaamos (Karisto 2025) by Joel Kangas's as the best debut crime novel of the year.

Kangas's narrative is astonishingly mature. For a debut work, it is remarkably free of the mannerisms that that are all too familiar to more experienced writers. The narrative is full of suspense, at times even disturbing. The cast of characters is presented swiftly, accurately and in depth. The protagonist, Mikkal Moilanen, and his colleagues become familiar and believable to the reader right from the start. The novel takes an engaging look at the unconscious and conscious prejudices that shape and distort thinking. It contains a wealth of delicious metaphors, which make the narrative poetic, even sublime. The author successfully conveys his views and experiences to the reader.

Joel Kangas (born 1984) is a writer and musician from Inari who works as a development manager in the banking sector. He holds a Master's degree in Education.

 Johtolanka junior award to Mari Luoma

The first Johtolanka Junior Award goes to Mari Luoma for her book Nukkeleikin loppu (The End of Doll Play), the second novel in the Mysteerimestarit Olivia & Icarus series (WSOY 2025). The winner was chosen by a three-member jury comprising Elo Lammi, Päivi Heikkilä-Halttunen and Julius Salakka, an 8th grader.

The jury justified its choice as follows:

Mari Luoma varies the style and themes of classic detective novels in an original way, mixing old and new while remaining faithful to the genre. The characters and presentation of suspects adhere to the classic British detective novel formula. References to old detective classics are natural and credible. The appeal of the series is based on the relatability and interest of the central characters. The characters in Mari Luoma's book are credible and human, and their relationships evolve as the series progresses. The inside cover spreads feature caricature drawings of classic crime writers and their characters.

Mari Luoma (born 1993) is an illustrator, comic book artist and author. She mainly illustrates children's books and advertising material and designs funny characters for various media. She lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.

 Foreign crime writer of the year award to Guillaume Musso

The Finnish Whodunnit Society has awarded Guillaume Musso, a French author born in 1974, the Foreign Crime Writer Award for his works translated into Finnish.

Musso can already be said to have brought a fresh new wind to Finnish-translated crime fiction, despite only four of his books having been translated. His books are not straightforward thrillers or suspense novels; his skilful plotting and surprising twists and turns captivate even the most experienced crime fiction readers who enjoy being surprised. Mussos's texts reveal his love of literature and stories, both writing and reading them. Three of the four books that have been translated so far feature a writer or an aspiring writer as the main character, and these books take aim at writers, the publishing world, editors and the French literary elite, who seem to value only obscure philosophical musings. Musso's novels do not form a series but are individual works.

Guillaume Musso is one of the most popular writers in France. His debut novel was published in 2001, but Finnish translations have only become available in recent years. All of his works have been translated into Finnish by Anna Nurminen and published by Siltala.

This award was decided by The Finnish Whodunnit Society's board and the editor-in-chief for Ruumiin kulttuuri magazine.
 

For further information, please contact

Päivi Kuntze, Chair of the jury, tel. +358 50 60080,paivi.a.kuntze@gmail.com

Sini Paloheimo, Chair of the Finnish Whodunnit Society, tel. +358 40 5615203,sinipaloheimo@gmail.com

Interview requests

For Antti Tuomainen: Jenni Heiti, Otava, tel. +358 44 3585060, jenni.heiti@otava.fi

For Joel Kangas: Silka Raatikainen, Karisto, tel. +358 44 5501 653, silka.raatikainen@karisto.fi

For Mari Luoma: Mikko Immonen, WSOY, tel. +358 50 5644 721, mikko.immonen@wsoy.fi

The Finnish Whodunnit Society, founded in 1984, brings together crime fiction and detective stories enthusiasts from all over the country and even abroad – readers, authors, translators, journalists as well as critics, collectors, and publishers.

Our purpose is to promote this exciting literary genre. We publish a quarterly magazine, Ruumiin kulttuuri, award an annual prize for a best crime novel of the previous year and organise various events to our 1,200 members concentrating on murder and mayhem in their fictional form. In 2024, we celebrated our 40th anniversary with several events around Finland. We are a non-profit organization based in Helsinki.

Our emblem depicts Finland’s most famous fictional sleuth, Detective Inspector Palmu of the Helsinki CID, as portrayed in four feature films of the 60s. The actor Joel Rinne immortalized the bowler, the muffler, and the cigar into an immediately recognizable figure. Originally, the Palmu character was a creation of the internationally acclaimed novelist Mika Waltari for his award-winning début mystery of 1939, Kuka murhasi rouva Skrofin? (trans. into French as Qui a tué Mme Skrof?; also into Swedish, German and other European languages). Another Palmu detective novel followed immediately the next year, whereas the third and final one appeared only after a hiatus of 22 years, boosted by the successful filmatizations of the first two stories.

The society created a national prize for the best crime novel already in 1985 to promote and encourage Finnish crime writing. The winner of The Clew of the Year receives a rotating trophy, a foot-high wood relief depicting Inspector Palmu, plus a diploma thumb-printed in the presence of a police officer and a necklace made from chainsaw chain engraved ceramic plate for keeps. The prize celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025,  Since 2014 we have also awarded a diploma for the best Finnish debut crime novel.

In addition to the prizes for Finnish crime novels, we also give an annual honorary award for foreign crime fiction. More than 20 international authors – among them Colin Dexter, Patricia Highsmith, P. D. James, Håkan Nesser, Henning Mankell, Fred Vargas and Pierre Lemaitre have received this award since 1993. More recently, the winners have included Belinda Bauer, Keigi Higashino, Ann Cleeves, Åsa Larsson and Elly Griffiths. The award has been given either for individual works, series of novels or contribution to the genre.

The Society publishes a quarterly magazine, the Ruumiin kulttuuri (the name is a pun on ’Body Culture’). The magazine consists of articles on crime fiction, Finnish and international author profiles and interviews, bibliographies, current news, and a comprehensive review section, the ”Kirjakäräjät”, or "Capital Sentences". The contents also include topical notes on thrillers on the silver and home screens as well as on stage, not to forget genre-related events also in other media, TV and radio. In addition to this comprehensive magazine, we also publish podcasts with Finnish crime fiction authors.

Every autumn, we participate in the Helsinki Book Fair magic. The four-day event has over 1,000 performers from Finland and abroad. Not only do we host a stand with guest authors at the fair but we also produce multiple panel discussions on a stage on Saturday.

The Society also organises various events, such as theatre trips and interviews with crime novelists. The open to all and livestreamed interviews take place at Kallio Library in Helsinki on the first Tuesday of the month (excluding the summer months).

The Finnish Whodunnit Society
For more information, please contact:
Society: Sini Paloheimo (sinipaloheimo(at)gmail.com)
Magazine Ruumiin kulttuuri: Päivi Remes (ruumiin.kulttuuri(at)dekkariseura.fi)