A Writer's Sauna Life

A. L. Jensen Cozy Mysteries is a biweekly feature of Women Writing, offering insights into this beloved genre and my journey from writing historical fiction to cozy mysteries with a Nordic twist.

Happy Saturday! In today’s newsletter:

📚 My love affair with sauna

📝 What do you know about sauna?

👉Interested in reading an ARC copy?

Murder by Nordic Design is coming out in just over a week, and it has me thinking about … saunas. I know, I know, that seems like a strange connection, but sauna is very relevant to this third installment of the Hygge House Cozy Mystery series.

I grew up with an electric sauna (pronounced sow-na) in my house. It’s where we took saunas as a family when we were young (yes, naked), and later with friends (bathing suits!), and on our own (ah, solitude). It was so common that I was excited to visit friends in Toronto who had a bathtub. Oh, the luxury!

At camp, my father built a wood-burning sauna, and more recently we rebuilt it after a chimney fire caused some damage. We lug buckets of water from the lake, and heat water in the tank attached to the kiuas (stove). There is nothing more refreshing than sitting in a hot sauna followed by swimming in a cold lake. The scent from the wood-burning sauna is unparalleled, and combines with the scent from the vihta (sauna whisks made of bundles of fresh birch, eucalyptus, pine, or other). At home, we have a wood-burning sauna with no running water, and a lake we don’t actually swim in, so we fill buckets of water from the house to throw water to create löyly (steam) on the kiuas and sit outside to cool off with a cold drink, wrapped in towels.

I’ve tried sauna in various hotels and at the Y (never hot enough), and visited the Nordik Spa in Chelsea, Quebec. I have yet to get to Vettä Nordic Spa in Ontario, but it will happen some day. I love when saunas are made available, but nothing beats a family sauna, especially because you can really get it heated.

In Finland, there are approximately 3.3 million saunas, astounding given the population is 5.6 million. Folks have saunas at their summer cottages, saunas at their homes as separate structures, or within their homes, and in their apartments. There are public saunas in most cities, floating saunas on lakes, and savusaunas (smoke saunas)—which are the oldest form of sauna—and even a sauna in a fast-food restaurant in Helsinki. Sauna Village in Jämsä has twenty-four historic saunas dating back to the eighteenth century.

I don’t know how many saunas one could find in Northern Ontario, but I suspect there are a lot, especially in areas populated by lots of Finns. In fact, when Finns built their homes, they often built the sauna first and lived in it until the house was built. Saunas were used for cleansing oneself, birthing babies, taking care of the sick, and preparing the dead for burial.

There is much research about sauna’s health benefits, but the positives go beyond increasing heart circulation, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, and boosting immunity. But it is much more than that. Sauna is a spiritual experience and an essential part of daily life for many Finns. It’s even said that important political decisions have been made in the sauna!

I could go on and on, but for now I can say sauna has had a tremendous impact on my life and my well-being. When I was thinking about what the next cozy would be about, I started by asking, ‘What are Minna and Christie up to at Hygge House.?’ And the answer was building a sauna, of course! And that led me to ask, ‘What happens?’ You’ll just have to read to find out!

Are you interested in getting an advanced reader copy (ARC) of Murder by Nordic Design and being an ARC reviewer? ARC readers get a digital copy of the book before it comes out and leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. ARC readers are essential for helping the dreaded algorithms find an audience for the novel. So, you’d be helping me find readers and fellow readers find my books! Plus, you’d get a free digital copy before it’s available to everyone else :)

I’ll share the link to the ARC copy of Murder by Nordic Design in the coming week. Watch for the email and the link. Thanks for considering!