Blog Tour: Extract from Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates

Welcome to the latest stop on the blog tour for Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir translated by Quentin Bates. 

I am very pleased to be able to share an extract from Shrouded, the fourth to be translated into English, in this Icelandic 'Ice and Crime' series which began with The Fox, and was followed by Silenced and then Harm.

A retired, reclusive woman is found on a bitter winter morning, clubbed to death in Reykjavik's old graveyard.

Detectives Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún face one of their toughest cases yet, as they try to piece together the details of Arnhildur's austere life in her Red House in the oldest part of the city.

Why was this solitary, private woman attending séances, and why was she determined to keep her severe financial difficulties so secret?

Could the truth be buried deep in her past and a long history of family enmity, or could there be something more?

A stranger keeps a watchful eye on the graveyard and Arnhildur's house. With the detectives running out of leads, could the Medium, blessed and cursed with uncanny abilities, shed any light on Arnhildur’s lonely death?

Extract

She again felt her own rapid heartbeat and her breath came with difficulty. The events of the evening had certainly been distressing enough to upset her and she felt a deep fatigue that settled on her whole body. Every step was an effort and the snow that clung to her boots seemed to be as heavy as lead. After making her way along Suðurgata, she had no choice but to pause and lean against the graveyard wall. She felt faint, could barely breathe and the weight in her chest was increasing. What was wrong with her? Was this a heart attack? Shouldn’t she feel her arm tingling? Or was this a stroke, but wasn’t a terrible headache a warning of what was to come? Arnhildur pulled off a glove and felt in her pocket for her old-fashioned phone. She was frightened but didn’t know who to call. Now she had the feeling that a brick had been placed on her chest. Terrified, she tried to think of anyone she could call for help, but nobody came to mind. She’d have to call an ambulance. She tried to punch in the emergency number but wasn’t sure if she was finding the right buttons. Now she couldn’t see clearly, and tried to feel for the buttons, but arthritis had robbed her fingertips of any sensitivity. Something crunched in the snow behind her. Now someone would undoubtedly come to her aid. She looked over the graveyard wall, peering among the gravestones and the bare branches, but saw nothing there but darkness. She glanced around, but the street was as deserted as before. Once again, she heard the clear crunch of footsteps coming her way. Someone was coming through the graveyard.

‘Hello? Anyone there?’ she called out as loudly as she could. There was no response and she couldn’t be sure that her voice was audible. ‘Will you help me? Hello? Help, please.’ Her voice was faint but she hoped it would carry through the winter silence.

There was no response, but she could hear and sense more clearly that someone was approaching.

‘I need help…’ She hesitated at the sound of something breaking, a tree branch broken off. What was going on? She pressed herself against the graveyard wall, knowing that she had to support herself while the world spun around her. The sound of panting breaths drew closer, and then there was a voice that said something she was unable to make out clearly.

‘Who’s there?’ The weight in her chest was increasing. ‘Hello!’

There was nothing to be seen across the street, not even the pavement, just the dim glow of lights from houses and along the street by the lake.

‘Who are you?’ Arnhildur whispered, her voice feeble. She was faint and she heard a sound, almost like the howl of a dog, but couldn’t be sure if it came from her or someone else. Was she suffering an attack that distorted her senses? She summoned the last of her energy to ask again for assistance.

‘Could you help me? I can’t see the buttons…’

Before she could say any more, she felt a heavy blow to her head and shards of pain flashed through her nerves. She dropped to her knees. Heavy breaths and gasps could be heard, someone swearing.

This was a voice she’d heard before and she tried to see who was speaking, but saw nothing even though she felt that her eyes were open. Now she sensed that hands were grasping her under the arms and she was being dragged. There was an indistinct scraping sound, panting and her body bumped across the uneven ground, but she no longer felt anything. Then there was another blow, and the ice-cold snow settled to cover ​her​.

***

Many thanks to Ewa, Sólveig, Quentin and Corylus Books for this extract and the opportunity to be involved.

Now check out the rest of the Tour!

Blog Tour - Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates

I'm very pleased to be today's stop on the Blog Tour for Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates. 

I have a teaser extract for you. 

You can read a review of Murder at the Residence at yesterday's stop at Books'n'Banter.

Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist 

Translation Quentin Bates

Corylus Books

‘Let me up the stairs, guys,’ I say.

One of them spreads his arms wide.

‘Come to daddy, baby,’ he croons.

I try to push my way between the men. But they both grab. They’re holding on tight.

The younger one says something in a language I don’t understand. Just then, he slides a hand up my leg, over the top of one tall black boot.

His pal sniggers.

I glare into dark, drunken eyes.

‘You want to go to prison?’ I snap, in English.

‘Me no prison,’ the man replies, shaking his head.

‘I’m a lawyer,’ I continue in the same harsh tone. ‘Hands off. Right now. Or I’ll have you both charged with assault.’

‘No fucking prison,’ the guy repeats, reluctantly withdrawing his hand.

The other one does the same.

The blonde grabs my arm.

‘You real lawyer?’ she asks in stiff English.

‘Of course.’

‘Can I talk with you?’

‘No. I’m going home.’

‘Please. I’m desperate.’

There’s anguish in her dark eyes.

‘All right.’

Those horny-as-hell guys aren’t going to let the blonde get away without getting what they’ve been waiting so long for. They encircle her. Their voices babble. Banknotes are waved. Euros and dollars.

She manages to calm them down. It looks like she’s promised to come right back to deal with their needs.

I’m not going to interfere in private enterprise. Let alone meddle in every patriarchy’s oldest profession. But these girls’ enthusiasm for their work seems to be at a low ebb, if they need to pep themselves up with a blast of white powder between clients.

The girl follows me up the stairs. There are three of the boys in black in full uniform waiting at the top of the stairs. Two of them are young bucks. One’s fair. The other has dark hair. The third is a red-haired girl. Looks hardly more than twenty.

‘Do good business down there?’ the fair-haired one asks in easy English, with a superior grin on his face.

‘Has the police college stopped teaching youngsters manners?’ I retort, my voice waspish.

The grin slips from the face of the boy in black.

‘Show me your ID,’ he orders.

‘My name’s Stella Blómkvist and I’m a lawyer,’ I say coldly, handing him a business card. ‘Come to my office if you need to talk to me.’

Many thanks to Ewa, Stella, Quentin and Corylus Books for this extract and the opportunity to be involved.

Tomorrow's stop is at Emerald Reviews.

 

Blog Tour: Extract from Harm by Solveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates

Welcome to the latest stop on the blog tour for Harm by Solveig Pálsdóttir translated by Quentin Bates. 

I am very pleased to be able to share an extract from Harm, the third in this Icelandic 'Ice and Crime' series which began with The Fox, and then Silenced.

Harm is available to buy now.

When wealthy doctor Ríkarður Magnússon goes to sleep in his luxurious caravan and doesn’t wake up, detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún are called to the Westman Islands to investigate what looks like murder.

Suspicion immediately falls on Ríkharður’s young, beautiful and deeply troubled girlfriend – but there are no easy answers in this case as they are drawn into family feuds, disgruntled friends and colleagues, and the presence of a group of fitness-obsessed over-achievers with secrets of their own.

As their investigation makes progress, Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún are forced to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices as they uncover the sinister side of Ríkharður’s past.

Harm is the third novel featuring the soft-spoken Reykjavík detective Guðgeir Fransson to appear in English. Sólveig Pálsdóttir again weaves a complex web of intrigue that plays out in the Westman Islands, remote southern Iceland and Reykjavík while asking some searching questions about things society accepts at face value – and others it is not prepared to tolerate.

Extract

Diljá was startled from sleep a noise from somewhere. It took her a moment to realise where she was as she stared at the pile of mattresses at her side. Before long she recalled that she was in the upstairs space of the summer house owned by Ingi Thór and Eygló. She rolled over onto her front and crawled to the small window, taking care not to be seen. There was nothing to be seen outside and she wriggled closer, peering out and listening. She was sure she could hear the sound of a car in the distance, and she watched as a small jeep drove down the track from one of the other summer houses. Someone was leaving. She pulled back from the window and hoped that she hadn’t been spotted. Now she needed a little more time to think things over and look for a way out of this predicament.

She had no idea what the time was, or how long she had been asleep. There was a television downstairs and she switched it on, quickly scanning the news media.

Man found dead in Herjólfsdalur.

It was just a short news item, but she read it again and again. There was no more information in the full text than the headline had provided. There was no mention of her disappearance, or anything referring to the group’s trip to the Westman Islands, other than that the deceased was a fifty-two-year-old man from Reykjavík.

What options were now open to her? Give herself up and try to explain, in the forlorn hope that she would get away with it?

No. Nobody would believe her. Was she prepared to be remanded in custody, to be shut away in a cramped, windowless cell? Her claustrophobia was so severe that even taking the lift from one floor to the next was too much for her. A stream of thoughts whirled through her mind, one after another, and it was difficult to keep them under some kind of control. Occasionally María Líf appeared in her thoughts, and that magnified her misery. Her stomach made a strange sound, and she realised that she hadn’t eaten since the night before. Something to eat would help her think straight. She found the bag of goods she had picked up at the shop by the Landvegur crossroads. Two of the hotdogs went into a pot and she rooted around for ketchup and mustard in one of the cupboards, and smeared both onto some bread. The aroma sharpened her hunger and she wolfed down the two sausages. It was years since she had last eaten processed food of this kind, but her stomach didn’t rebel and she felt better for it.

She took a quick shower and washed her hair. The green towel on a hook must have been hung up wet, as it was stiff to the touch. Diljá dried herself vigorously, hard enough to leave her skin red and tender. The steam from the shower had left a mist on the mirror, and when she looked at her reflection she saw the raw skin, eyes puffed with tears and the worry on her face.

‘You always fuck everything up, you idiot,’ she snarled angrily at her own reflection.

***

Don't forget to follow the tour!

Book Tour: Extract from The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson tr. Quentin Bates

Welcome to the second stop on the book tour for The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson translated by Quentin Bates. The first stop was at the Nordic Lighthouse.

I am very pleased to be able to share this intriguing extract from The Commandments, courtesy of Corylus Books. The Commandments is a standalone novel, first published in Iceland in 2019 and is the first of Óskar's books to be published in English.

Official blurb:

Former police officer Salka Steinsdóttir finds herself pitched into the toughest investigation of her life, just as she is back in the tranquil north of Iceland to recover from a personal trauma.

The victim is someone she had pursued earlier in her career – and had never been able to pin down. Now a killer has taken the law into their own hands and meted out brutal retribution for ancient crimes. Salka is faced with tracking down the murderer of a stalwart of the church and the community, a man whose dark reputation stretches deep into the past, and even into the police team tasked with solving the case.

As the killer prepares to strike again, Salka and her team search for the band of old friends who could be either killers or victims – or both.

A bestseller in Iceland, The Commandments asks many challenging questions as it takes on highly emotive and controversial issues.

Extract:

‘He’s been here in the house. The man who murdered Hróbjartur and Helgi. He heard you come in, made a break for it and went this way through the bushes.’Salka looked to one side when there was no response and realised that the police officer hadn’t followed her. She could see him talking to a colleague in the living room. 

She stood up, shone the beam of the torch between the branches, and squeezed through into the next garden. The light of the torch showed faint but definite tracks leading to the back of the next house. She followed them as far as the sun deck behind the house. She stopped and switched the torch off as she noticed a movement behind the living room window. The house’s occupant sat at the living room table and opened a laptop. The reflections on the inside of the windows meant that he had probably noticed nothing. 

Salka saw barely discernible prints on the decking left by feet that had been through wet grass. They tracked at an angle across the deck towards the corner of the house. Salka cautiously followed them. She peered around the corner of the building and looked into the gap between the house and the garage. There was a small window on this side of the house and a dim light found its way into the gap, but not enough to illuminate the complete darkness at the far end. 

She felt for the torch switch, knowing she was taking a risk turning it on. When she pressed the button, nothing happened. She slapped it hard against her palm and a narrow beam appeared. The first thing she saw was the wood wall that closed off the gap between the house and the garage. The light went off. She banged it against the flat of her hand, but nothing happened. 

The next thing she saw was the man who rushed at her from the darkness. He grabbed her by the neck, and threw her to the ​ground.

***

Follow the tour:

Blog Tour: Extract from Silenced by Solveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates

Welcome to the second stop on the blog tour for Silenced by Solveig Pálsdóttir translated by Quentin Bates. The first stop was at the Nordic Lighthouse

I am very pleased to be able to share an extract from Silenced, the second in this Icelandic 'Ice and Crime' series which began with The Fox.

Silenced will be available to buy from 15 April.

As a police team is called in to investigate a woman’s suicide at the Hólmsheiði prison outside Reykjavík, to detective Guðgeir Fransson it looks like a tragic but straightforward case.

It’s only afterwards that the pieces begin to fall into place and he takes a deeper interest in Kristín Kjarr’s troubled background, and why she had found herself in prison.

His search leads him to a series of brutal crimes committed twenty years before and the unexplained disappearance of the prime suspect, whose wealthy family closed ranks as every effort was made to keep skeletons securely hidden in closets – while the Reykjavík police struggle to deal with a spate of fresh attacks that bear all the hallmarks of a copycat.

And here's the teaser extract:

Guðgeir had seen more than a few cells during his career. They were all much the same, with a bed, table and chair, as well as an overpowering sense of claustrophobia. But this one with its lively pictures on the walls was an exception, presenting a stark contrast to the lifeless woman on the bed. Leifur looked her over for a moment before he put his bag on the floor, pulled on a pair of gloves and set about gathering evidence.

‘Are these her pictures?’ Guðgeir asked.

‘Yes, she’s an artist,’ Svala replied in a low voice from by the door. ‘Was, I mean,’ she corrected herself. ‘Kristín had recently begun painting again after a long break. She was incredibly talented, fantastic stuff.’

Svala bit her lip and fell silent.

‘There’s something odd about all this,’ she said, hesitating, shaking her head slowly. ‘These last few weeks she had been working flat-out, as if she had been preparing for a big exhibition. She hardly even stopped for meals.’

‘Did she have much else to do with her time?’ Guðgeir asked, looking down at the woman on the bed. Her brown hair was cropped short and her face was made up of fine lines. Her ears were pierced, with a delicate silver ring in each one. Her arms were at her sides, hands closed. His eye was caught by the ring finger of her right hand, and a heavy silver ring with a striking emblem. He took a picture of it with his phone.

‘No, not exactly,’ Svala said. ‘There isn’t much to do, but all the same…’ she was about to place a hand on the body.

‘Don’t,’ Leifur said quickly. He looked up from what he was doing and glared at Svala. ‘Don’t touch anything.’

‘Of course, sorry,’ she muttered, withdrawing her hand.

Leifur gave her a smile, as if to soften his harsh words, and paused to inspect the pictures on the walls.

‘They’re beautifully done,’ he admitted.

‘That’s right. Kristín was artistic and a sensitive soul. I can’t understand why she did this. I just don’t get it at all,’ she sighed, a look of despair in her eyes. ‘She lived a life that was so much richer than most people you meet in here do. Spiritually, I mean.’

‘Creative people frequently tend to be vulnerable,’ Leifur said, sounding philosophical. ‘She wanted to leave something behind.’

‘Kjarr. Kristín Kjarr,’ Guðgeir said, as if to himself. ‘Did she have any children?’ he asked.

Svala shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, no.’

‘No suicide note to be seen here,’ Leifur announced.

‘Are any of the other prisoners aware of this yet?’ Guðgeir asked, stepping cautiously past a large plastic cup that lay on the floor.

‘No, none of them,’ Svala said, running hands through her reddish hair, pushing it back behind her ears, which gave her the look of a young girl. ‘But I’m sure some of them noticed that Kristín didn’t show up this morning.’

‘Could you let the priest know that he can go and see the family?’ Guðgeir said. ‘We’ll come down to the office when we’re finished, and it would be useful to have a chat with you then, Svala. You seem to have known Kristín well.’

She nodded, anxious to be helpful, but also relieved to be released from the discomfort of being present. Guðgeir waited for her footsteps in the corridor to fade away before he turned to Leifur.

‘Don’t you think this is all weird?’ he asked, rubbing his chin, the dark bristles rough against his hand.

***

Don't forget to follow the tour!

Review: Thin Ice by Quentin Bates

Thin Ice by Quentin Bates, March 2016, 279 pages, Constable, ISBN: 147212149X

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I’d like the Icelandic cop Gunnhildur Gísladóttir, known as Gunna, to be my friend: no-nonsense, tired, logical, grumpy and loving, with sense of humour and boundless capacity to understand; a big country girl who still appears to be finding her feet in the capital. Well, maybe not a girl anymore… All these qualities get mixed up constantly to show a very real portrait of a woman who has to deal with criminals, the system and her own family. And in THIN ICE she is having quite a hard time as her own painful past catches up with her while she investigates the disappearance of two women into the thin crisp November air, and a strange arsonist attack in Reykjavík in which a petty crook dies. Gunna’s methodological, pragmatic methods, with support from faithful colleagues Eiríkur and Helgi, bring answers to the apparently unrelated riddles, and though the story is not Gunna-driven, her presence is felt everywhere.

So… Two minor baddies get into trouble, even if practical and reasonable Magni happens to be the accidental criminal: after losing his job on a trawler he agrees to assist Össur, an ambitious but stressed out crime kingpin in robbing a leading drug dealer called Alli the Cornershop. Magni acts as a ‘heavy’, muscles to Össur’s brain. They leave the scene with more than a quarter of a million euros. Yet the ‘escape to the sun’ plan goes wrong. They hijack a car with two women: mother Erna and daughter Tinna Lind and flee Reykjavik to the middle of nowhere where they have no choice but to break into a small hotel closed for the winter. Soon enough a new relationship comes to life within the group. While terrified high-maintenance townie Erna is in a state of shock, and Össur, gun glued to his side, swings between fury and anger in his cloud of stolen dope and rubbish television shows; Tinna Lind, hippy and carefree, finds the captivity very exciting. She develops a crush on Magni and so a new type of Stockholm syndrome case is born: one where the hostage tries to take initiative because Plan B fails to materialise, and her ‘hero’ takes care of getting supplies and petrol, cooking stews, and diplomatically smooths over aggressive Össur’s outbursts. Tensions rise... The four fugitives from law and crime underworld realise that being snowed in will not protect them from the police and Alli’s revenge and more powerful friends. Because detective Gunna will eventually find their scent.

Reading Quentin Bates’ books feels like being immersed in a good friendly chat: words easily flowing, plot developing in a relaxed manner, and suddenly bang! There’s another dose of cruel violence and though sort of anticipated it comes as a shock after you’ve became lulled into a sense of weird false security, magnified by the picturesque Icelandic landscape, promising peace and quiet. These contradictions make THIN ICE another gem from the master of the engaging and suspenseful crime story, who creates convincing characters and effortlessly portrays a country that he knows so intimately.

Ewa Sherman, April 2016

Review: Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson tr. Quentin Bates

Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson, tr. Quentin Bates (June 2015, 300 pages, Orenda Books, ISBN: 1910633038)

If Arnaldur is the King and Yrsa the Queen of Icelandic crime fiction then Ragnar is surely the Crown Prince...more please!

SNOWBLIND is the first in the Ari Thor series set in Siglufjordur, a small fjord town on the north coast of Iceland. Ari Thor has dropped out of studying first philosophy and then theology but has just completed his police training in Reykjavik. It's 2008 and jobs are scarce so when he is offered a post in Siglufjordur he accepts without discussing it with his girlfriend Kristin.

Ari Thor moves to Siglufjordur, alone in the winter and is soon wondering what he's done. A townie and an outsider in a small place where everyone knows everyone else and there's no crime to speak of. And then the snow starts.

As well as Ari Thor's progression from Reykjavik to Siglufjordur, the narrative, via several points of view, includes the background to a number of the residents of Siglufjordur, most of whom are in the Dramatic Society.

Tragedy strikes the Dramatic Society with the death of one its main members. Ari Thor thinks it wasn't an accident but his boss, Tomas, disagrees and doesn't want to attract lurid stories from the press. A second incident however, leads to Tomas thinking that maybe Ari Thor was correct and that they have a murderer in their midst.

SNOWBLIND is a traditional crime novel with a confined set of suspects - trapped in Siglufjordur by the metres of snow that have fallen – all of whom have secrets. Most of the characters have suffered a loss of family, including Ari Thor, or have had a bleak childhood. Ari Thor does have the makings of a good detective though he appears rather naive and a bit clueless with regards to his girlfriend however is there more to his move to Siglufjordur than just getting a job? The setting of Siglufjordur adds a new dimension with the weather impacting so greatly on the inhabitants and makes a refreshing change from Reykjavik.

I raced through this very enjoyable debut from Ragnar Jonasson and I look forward to catching up with Ari Thor and his colleagues' lives in NIGHTBLIND.

New Reviews: Atherton, Bates, Howard, Johnston, Jones, Knight, Magson, Moliner, Richmond

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, five have appeared on the blog since last time, and four are completely new.

You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

I review Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well, the nineteenth in the Aunt Dimity series set in the Cotswolds;

Ewa Sherman reviews Quentin Bates' Summerchill, in which we catch up with Icelandic police officer Gunna;

Susan White reviews Cold Revenge by Alex Howard, which is the second outing for DCI Hanlon;


Mark Bailey reviews Paul Johnston's Heads or Hearts: the return of Quint Dalrymple;

Geoff Jones reviews J Sydney Jones' Cold War thriller, Basic Law;

Laura Root reviews Disclaimer by Renee Knight, her debut;

Terry Halligan reviews Adrian Magson's Close Quarters, the second Marc Portman thriller;

Lynn Harvey reviews The Whispering City by Sara Moliner tr. Mara Faye Letham

and Michelle Peckham reviews What She Left by T R Richmond, also a debut. 



Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, along with releases by year.

Review: Summerchill by Quentin Bates

Summerchill by Quentin Bates, May 2015, 142 pages, ebook, Constable

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I knew I was in for a treat as soon as got my hands on SUMMERCHILL. I am big fan of Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gisladottir, the down-to-earth and determined Icelandic policewoman with a sense of humour who feels more at home in her small provincial town than in Reykjavik where she is employed. And this time, at the end of the hot summer she and her sidekick Helgi work particularly hard to find out how the alarming and unsettling events around the city might (or not) be connected.

Meanwhile in the countryside the carpenter Logi toils away at the building site during the day and returns to his flat in Reykjavik in the evenings. When he finds a gun hidden under the floorboards his first thought is to keep it a secret until there is an opportunity to sell this unusual find. While pondering about his next move Logi half-heartedly agrees to help his former brother-in-law Danni to complete another building job: tax-free cash and a 'no questions asked about anything' type of contract from some ruthless customers. But Logi has huge financial commitments and so decides to continue, regardless of starting to feel slightly uneasy… Then an unexpected visit from an extremely unpleasant debt collector results in Logi skilfully using his tools. A body needs to be disposed of. Logi asks his friendly Polish workmates for a favour, and they are helpful and efficient, as always.

SUMMERCHILL, published only as an e-book, a novella, about a half of the length of a standard book, suits the story very well. There is an urgency in Gunna and Helgi's actions as they try to make sense of the strange and apparently unrelated events which elude them. The settings in Reykjavik and in the countryside lend themselves to the book’s structure. The time-frame of several days fits with Logi's and the police' thinking.

There is murder and there is violence; Gunna's frustration, and the investigation which isn’t going quite right, and the excellent portrayal of a small chunk of the Icelandic underworld. However, the mood of SUMMERCHILL seems fairly relaxed compared to other books by Quentin Bates. The story moves fast and it never loses its momentum. Definitely a noir story, with a summer twist, with an expectation of cold, snow and long dark nights, but also with an undercurrent of fun.

The finale of the story is a surprise. Logi wants to escape from two unhappy women, his mounting debts and the shady characters following him, and from the police, just in case... I don't wish to give away the ending but for me it was a really unexpected scenario, demonstrating the author's excellent perception of people’s motives, and his sense of humour. Read SUMMERCHILL, you'll love it.

Ewa Sherman, June 2015

CrimeFest 2015: Nordic Noir: Borders

Nordic Noir Panel: Crime at the Borders of the Arctic

Moderator: Quentin Bates

Panelists - Gunnar Staalesen, Kati Hiekkapelto, Clare Carson, Craig Robertson

KH's The Hummingbird is set in a northern, unnamed, Finnish town which doesn't exist. It has sea, mosquitoes, cold in winter.

GS: Bergen is a noir place - rains 250 days a year! Weather is very important to Norwegians - in their genes from being fisherman, peasants.

CC: Wrote from memory, Orkney Twilight is set in 1984 summer when the sun doesn't go down. Going back soon with daughters, daughters are the age she was when she was there. Orkney is a mysterious place full of secrets. She started writing it when she was in the US, longing for home and cool.

CR: Had no intention of writing in Nordic tradition – original plot had a body washed up and it was a girl from Tallyn – but Peter Robinson beat him too it. So had to find another place. Faroe has 300 days of rain. In an  day research trip, stopped raining twice ...to snow. Wind can prevent driving – lift up car if on high points.

GS: Dark winter, light summer so plot during dark winters, write it in summer, publish in autumn. KH agreed.

West Norway has north sea climate like part of UK.

Varg Veum actor speaks with Eastern dialect though book Varg Veum has a western dialect – GS says it is very hard to act naturally with such a different dialect. Varg Veum can keep going past 70.

CC: Next book is set in southern England. Might go back to Orkney. Originally intended to be a one off but publisher wanted a sequel.

CR: Next book is in lower nordic region…Glasgow.

No muder in Faroes for 26 years until half way through writing The Last Refuge when there was a murder. No body has ever been found – Serbian husband convicted of killing his wife on evidence of a frying pan with her blood on it.

KH: Fekete means black in Hungarian. Next book The Defenceless is set in spring and is about drugs and immigrant gangs.

CC: Wove Norse mythology though the story.

GS: Crime just a way of writing about our times in a popular way. Bergen is very safe. The new book about a wind farm. The latest four Varg Veum books are translated in order and all by Don Bartlett.

KH: The village where she lives – she doesn't lock doors, car doors or lock up bike.

KH: Finland is a very racist country. She is the only crime writer writing about immigration. Policy: don't let immigrants come, don't give them houses, jobs etc.

Cover news: Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson

In case you missed this on Twitter, Orenda Books have unveiled the cover for Ragnar Jonasson's Snowblind. Snowblind is being translated by Quentin Bates (author of the Gunnhildur series) and will be published in June 2015. This will make it eligible for the 2016 Petrona Award (for publications in 2015) and eligible for the next CWA International Dagger (ie not the current one - list of eligibles coming soon I promise).

New Reviews: Bates, Beaton, Bolton, Harvey, Meredith, Mogford, Morris, Roslund & Hellstrom, Wilson

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, one has appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and eight are completely new.

Since the last set of reviews, we've announced the winner of the Petrona Award 2014; I've been at CrimeFest and you can see my notes on twitter @eurocrime or on #crimefest14, and there's been lots of tv news.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Geoff Jones reviews the latest in Quentin Bates's Icelandic series, Cold Steal which has just been released as an ebook;

I muse on the latest books in M C Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series including Death of a Policeman;

Michelle Peckham reviews the fourth in the Lacey Flint series by Sharon Bolton: A Dark and Twisted Tide;

Mark Bailey reviews John Harvey's Darkness, Darkness which is the last in the Resnick series and, I understand, his final crime novel;

Amanda Gillies reviews The Devil's Ribbon by D E Meredith, which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Thomas Mogford's Sign of the Cross which is set in Malta;

Terry Halligan reviews R N Morris's The Dark Palace, the third in the Silas Quinn series, set in 1914;

Lynn Harvey reviews Two Soldiers by Roslund & Hellstrom tr. Kari Dickson, which is now out in paperback

and Terry also reviews Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson, which is the first in the Charlie Boxer series and is also now out in paperback.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Bass, Bates, Casey, Dean, Gillies, Hauxwell, Henry, Orford, Staincliffe

There were no reviews last weekend as I was away at CrimeFest and I've written up a few of the panels here.

Don't forget to vote in the International Dagger Polls.

Here are this week's 9 new reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews Jefferson Bass's, The Bones of Avignon, published in the US as The Inquisitor's Key;

Maxine Clarke reviews Quentin Bates's Cold Comfort the second in his Icelandic series;

Michelle Peckham reviews Jane Casey's The Last Girl the third in the DC Maeve Kerrigan series;

Terry Halligan is very impressed with Jason Dean's debut The Wrong Man set in the US;

I recently reviewed, on the blog, Andrea Gillies's, The White Lie a tale of family secrets, set in Scotland;

Susan Hilary reviews Annie Hauxwell's debut In Her Blood;

Susan White reviews James Henry's Fatal Frost the second prequel to R D Wingfield's beloved series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Margie Orford's, Daddy's Girl, the third in her Cape Town series which has just been released in paperback

and Rich Westwood reviews Cath Staincliffe's prequel to the Scott & Bailey tv series, Dead to Me and he hopes there will be more.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Bates, Bauer, Magson, Marrinan, Nesbo, Newman

Two competitions for January, both close 31st January:
1.Win Assassins of Athens by Jeffrey Siger UK only
2.Win A Noble Killing by Barbara Nadel (International)

Here are this week's reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews what sounds like a cracking debut: Frozen Out by Quentin Bates (US: Frozen Assets) which introduces Icelandic detective: Gunna the Cop;

Paul Blackburn reviews CWA prize-winner Belinda Bauer's second book, Darkside set five years on from Blacklands;

Terry Halligan reviews the first in a new series from Adrian Magson: Death on the Marais introducing a Parisian cop who has been sent to a Picardie village;

Laura Root reviews Patrick Marrinan's impressive debut, Scapegoat, which draws on the author's legal experience;

I review Jo Nesbo's The Leopard, tr. Don Bartlett an exciting police-procedural/thriller with my favourite detective, Harry Hole

and Lizzie Hayes reviews Ruth Newman's second book, The Company of Shadows which has a Coben-esque sounding premise.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

More Iceland-set crime fiction

Michael Ridpath's Where the Shadows Lie came out earlier this year, the first in a series set in Iceland. Fellow Brit, Quentin Bates will have his first Iceland-set crime novel published by Constable in January (the first of a two-book deal).

The discovery of a corpse washed up on a beach in an Icelandic backwater sparks a series of events that propels the village of Hvalvik’s police sergeant Gunnhildur into deep waters.

Although under pressure to deal with the matter quickly, she is suspicious that the man’s death was no accident and once she has identified the body, sets about investigating his final hours.The case takes Gunnhildur away from her village and into a cosmopolitan world of shady deals, government corruption and violence. She finds herself alone and less than welcome in this hostile environment as she tries to find out who it was that made sure the young man drowned on a dark night one hundred kilometres from where he should have been – and why.

From amazon:
"Although born in the UK in 1962, through a series of coincidences Quentin Bates found himself working in Iceland in his gap year. The gap year then became 10 years, during which time he managed to get himself married, produce a family, and generally go native in Iceland. The family then moved back to the UK in 1990 where Quentin became a full-time journalist on a commercial fishing magazine. Frozen Assets* was born through the author's own inside knowledge of Iceland and its society, along with exploring the world of crime. He and his (Icelandic) wife frequently return to Iceland, where they have many friends, including several in the Reykjavik police. "

*I'm not sure if the final title will be Frozen Assets or Frozen Out or perhaps it'll be different for US/UK.

Iceland's rising stock

Arnaldur Indridason and Yrsa Sigurdardottir have been popular for a while now and it seems that Iceland is becoming the place to set books. A few days ago the news came out that Michael Ridpath is writing a series set in Iceland which is followed today by news of another new series from debut author Quentin Bates:

Constable and Robinson has bought the rights to a debut novel by crime fiction author Quentin Bates in a two-book deal.

Frozen Assets is the first title in the deal and will be published in 2011. The book is set in Iceland with Sergeant Gunnhildur, a police woman in her thirties as the central character. The novel starts on the eve of the financial collapse of the Icelandic banks. Bates has begun the second book, but it is yet to be titled.

Bates said: "I knew plenty about the country I wanted to set the story in but learning about police work is a whole new world for me, having never been nicked for anything more serious than breaking a speed limit."

Read the whole article at The Bookseller.