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.

***

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Review: Silenced by Anne Randall (A J McCreanor)

Silenced by Anne Randall (A J McCreanor), September 2015, 368 pages, Constable, ISBN: 1472112334

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Anne Randall is the pseudonym of A J McCreanor, author of the fabulous crime fiction debut novel RIVEN that was published in 2014. RIVEN was the first in Randall’s series to feature her detectives Wheeler and Ross. SILENCED is her second, and is every bit as harrowing as the first.

The story begins when Mark Haedyear, a notorious murderer, escapes from custody after his mother’s funeral. Now he is on the run and the girlfriend of the man believed to have grassed on him to the cops goes missing. Haedyear had murdered his original victim by burying her alive, so it seems as if history is about to repeat itself.

Things begin to get nastier when the body of a homeless man is found dumped amongst rubbish near a park in Glasgow. The only clue to the possible identity of the killer is a small card left near the body. The card comes from the mysterious Letum Institute: an organization interested in the afterlife and contacting the dead. It also funds a homeless hostel in the city and it could be that there is a connection between the hostel and the dead man. Wheeler and Ross are called in to investigate but clues are few and far between, and they feel as if they are getting nowhere fast.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Fiona Henderson, daughter of Haedyear’s first victim has also gone missing. She turned into a mute recluse after the murder of her mother and spent increasing amounts of time homeless; avoiding her father and sister and trying to come to terms with her loss. With Haedyear’s escape from prison, the pressure is on to find Fiona, in case she becomes a victim too. Wheeler and Ross have their work cut out for them if they are to get to the bottom of their case before more people are killed.

If you enjoy your crime fiction a bit on the dark side, then you are going to love this latest book by Anna Randall. It also has a wonderful twist at the end that you won't see coming. It blows you away and leaves you feeing exhausted by the time you have finished the book.

Overall, a fabulous story by this gifted author that keeps you guessing and captivated, from the first page to the last.

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, February 2016.

Review: Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson

Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson translated by Sarah Death, August 2012, 468 pages, Simon & Schuster UK, ISBN: 1847379613

The Stockholm police special team headed by Alex Recht returns in Silenced, the sequel to Unwanted. Alex's team is small comprising civilian Fredrika, the promising but sexist Peder and a newcomer Joar.

After Fredrika's performance in Unwanted she is now accepted in the team (and the tiresome attitudes against her have gone). Heavily pregnant and not feeling well she is on reduced hours so Joar is brought in. He and Peder do not get on particularly well at the beginning and their relationship deteriorates.

The team are handed two cases both of which may not be murder but are a bit fishy. One is a hit-and-run and the other a murder-suicide of a vicar and his wife resulting from the death of one of their daughters. The team must locate the couple's other daughter to break the bad news. When it's discovered that the vicar was a passionate supporter of helping immigrants and had even hidden illegal entrants to the country in his home in the past, then the investigation initially focusses on a right-wing group. Meanwhile the hit-and-run victim had some scraps of paper with Arabic on them. Are the two cases linked and if they are, how? And where is the missing daughter?

Interspersed in the Stockholm sections are chapters from an unidentified Swedish woman in Thailand who is in deep trouble; her identity's being erased and she's trapped.

As well as the police investigation and the Thailand segments, time is spent on the personal lives of the main players in the team in particular Fredrika and her unusual domestic set-up, Peder with his immature behaviour and Alex whose wife seems to be hiding something from him.

Silenced is an entertaining and easy read, the 468 pages fly by, helped partly by a large print size and wide margins but mainly by the unravelling of a complex story with its several unforeseen twists. The police investigation is handled better than in Unwanted (with phone records and unlimited surveillance teams apparently readily and immediately available) and it all takes place over a breathless few days. Ohlsson likes to put her characters through the emotional ringer so there are a couple of shocks at the end of the book, one has more impact than the other due to the time invested in the affected parties.

Fans of Kjell Eriksson should enjoy Kristina Ohlsson's books with their mix of domestic, professional and political issues.