Extract from The Hotel Manager's Guide to Murder

  ‘Who is this guy? Is he staying here?’

          Torfi had dealt with more than a few dead guests in his years of working in hotels. But this one hadn’t tumbled down a flight of stairs at the end of a raucous company annual party or quietly failed to wake up. This person looked too young to be one of the Bristol Hotel’s usual cohort of guests, a slim youth with dark hair that spread across the pillow, while his blue eyes were wide open and staring, and his clothes were scattered around the room.

          Everything about this was wrong. There was a proper procedure for this, and Sigríður definitely wasn’t following it. As well as that, dead guests tended to be found by the chambermaids, not by senior staff during the night, letting themselves into rooms with a swipe of a master pass key.

‘No,’ Sigríður said. ‘He’s not a guest.’

‘All right. We need to get an ambulance here right away. Isn’t Ásbjörn here?’

  Sigríður shook her head.

  ‘No. And, yes.’

  ‘Who’s the duty manager? They should be dealing with this. And there should be paramedics here by now.’

  Sigríður looked at him almost pityingly. 

  ‘This is down to us.’

  Torfi’s confusion was making him dizzy.

  ‘Who’s the duty manager tonight?’ he asked again, as if this wasn’t happening.

  'That’s Ásbjörn, but he’s busy right now.’ Sigríður scowled and looked him up and down, as if measuring him for a coffin. ‘He’ll be here in a few minutes.’

  ‘He has something more important than this to deal with? And if this person isn’t a guest, whose room is this?’

  Sigríður shook her head, shrugged and shivered. Her voice had a brittle quality to it when she replied. 

  ‘Torfi. This is Alberto’s room. Was Alberto’s room. Understand? It’s up to us, you and me, right now, to make this go away. Understand?’

  ‘Fuck… I…’ Torfi stuttered. ‘I don’t think I can…’

  This time Sigríður’s eyes glinted as she fixed him with a piercing gaze.

  ‘Listen. You’re in too deep already to back out of anything. So stop acting like a frightened schoolgirl and go fetch a laundry basket. One of the big ones on wheels​’

  Between them, he and Sigríður dressed the dead man, collecting his clothes from the bedroom floor before Ásbjörn arrived, his face flushed and serious. They bundled the corpse into the basket. Sigríður deftly stripped the bed and stuffed the soiled sheets on top of the body.

  The three of them accompanied the young man on his undignified journey to the basement, leaving him just inside the big delivery doors. 

  Sigríður issued terse instructions. 

  ‘Get the van from the front,’ she said in a hoarse whisper. ‘Take it round here. You know what to do. Dump our friend somewhere and come straight back here.’

  ‘Where do I go? You want me to go alone?’

  ‘Anywhere he won’t be found for a day or two, or longer,’ Sigríður told him. 

  ‘Hvalfjörður, out in Hvassahraun somewhere. Up to you. Just be discreet and don’t get stopped by the police.’ 

The Hotel Manager's Guide to Murder by Erlendur Arason (Blekverk) trans Quentin Bates Out Now

The smarter a place looks, the darker the secrets it hides… Guests at one of Reykjavík’s smartest hotels never know what happens behind the scenes –including what brings a group of the city’s homeless to the Bristol Hotel every winter night while the rest of the world sleeps. When overworked supervisor Torfi finds himself given an unexpected promotion that comes with a respectable pay rise, he takes it as a lucky break – until he’s told to make a murder victim disappear, and that he doesn’t have any choice. That’s when his life rapidly gets a lot more complicated. What isn’t he being told? Torfi doesn’t know, but when police officers Haukur and Dagný start asking awkward questions, he needs to find answers – even though he knows only half of the story. Longing desperately to go back to his old, boring life, Torfi finds himself desperately out of his depth as his family are threatened and his problems spiral far out of his control.

Syd Moore on the inspiration for The Great Deception

One of the great privileges of pursuing a writing career is that when you stumble upon a stray thread of information that intrigues you are able, nay even encouraged, to tug at it, follow its twists and turns and see where it might lead. It was a mention of the ‘Cone of Power’ ritual in 1940 that set me off researching The Grand Illusion, the first novel in my new WW2 series which explores how the British Secret Service exploited the Nazis’ fascination with the occult. It is equally true of my new book, The Great Deception, which is set against one of the most curious episodes of the Second World War: the British invasion of Iceland.

The what? was my reaction when I first came across it, imagining some kind of Anglo-Saxon or Viking encounter. But no - the invasion took place on the 10th of May 1940.

I was astonished that I hadn’t heard about it before. It was, after all, Britain’s last outright military invasion and occupation of a neutral country. But readers familiar with the Second World War will know that on that morning Germany launched its western offensive, invading Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France in a lightning strike that would soon bring Western Europe to its knees. By the end of the day, Neville Chamberlain was out, Winston Churchill was in, and those seismic events eclipsed everything else. The British seizure of Iceland became little more than a footnote, buried beneath the enormity of the continental crisis.

Iceland

But in Iceland itself, of course it changed everything. In fact it’s still a source of controversy and debate today. And it was to this extraordinary island that I journeyed, determined to tug further at the thread.

I was fortunate in two respects. First, I secured two residencies at Gunnarshús, the Writers’ Union of Iceland, staying in a light-filled apartment overlooking Reykjavík, itself a UNESCO City of Literature. Second, I had the good fortune to draw on the formidable mind of Quentin Bates, a British writer, journalist, and translator who has lived in Iceland for years and who furnished me with lots of advice on where to go and what to see. Soon I found myself immersed in the archives.

At the National and University Library of Iceland I hunted down a PhD thesis that had been mentioned in an academic article. Written by Donald Francis Bittner for the University of Missouri, it proved to be one of the most detailed accounts of the invasion available. Operation Fork, as it was known, turned out to be a remarkably bloodless invasion. The only shot fired was, tragically, self-inflicted by a terrified young marine. The British had hoped for surprise, but their reconnaissance Walrus seaplane gave the game away: the unusual sound sent Icelanders flocking to the harbour to watch two destroyers, one cruiser, 40 officers, 746 Royal Marines, a small intelligence detachment, and a diplomatic mission sail into view.

Hotel Borg

It must also rank as one of the politest invasions in history. At 6.20 a.m., as marines disembarked, the British consul asked a Reykjavík police officer to move the gathering crowd back a little. ‘Of course, sir,’ came the calm reply. A momentary kerfuffle followed when an Icelander grabbed a marine’s rifle and stuffed a cigarette down the barrel, but then did nothing but hand it back. That was the day’s most dramatic incident. Later that morning Prime Minister Hermann Jónasson protested ‘vigorously’ to the British ambassador. The rest of the government spent the evening with him and his colleagues at Reykjavík’s Hotel Borg, enjoying the good Scotch which the ambassador had brought over with him.

An Icelandic grimoire 

Of course, my research did not stop with the military story. Section W novels are rooted in the occult, and Iceland had long been of interest to the Nazis. During the interwar years it was perceived by National Socialists as a ‘Germanic nation,’ a living repository of Norse myth and magic. .  

The Great Deception, though set against the invasion, follows Daphne Devine as she investigates a clairvoyant and hunts for a magical book - a grimoire - hidden in the remote Strandir region, ‘land of sorcerers’. Of course, I had to travel there myself.

In Hólmavík I visited the Icelandic Museum of Witchcraft and Sorcery. It is a place of marvels and horrors, not least the infamous Necropants, fashioned from human skin. (For the record: they would not let me try them on, no matter how earnestly I pleaded ‘research.’)

Magnús Rafnsson & Syd Moore

It was there I met Magnús Rafnsson, one of Iceland’s foremost authorities on grimoires. Having completed ‘sheep-gathering weekend - sacred seasonal ritual in itself - he sat with me for hours. Our conversations ranged from the nature of Icelandic magic to the strange divergences between the witch hunts in his homeland and those of my own Essex. He not only answered every question but unfolded the layered history of Hólmavík with generosity and insight.

The Necropants

This is, I think, the reward I hold most dear: the moments when research ceases to be solitary and becomes instead a meeting of minds, an unexpected fellowship. It is these conversations, these unlocked doors, that nourish the imagination and breathe life into fiction.

And so The Great Deception was born: from invasion and occupation, from sagas and sorcery, from the tug of a thread that led me north, to Reykjavík’s archives and Strandir’s wild coast.

The Great Deception by Syd Moore is published by Magpie on 4 September, paperback £9.99.

1940. Britain has invaded neutral Iceland, but Daphne Devine has bigger problems. She has sailed into allied territory to track down a clairvoyant suspected of collaborating with the Nazis. As an undercover operative, Daphne must thread her way through a land steeped in shadow and riddled with secrets. But when a new lead pulls her North into Strandir, land of sorcerers, what she uncovers sets off a deadly chain reaction. The stakes are raised, and suddenly it’s not just her life on the line, but the fate of her entire team. In a world of deceiving occultists and age-old magic, Daphne must use every ounce of cunning and craft at her disposal to outwit enemy agents if she wants to emerge unscathed and get her team out alive.

More information about Syd Moore and her books can be found on her website. She can also be found on Instagram and Facebook @sydmoorewriter and on X @SydMoore1

© All Photos Syd Moore

Petrona Award 2025 Long list

Outstanding Crime Fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Long-listed for the 2025 Petrona Award.

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2025 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

Dead Island by Samuel Bjørk tr. Charlotte Barslund (Norway, Bantam)

Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

The Widows by Pascal Engman tr. Neil Smith (Sweden, Legend Press)

Deliver Me by Malin Persson Giolito tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (Sweden, Simon & Schuster)

The Dancer by Óskar Guðmundsson tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

Victim by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger tr. Megan E Turney (Norway, Orenda Books)

Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo tr. Robert Ferguson (Norway, Harvill Secker)

The Sea Cemetery by Aslak Nore tr. Deborah Dawkin (Norway, MacLehose Press)

Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö tr. Kristian London (Finland, Zaffre)

Ghost Island by Max Seeck tr. Kristian London (Finland, Mountain Leopard Press)

Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners Pascal Engman, Malin Persson Giolito, Jørn Lier Horst, and Gunnar Staalesen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Corylus Books having an impressive three entries. The breakdown by country is Norway (5), Iceland (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 18 September 2025.

The Petrona Award 2025 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller for a major book chain in the UK, Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE, and Sonja van der Westhuizen, a book critic for print and online publications in the UK and South Africa, as well as a blogger at WEST WORDS REVIEWS. 

The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

The Petrona team would like to thank their sponsor, David Hicks, for his continuing support of the Petrona Award.

 

Crimes of the System by Jon Atli Jonasson

 

Above: Jon Atli Jonasson at Capital Crime London, 2025

We’ve been energised by the recent debut in English of the work of Icelandic writer, screenwriter, playwright and poet Jon Atli Jonasson; reviewing BROKEN last month when it was released in Hardcover by Corylus Books and now on the eve of its debut in Paperback on August 1^st 2025 – the author agreed to give Shots Magazine’s readers a little insight -

My first foray into crime writing came in the form of a serialized radio drama centered on Iceland’s most notorious criminal case: the Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case. The case involves the disappearance of Guðmundur Einarsson and Geirfinnur Einarsson in 1974. Although they had the same last name, they were not related. Six individuals were convicted of their suspected murders, based primarily on confessions — often referred to as the Reykjavik confessions—obtained by police during prolonged and intense interrogations. Notably, the convictions were secured without the discovery of the victims’ bodies, eyewitnesses, or any forensic evidence.

In the years that followed, public opinion in Iceland shifted, with many believing the six were wrongfully convicted. On 27 September 2018, 44 years after the disappearances, the Supreme Court of Iceland acquitted five of the original six suspects. In 2013, an official police investigation report was submitted to the Office of the State Prosecutor. On 24 February 2017, the Interior Ministry's Rehearing Committee recommended that the case be reheard by the Supreme Court of Iceland. As part of its evaluation, the commission's review of the 1974 Geirfinnur case incorporated the work of Gísli Guðjónsson, a former Icelandic detective and internationally renowned expert on suggestibility and false confession, whose research introduced the concept of "Memory Distrust Syndrome.” This theory suggests that under severe psychological stress — including conditions like solitary confinement and sleep deprivation — a person may lose confidence in their own memory and instead place undue trust in external sources, such as interrogators. This can ultimately result in false confessions made in an effort to end the psychological pressure.

My serialized radio play uses the premise of the hardships the defendants were subjected to under the solitary confinement. This case didn’t just devastate the lives of the accused — it cast a long shadow over many others as well. For decades, it stood as one of the most profound and lasting scars on Icelandic society. In March 2013, following an 18-month investigation, the Icelandic government released a report exposing serious flaws in the original police inquiry. It highlighted systemic incompetence and instances of abuse, including the use of solitary confinement, improper administration of medication, inhumane treatment such as water torture and sleep deprivation, denial of legal representation, and a presumption of guilt. The report also noted the absence of key elements typically required for a credible case: forensic evidence, the victims' bodies, and any clear motive. The case contains too many complexities to be adequately addressed in a single blog post. However, it is evident that the accused were perceived not merely as criminals but as a significant challenge to the established order. They were young individuals introducing new ideas. This was fundamentally a generational conflict, in which the older generation employed the full force of the legal system and the media to suppress societal change.

The government’s report on the case reveals only a small part of the full story. My main concern with the report is that it was authored by representatives of the very system responsible for this miscarriage of justice. It managed to erase the human experience behind the text in the way bureaucracy does so efficiently. When I wrote my version of events as a serialized radio play, I went directly to the source. I spoke with the accused who were still alive, retired police officers, and others connected to the case. I had access to their secret prison diaries and personal letters. I also talked with their children — many of whom grew up largely without them—as well as other family members, retired journalists, and prison guards.

The purpose of this blog post isn’t to portray myself as a hero. I was simply searching for compelling drama. However, during the research and scriptwriting process, I began to recognize the deeper potential of the crime genre. How it can tell big stories. I’m a big fan of Richard Price and his masterpiece novel Clockers which is set in a fictional New Jersey city called Dempsy. His brilliant depiction of everyone involved in the drug trade — criminals and law enforcement alike—stands as a great example of how crime fiction can vividly explore systemic urban decay and the social forces that trap individuals within it. Richard Price continues the tradition established by Swedish authors Sjöwall and Wahlöö, who pioneered crime fiction as a sharp critique of social and political institutions. Like them, Price uses the genre not just to tell a story, but to expose deeper societal issues.

This approach strongly influenced the framing of my first crime novel, Broken, set in contemporary Iceland. I also felt it had been a while since anyone in Iceland had written a crime thriller that explores the state of the nation from both the perspectives of law enforcement and the criminal world. Crime is constantly changing and evolving. During my research I came across a new type of criminal with a mind-set that contrasts sharply with the traditional gangster. They don’t get their hands dirty in the same way; instead, they follow a morning routine, read biographies of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, and view themselves more as entrepreneurs than drug dealers; violence is delegated to experts: The Icelandic underworld has also grown more intricate because of the arrival of foreign gangs in Iceland and the type of crimes being committed. As the divide between the wealthy and the impoverished grows wider, social tensions escalate, leading to increased desperation among those left behind. This fuels a rise in violent crime, including more frequent murders. Xenophobia also plays a significant role, further destabilizing already fragile social structures.

But at the core of my novel, I still hope you find a story of two flawed but compassionate cops determined to make a difference.

(c) 2025 Jon Atli Jonasson

Shots Magazine would like to thank Quentin Bates of Corylus Books for his help in getting this article from the author of Broken.

Read the Shots Review HERE

All photos © 2025 Quentin Bates, Marina Sofia and Michael Stotter

Bringing Shrouded to life by Sólveig Pálsdóttir,

I’ll admit that I don’t push myself hard to start something new and normally take a break between books. I like to see a book find its feet before starting the next one. I’m convinced that the imagination needs nourishment so it can work, and I need to take a deep breath of what society is doing around me – because I have to have something to say and I’m not interested in repeating myself. Otherwise I don’t see the point in writing.

Shrouded, which was originally published in Iceland as Miðillinn in 2023, is the seventh in the series featuring Guðgeir, and when I sat down to write, I wasn’t even sure that this was going to be a crime story. I had a mental image of an elderly lady sitting at her kitchen table, reading a newspaper ad asking for geniuses, as she mutters to herself, polishes her glasses and sips her milky coffee.

To me this woman seemed to be a loner with an intriguing back story. I knew she lived in a house with red steel cladding in the old town in the western part of Reykjavík, that she had a disabled daughter and I saw her walking through the Hólavellir cemetery that’s close to the centre of the city. I wrote every day as the weeks passed. The story began to take shape but something seemed to be missing.

The deadline was looming for the book my publishers wanted, when I heard that the French Embassy in Iceland and the Writers’ Union of Iceland were offering the opportunity of a month-long writing residency in La Rochelle. I applied, and was chosen. In the spring I set off for France, looking forward to being able to write in peace and quiet. If I had known what was to come, I wouldn’t have gone. But now I’m thankful for what ensued, as the experience added the emotional edge that was missing from the manuscript, and I started making changes.

I stayed in a pretty little house located in a large and beautiful public park that was dark and deserted at night. Also supposed to be staying in this house was a French lady who was a playwright. To cut a long story short, I only saw the playwright when she came to collect her belongings, as she couldn’t bear to be there any longer after having spent two days and nights alone in the house. The reason was a seriously ill woman who lurked around the house, slept on the verandah and peered in through the windows during the day, chattering and calling out to people only she could see. I had only been told about this person as I arrived, with the instruction to absolutely not let her in, as a resident had done this during the winter when it had been very cold and the outcome had been a ‘BIG PROBLEM.’

I was told that this woman had many times been offered help, and always refused. She had long stopped taking her medication and had developed an obsession with the pretty little house in the park.

Despite feeling uncomfortable in this place, I wrote and wrote. I veered between fear of this sick woman and sympathy for her. I was often scared, especially at night, because the woman was angry with me for using the house’s rubbish bin – unaware that this was where she kept her things during the day, her mattress, blanket, pillow and sleeping bag. That night she was louder and angrier than usual.

I would lie awake far into the night, starkly conscious of the difference in our circusmtances. Despite the discomfort she caused me, I was in a clean bed inside, while she lay on an old mattress outside, and it was as well that the weather was fine. During the day I wanted to speak to her and understand her life, but she spoke just French, of which I only understand a few words. Every evening I shut myself in at six o’clock, locking the doors and windows as soon as the shadows began to lengthen and people stopped coming into the park, leaving me alone with this troubled woman.

During the day I wrote, and in the evenings, and through many sleepless nights. The manuscript changed a great deal. The sick woman didn’t become part of the story, but the uncanny feel of those days and nights found its way into what I was writing as Shrouded took shape.

La Rochelle is a very popular destination for tourists, so finding another place to stay wasn’t easy, but I eventually managed to find somewhere and spent the last few days in the city centre. There was a lot of noise late into the night, but I felt much more at ease here among people than alone with the sick woman in the park. The day before I travelled home to Iceland, by complete coincidence I was given a deeper insight into her life and background. This affected me deeply, but this isn’t a story to be told here...

Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir, translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus Books) £9.99 Out Now

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? Now 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?

Sólveig Pálsdóttir can be found on “X” at Solveigpals. She can also be followed on Facebook.

Sólveig Pálsdóttir trained as an actor and has a background in the theatre, television and radio. In a second career she studied for degrees in literature and education, and has taught literature and linguistics, drama and public speaking, and has produced both radio programmes and managed cultural events. Her first novel appeared in Iceland in 2012 and went straight to the country’s bestseller list. Her memoir Klettaborgin was a 2020 hit in Iceland. Sólveig Pálsdóttir has written seven novels featuring Reykjavík detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún in the series called Ice and Crime. Silenced received the 2020 Drop of Blood award for the best Icelandic novel of the year and was Iceland’s nomination for the 2021 Glass key award for the best Nordic crime novel of the year. Shrouded is the series’ fourth book to appear in English. Sólveig lives in Reykjavík.

Quentin Bates has personal and professional roots in Iceland that go very deep. He is an author of series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to his own fiction, he has translated many works of Iceland’s coolest writers into English, including books by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, Óskar Guðmundsson, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Jónína Leosdottir, Ragnar Jónasson and elusive Stella Blomkvist. Quentin was instrumental in launching Iceland Noir in 2013, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.

Petrona Shortlist Announced

 

Exceptional crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2022 Petrona Award.

Six exceptional crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2022 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Wednesday 16 November and is as follows:

FATAL ISLES by Maria Adolfsson tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

THE THERAPIST by Helene Flood tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

EVERYTHING IS MINE by Ruth Lillegraven tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

KNOCK KNOCK by Anders Roslund tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)

COLD AS HELL by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

THE RABBIT FACTOR by Antti Tuomainen tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

The winning title will be announced on Thursday 8 December 2022. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize.

The Petrona Award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia, and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his continued generous support of the Petrona Award.

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

There were 31 entries for the 2022 Petrona Award from five countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The novels were translated by 23 translators and submitted by 14 publishers/imprints. There were 16 female, 14 male and one male/male pair of authors.

This year’s Petrona Award shortlist sees Norway represented with two novels; Sweden with two and Finland and Iceland with one each. The judges selected the shortlist from a particularly strong pool of candidates with the shortlisted titles ranging from police procedural and domestic noir to the darkly comic.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the six translators whose expertise and skill have allowed readers to access these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction. The significantly increasing number of female writers being translated is also to be commended.

The judges’ comments on each of the shortlisted titles:

 Maria Adolfsson - FATAL ISLES tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

Maria Adolfsson’s gripping debut, FATAL ISLES, set in Doggerland - a group of islands in the North Sea between Denmark and the United Kingdom – paints a vivid picture of a northern island community with traditions, rich and poor families, and a stormy climate. Doggerland comes alive on the pages so much that you would never guess it is totally fictional. DI Karen Eiken Hornby is tasked with investigating the murder of her boss’s ex-wife. Does the motive have any connection to a secretive commune that existed on the island in the past? FATAL ISLES is a high tension, character driven, atmospheric police procedural.

 Helene Flood - THE THERAPIST tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

A man goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Police detective Gundersen is officially working the case whilst therapist Sara tries to understand where her husband is. Set in the leafy Oslo outskirts, THE THERAPIST is a tense read that keeps us intrigued with unsettling twists and turns. Sara is constantly analysing herself and the people around her as her whole life is turned upside down. At the same time, she fears for her own safety and tries to remain professional with her clients. Author Helene Flood is a trained psychologist who has used her experience to inform the characters and the narrative in this page-turning debut thriller.

 Ruth Lillegraven - EVERYTHING IS MINE tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

EVERYTHING IS MINE is the story of two happily married professionals, Clara an ambitious child rights activist at the Ministry of Justice, and Henrik, a compassionate paediatrician. Dedication to their twin sons and their respective causes begins to crack when they are faced with cases of murder and abuse and an unravelling of a tangled web of emotional secrets follows. A powerful narration and detailed observations show a stark contrast between social standing and geographical differences in Norwegian life, and leave the readers with questions of how, and if, individuals can deal with unfairness and pain. EVERYTHING IS MINE combines important issues, thrilling action and a smart intricate plot, with a strong focus on social injustice and complex family relations.

 Anders Roslund - KNOCK KNOCK tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)

Anders Roslund has published nine novels to date as part of the successful writing duos of Roslund & Hellström and Roslund & Thunberg, as Anton Svensson, and has been the recipient of numerous, prestigious international awards. Since the death of Börge Hellström, Roslund has continued their Ewert Grens series and KNOCK KNOCK is his first solo venture. Set over the course of three days, KNOCK KNOCK is another fine example of Roslund's talent for seamlessly blending together a solid police procedural with a high-octane thriller, leading to a gritty and fast-paced read set against his astute observations on the societal and political issues of contemporary Sweden.

Lilja Sigurðardóttir - COLD AS HELL tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

COLD AS HELL, the first novel in a new slick series, introduces Áróra who returns from UK to her homeland Iceland following the disappearance of her estranged sister Ísafold. She uncovers a corrupted world of dark secrets but needs help from her policeman uncle to navigate an Icelandic society with which she is now unfamiliar. The author creates a chilling and tense atmosphere where the midnight sun hides crimes, and all relations are tested. The richness and intensity of the writing makes the investigative accountant Áróra, who will stop at nothing to understand and trace her sibling, a thoroughly modern and captivating protagonist in a league of her own.  

 Antti Tuomainen - THE RABBIT FACTOR tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

Antti Tuomainen was shortlisted for the Petrona Award twice before winning it in 2020 with, LITTLE SIBERIA. THE RABBIT FACTOR, which was also shortlisted for this year’s CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation, superbly demonstrates Tuomainen's singular gift for dark, absurd crime fiction undercut with poignancy. THE RABBIT FACTOR puts at its heart an ordinary man drawing on his previously undiscovered and extraordinary resolve, to carve out and keep his place in a hostile world, with often darkly funny results.

 The judges

Jackie Farrant - creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller/Area Commercial Support for a major book chain in the UK

Miriam Owen - founder of the NORDIC NOIR blog and creator of content for communities

Ewa Sherman - translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE.

Award administrator

Karen Meek – owner of the EURO CRIME website and blog.

Further information can be found on the Petrona Award website: http://www.petronaaward.co.uk.

A Spot of Bother with the Cops in Iceland by Michael Ridpath

 

Last summer, I had my first ever run-in with the Icelandic police, who put out an all-points alert for me and my hired car. In the end, I turned myself in.

I had spent most of lockdown writing my latest Magnus crime novel, Death in Dalvik. The problem was I had never been to Dalvík. I planned to go in May 2020 and then again in November 2020, but COVID stopped me. I had already finished the 3rd draft of the novel by the time I was eventually allowed to leave Britain for Iceland in June 2021.

Iceland is always a brilliant place to visit, but it is even more brilliant without tourists, as it was last summer. The COVID tests involved a certain amount of high-stakes form filling and app downloading and deleting, but I got there in the end. 

Valley just to the south of Dalvik

The nearest big town to Dalvík is Akureyri, in the north of Iceland. Akureyri is the regional police headquarters from where Magnus would be operating to solve his crime in Dalvík. So I took a photograph. Among some stiff competition, Akureyri is Iceland’s drabbest police station.

I took the picture before breakfast. Around lunchtime, I thought I would drop in for a chat. I was a little nervous about this. Policemen are almost always helpful in these situations, but you never know: in Qaqortoq in Greenland they refused to talk to me and booted me out of the station.

Akureyri police station

I introduced myself to the receptionist, whose eyebrows rose. She scurried off. After several minutes a chief inspector showed up and led me outside the station to talk (for COVID reasons, I think). I said I was a British crime writer and was writing a novel set in Dalvík. The chief inspector smiled and said he knew. Apparently, the desk sergeant had seen me taking a photograph that morning and had come outside to speak to me. I remember seeing him emerge from the station – I assumed he was sneaking a quick cigarette – so without waiting for him, I drove off. He noted my rental car number and put out an all-points alert.

The Akureyri police in action

Fortunately, I had parked my car on a side street all morning, so the police hadn’t found it. But they had contacted Avis who gave them my email address. From which they deduced my website and my Twitter feed. From which they learned I had just been in Dalvík, researching a crime novel.

I was impressed by their detection skills. I spoke to the Avis guy as I left Akureyri who was less impressed: he thought there just wasn’t enough crime in Akureyri to keep them properly occupied. Which is probably a good thing.

I returned to England without a criminal record or an Interpol red notice, and finished my book. The result, Death in Dalvik, is out on 20 April. Dísa is an intelligent 16-year-old schoolgirl who is given five Bitcoin by her father in 2017 and through astute trading turns it into enough money to bail out her grandparents’ bankrupt farm. Her mother is so impressed, that she too catches the cryptocurrency bug. She persuades the wealthier inhabitants of Dalvík to invest in a new cryptocurrency, Thomocoin, with predictable results. The poor woman is found dead on a mountainside, and my detective Magnus investigates.

Death in Dalvik by Michael Ridpath (Yarmer Head) Out Now

When sixteen-year-old Dísa is given five bitcoin by her divorced father she is unimpressed: she hasn't heard of the cryptocurrency, and five of anything can't be worth very much. But a year later, when her grandparents are about to lose the farm near the Icelandic village of Dalvik where their family has lived for centuries, quiet, unassuming Dísa is able to rescue it with the profits from her astute trading of her father's gift. Unknown to Dísa, her mother Helga catches the cryptocurrency bug. Not only does Helga invest in Thomocoin, a new cryptocurrency sweeping Iceland, but she persuades many of her neighbours in Dalvík to invest too, taking a cut for herself. Helga is found murdered on the hillside above the farm and Inspector Magnus Jonson investigates. Magnus realizes that Dísa, now a nineteen-year-old student, can help him unveil the shadowy forces behind Thomocoin. But torn between loyalty to her family and fear for her life, Dísa has other ideas.

More information about Michael Ridpath and his books can be found on his website. He can also be found on Facebook and you can follow him on Twitter @MichaelRidpath and on Instagram @michaelridpathauthor

Óskar Guðmundsson on A Story That Needed to Be Told

 

An encounter with a childhood friend after a gap of many years was the spark that behind Óskar Guðmundsson’s The Commandments, his first novel to appear in English, published by niche translated fiction outfit Corylus Books.

Powerful themes run through the book, which addresses the highly sensitive issue of the abuse of boys by a number of clergymen over many years.

“In Iceland this debate about abuse within the Church has always been a painful one, and it has been carefully largely kept out of sight,” Óskar said.

“This is the most challenging subject I have taken on so far and it didn’t take me long to realise how tough this was going to be.”

Meeting up with someone who had been part of the same youth group in their early teens was a shock, as this man had led a deeply troubled life, due in large part to having been abused by a priest who arranged and accompanied groups of young people on trips out of Reykjavík.

“I was fortunate to escape one of the bad apples of the Church. I must have sensed that something wasn’t right, and the priest’s approaches rang alarm bells in my head. I stopped taking part, but in spite of my warnings, my friend stayed. We lost touch and it was many years later that I met him again. By then he was a terribly damaged individual, and told me the whole story.”

That story formed the basis of The Commandments, and although the characters and events are from my imagination and the setting has been moved to the north of Iceland, his account of what happened to him is at the centre of the story.

“I’ve asked myself again and again if I could have done more back then to protest him from all this. I felt this was a story that needed to be told, with its themes of broken trust, forgiveness and hatred, and to describe how this abuse starts from small beginnings and grows to wreck lives.”

Early in the writing of the book, Óskar took the decision to locate the events in and around the town of Akureyri in northern Iceland, a place for which he has a great fondness. It’s not a big place by European or US standards, a community of just under 20,000 people, but it forms the largest settlement in the country outside the capital region of Reykjavík. Akureyri is also surrounded by smaller communities, such as the coastal village of Grenivík where the first brutal murder in the story comes to light.

When The Commandments was published in Iceland, it didn’t escape notice, not least because the Glerá Church at the centre of Akureyri is one of the key locations in the story.

“This is very sensitive subject matter in Iceland, and I had a request from the priest at the Glerá Church to pay him a visit, and it was very obvious that he and his colleague were extremely disturbed by the book and its themes. In particular they were concerned in case I had some particular person in mind connected to the church. We had a very long conversation and I was able to assure them that while the underlying themes are very real, the events and the persons portrayed in the book are drawn purely from my imagination,” he said.

“It has been a challenge to write this story, but this is a story I felt needed to be told.”

The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson Published by Corylus Books

On a Sunday morning in 1995, Anton, a nineteen year old boy, meets a priest in front of a church. The young man was never seen again. Twenty years later, under the midnight sun, a pastor is found brutally murdered in his church in a small fishing village north of the city of Akureyri, close to the Arctic Circle. When detective inspector Salka starts working on the case a deacon is found crucified in his home in Akureyri. The murderer leaves a message on both crime scenes and Salka realises that the killer is seeking revenge but she also fears that the lives of some other people in the church society are in danger. The two cases take an unexpected turn when Salka discovers a connection between the killings and events that took place two decades earlier.  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.

More information about the author can be found on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @oskargudmunds.