Reading in Reykjavík

Since this book has yet to be published in English, I have no way of confirming if Veins of Ice is the title it will be published under, but I found it on a reliable site on Icelandic literature. The Icelandic title is Auðnin (The Wasteland). Here is a little teaser for the book, translated by myself: They walked out of the shop, but Þóra stopped suddenly in the doorway when a familiar voice was heard from the direction of the security gate. "If I can take one lighter aboard, why can't I take two?" thundered Bella. "What can I possibly do with two lighters that I can't do with one?" Þóra turned back into the shop and headed in the direction of the strong liquor shelves. Those who have read the previous books in the series will know that Bella is Þóra's secretary and the bane of her existence: a rude, crude young woman foisted upon her and her law partner by their landlord. In this scene, taken from early in the book, Þóra and Matthew are heading to Gre...

This book is due to be published in Britain and the USA in April. Original Icelandic title: Sér grefur gröf Genre: Murder mystery Year of publication: 2006 No. in series: 2 Series detective: Þóra Guðmundsdóttir Type of investigator: Lawyer Setting & time: Snæfellsnes, Iceland; contemporary Story: Þóra’s client, a hotel owner in Snæfellsnes (south-western Iceland), wants to sue the people who sold him the land for the hotel on the basis of the place being haunted. This would not be a problem if the hotel were an ordinary one, but it is a new age health spa and some of the staff claim to be sensitive to that sort of thing, the owner included. Þóra goes up there to investigate and prepare the lawsuit (or rather to dissuade the client to go on with it), but arrives in the middle of a murder investigation. The architect who designed the hotel has been brutally murdered, and when a second person connected with the hotel is murdered as well, Þóra’s client is arrested on suspicion ...

Icelandic title: Þriðja táknið (literally: The Third Symbol ) Genre: Mystery Year of publication: 2005 No. in series: 1 Series detective: Þóra Guðmundsdóttir Type of investigator: Lawyer Setting & time: Reykjavík (mostly), Iceland; contemporary Story: Icelandic Lawyer Þóra (Thora in English) is hired by the parents of a German history student who was found murdered in the offices of the history department of the University of Iceland. They want her to help Matthew, an investigator they have sent over from Germany, to find out why their son was murdered and why his body was mutilated. Since they are not convinced that the suspect the police have arrested is guilty, they also want Þóra and Matthew to find the real killer. The victim had been researching and comparing the history of witch hunts in Germany and Iceland and was the leader of a clique that practiced magic rituals. The mutilation of his body is connected to a magic spell found in an old grimoire, so it would seem l...