Reading in Reykjavík

There is no going past that point. All the roads are barricaded and all the bridges are blown. The fields are mined and the artillery has every sector zeroed in. This is a good extended metaphor and an eloquent way of belabouring the point, which is then spoiled by a truce shortly afterwards. Can you guess what the metaphor refers to? Year of publication: 1974 Series and no. : Travis McGee # 16 Genre: Mystery/thriller Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur, crime magnet Setting & time: Florida, USA, contemporary Travis McGee gets a visit from Carrie, an old friend, who asks him to store nearly 100 thousand dollars (in cash) for her or, if she doesn’t return within a given time, get the money to her younger sister. Carrie is killed, seemingly in a traffic accident, but McGee senses foul play and he decides he owes it to her to investigate her death. This leads him and his friend Meyer into the company of all kinds of people, some suspicious and some n...

Title: The Withdrawing Room No. in series: 2 Year of publication: 1980 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur & semi-pro Setting & time: Boston, USA; 1970´s Story: Following the deaths of her husband and mother in law (see The Family Vault ), Sarah Kelling is stuck with 2 houses and 2 killer mortgages that may or may not be illegal, but it will take months or perhaps years to sort them out, so until then she is close to broke. Being a practical person and not as proud as her richer society relatives, she turns her townhouse into a boarding house, accepting only people with good references. Soon, however, one of her boarders is murdered, and another one soon afterwards. The case is solved with the help of a bag lady and Max Bittersohn, who has returned to the scene and rented a room in the house. Review: Some of what I wrote about the previous book in the series may be applied to this one as well, except the plotting is even more intricate. The author subtly...