Reading in Reykjavík

I have read all of Arnaldur's previous 5 books about Erlendur and co., but I have only reviewed one. I think maybe I should review the rest, at least the ones that have been translated into other languages. German title: Kältezone Edit: the English title is The Draining Lake , translated by Bernard Scudder. Scudder died not long ago and will be sorely missed. He was an excellent tralslator. Author: (alt. spelling) Arnaldur Indridason Series detective: Erlendur Sveinsson and co. No. in series: 6 Year of publication: 2004 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Reykjavík, Iceland, 2004; Leipzig, East-Germany, 1950's Number of deaths: 2 Some themes: Espionage, missing persons, socialism Story: A scientist checking the water levels of lake Kleifarvatn discovers a human skeleton in a dried-up section of the lake bottom. This marks the beginning of a murder investigation that attempts to connect one of 5 missing men to the Ru...

I’ve been thinking about reading challenges. Not just possible future 52 Books challenges for myself, but reading challenges in general. A reading challenge is a good way to get some focus into your reading if you feel you don't know what to read next, you want to expand your reading horizons, become an expert on a given subject, or break out of a bad reader's block. Hunting down the books can be half the fun if you assign yourself a specific set of books and they turn out to be out of print or otherwise hard to find. Different challenges suit different people. Some may do a modest book-a-week challenge for one year or plan to read all of a specific author’s books, while others may be more ambitious and embark on a lifetime reading plan of every book mentioned in Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon . Some may want to cover every number in the Dewey catalogue. Including the fractions would be a bit too much for most, but by taking whole numbers only you would get 999 books and ...

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Author: Joan Hess Series detective: Claire Malloy No. in series: 4 Year of publication: 1988 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: Arkansas, USA, 1980’s Number of corpses: 2 Some themes: Beauty pageants, politics (and politicians), the American Dream Story: When Claire Malloy’s friend is hurt while showing a bunch of beauty pageant contestants their moves, she ropes Claire into helping her to get the pageant going. Someone seems to be trying to injure and/or scare the reigning Miss Thurberfest, who is in town to crown her successor. Some suspect the girl is just trying to attract attention, but when she is found dead in her dressing room no-one is sure what is going on any more. A local politician and his assistant may be involved and the owner of the theatre where the pageant is to take place has been behaving suspiciously. But Claire’s biggest worry is that her friend seems to be harbouring a secret she is unwilling to share. Review: I f...

Title: Death and the Pregnant Virgin Series detective: Ben Jurnet No. in series: 1 Year of publication: 1980 Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: Rural village in England, 1980’s Number of corpses: 4 Some themes: Religion, greed, relationships Picture pending. Story: Five years before the beginning of the story, a dog digging in a badger run on the outskirts of the village of Mauthern Barbary unearthed a madonna statue thought to have been destroyed in the time of Henry VIII. The madonna, which looks more like an African fertility goddess than the usual demure Mary, is thought to give the gift of fertility to women who have been unable to conceive. On the fifth anniversary of the unearthing, thousands of couples flock to the village to pray to the madonna for her blessing. A young woman, Rachel Cass, works at the shrine and is loved and respected by all, some even claiming she is a saint. When the shrine is opened to the worshippers on the ...

Author: Josephine Tey Series detective: Inspector Alan Grant No. in series: 5 of 6 Year of publication: 1951 Type of mystery: Murder, historical Type of investigator: Professional, aided by an amateur Setting & time: A hospital in England, 1950's Some themes: History, regicide Story: Inspector Grant is lying in bed, recovering from a broken leg and other injuries sustained while trying to capture a criminal. He suffers from boredom until an old friend suggests he try working out some unsolved murder. A portrait of Richard III and people’s comment that the picture looks more like the image of a victim or a judge than a cold-blooded killer gives him interest in trying to discover the true events behind the mystery of the princes in the Tower , possibly the most notorious regicide in the history of England. He needs someone to do research for him, and with the help of a friend he enlists the aid of a young historian who starts ploughing through old documents in search of ...

Since I sometimes use somewhat specialised vocabulary in my reviews that may baffle some of my visitors (read: I got a complaint) I decided to set down a glossary of words and acronyms I use that may not have made their way into mainstream dictionaries, just in case someone stumbles over them. Some I have used, some I may use later on. In addition to specifically mystery-related vocabulary, I occasionally use more general literary terms like dénouement , foreshadowing or Deus ex machina . Explanations of these can be found in many dictionaries or any good glossary of literary terms, several of which can be found on the web. Or you can use One Look . I will be adding more terms as they come along. Glossary: Bibliomystery: A mystery that features books, manuscripts, book writing, bookshops, libraries, publishers, booksellers, authors, reviewers or any other book-related subject prominently in the storyline or setting.  Cosy (alt. American spelling: cozy ): Short for cos...