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Features

A Reykjavík bookseller on why Iceland is the number one Christmas destination for book lovers

The Girl by the Bridge

* OVER 20 MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDE* 
 
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 PETRONA AWARD FOR THE BEST SCANDI CRIME* 
 
One girl missing. Another found dead. Only one detective can solve this case. 
 
'One of the greats of modern crime fiction' Sunday Times 
 
When a young woman known for drug smuggling goes missing, her elderly grandparents have no choice but to call the retired Detective Konrád. 
 
Still looking for his own father's murderer, Konrád agrees to investigate the case. 
 
But digging into the past reveals more than he set out to discover, and a strange connection to a little girl who drowned in the Reykjavík city pond decades ago recaptures everyone's attention. 
 
A brilliant, chilling tale of broken dreams and children who have nowhere to turn. 
 
'The undisputed king of the Icelandic thriller' Guardian 
 
'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting, and lyrical' Harlan Coben

The second novel in Arnaldur Indridason's intriguing new series, The Girl by the Bridge...is as darkly brilliant as anything he has written

Short, crisply written chapters move the action briskly along while keeping all the seemingly disparate pieces of the puzzle in the mix. Veteran Indridason weaves all these eerie elements together masterfully. Superb crime fiction from an acclaimed virtuoso.

Arnaldur Indridason (Author) Arnaldur Indridason worked for many years as a journalist and critic before he began writing novels. His books have since sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Outside Iceland, he is best known for his crime novels featuring Erlendur and Sigurdur Óli, which are consistent bestsellers across Europe. The series has won numerous awards, including the Nordic Glass Key and the CWA Gold Dagger. 
 
The Shadow District – the first book in the Reykjavík Wartime Mystery series – won the Premio RBA de Novela Negra, the world’s most lucrative crime fiction prize. Philip Roughton (Translator) Philip Roughton was born in the US and now lives in Iceland. He is an award-winning translator of modern Icelandic literature, having translated works by numerous Icelandic writers, including the Nobel prize-winning author Halldór Laxness.

Over 18 million copies sold worldwide. The bestselling Icelandic author of all time. 
 
'One of the greats of modern crime fiction' Sunday Times 
__________________________________________ 
 
When a young woman known for drug smuggling goes missing, her elderly grandparents have no choice but to call the retired Detective Konrád. 
 
Still looking for his own father's murderer, Konrád agrees to investigate the case. 
 
But digging into the past reveals more than he set out to discover, and a strange connection to a little girl who drowned in the Reykjavík city pond decades ago recaptures everyone's attention. 
 
A brilliant, chilling tale of broken dreams and children who have nowhere to turn. 
__________________________________ 
 
'The undisputed king of the Icelandic thriller' Guardian 
 
'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical' Harlan Coben

From the international bestselling author of The Shadow District

The Darkness Knows

*OVER 20 MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDE* 
 
'The undisputed King of the Icelandic Thriller' Guardian 
'One of the greats of modern crime fiction' Sunday Times 
________________________ 
 
A frozen body is discovered in the icy depths of Langjökull glacier. 
 
The victim: a businessman missing for thirty years. 
 
The case: impossible to solve. Until now. 
 
Konrád, the retired policeman who originally investigated the disappearance, is called back to reopen the case that has weighed on his mind for decades. 
 
Then a woman approaches him with new information that she obtained from her deceased brother. 
 
Will this be enough to solve the mystery at last? 
 
Can Konrád uncover the poisonous secrets and cruel truths that have built up over the decades? 
 
In The Darkness Knows, the master of Icelandic crime writing returns with a powerful and haunting story about the poisonous secrets and cruel truths that time eventually uncovers.

One of the greats of modern crime fiction.

The undisputed King of the Icelandic Thriller.

An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical.

A tragic tale of football, fathers and fear'

Arnaldur Indridason worked for many years as a journalist and critic before he began writing novels. His books have since sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Outside Iceland, he is best known for his crime novels featuring Erlendur and Sigurdur Óli, which are consistent bestsellers across Europe. The series has won numerous awards, including the Nordic Glass Key and the CWA Gold Dagger. 
 
The Shadow District – the first book in the Reykjavík Wartime Mystery series – won the Premio RBA de Novela Negra, the world’s most lucrative crime fiction prize.

The Shadow Killer

The second thrilling novel in Indridason's brilliant new series, set in wartime Reykjavík.

The undisputed king of the Icelandic thriller.

Indridason remains the king of the ice-castle.

The crime: Reykjavík, August 1941. When a travelling salesman is found murdered in a basement flat, the police initially suspect a member of the Allied occupation force. 
 
The suspect: Flóvent, Reykjavík’s sole detective, is joined by the young military policeman Thorson. Their investigation focuses on a family of German residents, the retired doctor Rudolf Lunden and his estranged son Felix, who is on the run, suspected of being a spy. 
 
The ex-lover: Flóvent and Thorson race to solve the case before US Counterintelligence can take it out of their hands. As evidence emerges of dubious experiments carried out on Icelandic schoolboys in the 1930s, Thorson becomes increasingly suspicious of the role played by the murdered man’s former girlfriend, Vera, and her British soldier lover. 
 
'The undisputed King of the Icelandic Thriller.' - Guardian 
 
'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical.' - Harlan Coben

The Shadow District

A thrilling crime novel about old crimes and new consequences, this is the first in a new series by the worldwide bestseller Arnaldur Indridason

This atmospheric tale covering 7 years is beautifully told

Indridason is a skillful plotter with a firm grasp of how to tell a story to keep the reader guessing… I will certainly look out the next in the series

LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2018 
 
The first instalment in the thrilling new crime series from worldwide bestseller Arnaldur Indridason 
 
THE PAST 
 
In wartime Reykjavík, a young woman is found strangled in a dangerous area known as ‘the shadow district’. An Icelandic detective and a member of the American military police are on the trail of a brutal killer. 
 
THE PRESENT 
 
An elderly man is discovered dead on his bed, smothered with his own pillow. Konrád, a retired detective, finds old newspaper cuttings in the man’s home reporting the shadow district murder. It’s a crime Konrád remembers, having grown up in the same neighbourhood. 
 
 A MISSING LINK 
 
 Why, after all this time, would an old crime resurface? How are these events connected across the decades? And will Konrád’s link to the past help him solve the case and finally lay the ghosts of wartime Reykjavík to rest? 
 
 ‘Arnaldur Indridason introduces a new hero… Beautifully told’ 
 The Times 
 
‘An international literary phenomenon’ 
 Harlan Coben

Oblivion

One of the most popular figures in international crime fiction returns: Detective Erlendur is back

One of the greats of modern crime fiction

One of the most accomplished series of detective novels in modern crime fiction

An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical

A solid, atmospheric murder mystery.

THE QUICK 
 
A woman swims in a remote, milky-blue lagoon. Steam rises from the water and as it clears, a body is revealed in the ghostly light. 
 
THE DEAD 
 
Miles away, a vast aircraft hangar rises behind the perimeter fence of the US military base. A sickening thud is heard as a man’s body falls from a high platform. 
 
THE FORGOTTEN 
 
Many years before, a schoolgirl went missing. The world has forgotten her. But Erlendur has not. 
 
THE SEARCHER 
 
Erlendur Sveinsson is a newly promoted detective with a battered body, a rogue CIA operative and America’s troublesome presence in Iceland to contend with. In his spare time he investigates a cold case. He is only starting out but he is already up to his neck. 
 
'His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical' – Harlan Coben

Reykjavik Nights

The loner Erlendur has recently joined the police force as a young officer and is immediately drawn into the blackness of Reykjavik's underworld.

The slow-burn solving of the mystery is intriguing enough, but fans will find the portrait of his young protagonist…far more fascinating… A real pleasure

THE LIVING 
 
Erlendur has recently joined the police force as a young officer and immediately sinks into the darkness of Reykjavik's underworld. Working nights, he discovers the city is full of car crashes, robberies, drinkers and fighters. And sometimes an unexplained death. 
 
THE LOST 
 
A homeless man Erlendur knows is found drowned. But few people care. Or when a young woman on her way home from a club vanishes. Both cases go cold. 
 
THE SEARCHER 
 
Two lost people from two different worlds. Erlendur is not an investigator, but his instincts tell him their fates are worth pursuing. How could they be linked? 
 
IN THE HEART OF THE NIGHT 
 
Inexorably, he is drawn into the blackness of the city’s underbelly, where everyone is in the dark or on the run. 
 
'One of the most accomplished series of detective novels in modern crime fiction' - Sunday Times 
 
'An international literary phenomenon - and it's easy to see why. His novels are gripping, authentic, haunting and lyrical' - Harlan Coben

Arnaldur Indridason

Philip Roughton

Indridason writes crime novels that are as chilling as the landscape where they're set

From the very first page it’s clear we are in the hands of a master… The Quiet Mother is a gripping tale about the coincidences that rule our lives and how they both create life and destroy it

The Quiet Mother is vintage Indridason… [and] solid proof that the crown [of Scandinavian crime writers] rests securely on King Arnaldur’s head

'The undisputed King of the Icelandic Thriller' Guardian 
'One of the greats of modern crime fiction' Sunday Times 
 
A woman is found murdered in her Reykjavík home, her apartment ransacked. On her desk lies a note with retired detective Konrad’s phone number. Days earlier, she had begged him to find the child she gave up nearly fifty years ago. But Konrad, reluctant to reopen old wounds, turned her away. Now, haunted by guilt, he vows to uncover the truth—for her and for himself. 
 
As Konrad digs into her tragic past, he is drawn into a web of secrets, lies, and betrayal. Each revelation points to a hidden life that connects her death to a decades-old murder—and to shadows from Konrad’s own family history. 
 
The Quiet Mother is a masterful blend of human tragedy and relentless suspense, where every discovery comes at a cost. Arnaldur Indridason once again proves why he is the voice of Nordic Noir, delivering a harrowing tale of guilt and redemption.

Arnaldur Indridason

Praise for The Quiet Mother

Indridason writes crime novels that are as chilling as the landscape where they're set

From the very first page it’s clear we are in the hands of a master… The Quiet Mother is a gripping tale about the coincidences that rule our lives and how they both create life and destroy it

The Quiet Mother is vintage Indridason… [and] solid proof that the crown [of Scandinavian crime writers] rests securely on King Arnaldur’s head

Indridason writes crime novels that are as chilling as the landscape where they're set

From the very first page it’s clear we are in the hands of a master… The Quiet Mother is a gripping tale about the coincidences that rule our lives and how they both create life and destroy it

The Quiet Mother is vintage Indridason… [and] solid proof that the crown [of Scandinavian crime writers] rests securely on King Arnaldur’s head

Indridason writes crime novels that are as chilling as the landscape where they're set

From the very first page it’s clear we are in the hands of a master… The Quiet Mother is a gripping tale about the coincidences that rule our lives and how they both create life and destroy it

The Quiet Mother is vintage Indridason… [and] solid proof that the crown [of Scandinavian crime writers] rests securely on King Arnaldur’s head

Books by Arnaldur Indridason

Series by Arnaldur Indridason

Detective Konrad3 Books

Reykjavik Murder Mysteries11 Books

Articles featuring Arnaldur Indridason

A Reykjavík bookseller on why Iceland is the number one Christmas destination for book lovers

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