Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason

We all have heard about some mysteries in our childhood, like the mysterious disappearance of somebody or mysterious death of a person and we also have some vague idea about what could have happened. While we may be curious about these mysteries, these mysteries do not haunt us, and we really have no need to go look for the answers. But if one is closely related to a mystery, and there is no way one could find answers for it, finding answers for another similar mystery could rest our demons and bring us peace. That's exactly what Detective Erlendur of Reykjavik, does when he goes about finding what happened to Matthildur when she walked out of her home on a stormy day, because he cannot find what happened to his little brother when Erlendur nearly died of Hypothermia on a stormy night.

Matthildur disappeared during the second World war, and after all these years does anybody care what happened to her. Many of those connected with Matthildur are dead, but finding the truth is compelling and is the only way Erlendur could find peace with himself for suggesting to his father all those years back that they take his little brother along.

While it is not very difficult to guess what happened to her, it is interesting how Arnaldur takes us back and forth into the past, present, dreams and dream-like scenario. Some parts involving Erlendur is not clear, whether it is a dream, hypothermia, past or present which makes it intriguing. Some parts of the story are repetitive there is both an explanation by various players and the scenes are recreated in the past which creates a chilling atmosphere. Chilling and compelling Read!

Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. 

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

Ten-year old boy Elias is found stabbed to death near a block of flats near his home in Reykjavik. Elias is of mixed Thai and Icelandic origin. Is it the reason for what happened to the young boy? Is his killing related to the recent argument over immigration in his school? Or is his half-brother implicated? Is there some other unknown reason for killing? Is his death related to drug dealing in the school grounds? Detective Erlendur along with his team tackle this case.

I read Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason last year. While the mystery was very obvious, the book was quite haunting and Arnaldur creates quite a chilling atmosphere in Hypothermia.

As the dead boy is of mixed origin, Arnaldur takes on the issue of immigration in Iceland. We get arguments from all the sides. The anti-immigrant teacher, who vehemently hates immigrants and is quite vocal about it. The hardworking immigrant trying to make a decent life trying to stick to her language and facing problems learning a new language. The immigrant teenager who does not belong anywhere, who feels he is 'neither nor'. Neither an Icelander nor a Thai. The tolerant Icelander who does not mind immigrants and pro-immigrant Icelander who welcomes immigrants from his own personal experience. Yes! Yes! This is a crime novel but this is the major issue that it deals with. Erlendur meets all these arguments during his investigation. But this is not the only angle the investigation takes. Erlendur finds that there may be a paedophile residing in the area and not difficult to guess who. The case becomes complex when Sunee, Elias's mother doesn't trust the police and hides information and her other son. And there is the question of Sunee's elusive boyfriend. Is he somehow involved? Why didn't Erlendur impress on Sunee that she cannot hide important information?

Erlendur's back story of losing his brother in a blizzard is repetitive as I read all that in Hypothermia, though Hypothermia follows Arctic Chill and I never read books in order. Couldn't help wondering if his back story will feature in all his stories in detail. Arctic Chill is not as haunting or chilling like Hypothermia but here I couldn't guess the killer. Well, nobody could. I am looking forward to read other Reykjavik murder mysteries especially the one that won the CWA Gold Dagger. This one didn't win, the cover is misleading. This book is published in English in 2008 and translated from Icelandic by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb.

This is my post for Letter A for Crime Fiction Alphabet 2013 and counts towards various challenges.

Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason

A Murder mystery based in Reykjavik, Iceland, sounded interesting to me, so I picked it up from the library.

The story starts with Maria's mother's funeral and Maria's suicide two years later at her holiday home. Maria never recovered from her mother's death. She was depressed and was constantly contemplating on death and life after death. Her suicide seemed inevitable. But her friend Karen believes there is more to her suicide and urges detective Erlendur to investigate. It is the recording of Maria's seance that makes Erlendur to start an unofficial investigation. The death of Maria's father in her childhood, looms in the background. Was it an accident or murder? And was Maria involved in his death? Is this the main reason for Maria's obsession with death and afterlife? Erlendur's investigation takes him to probe the past, about experiments in after life. Indridason also explores these topics -is their life after death?

There are two narratives, one of Erlendur's investigation and the other on what led to Maria's death. We do know quite early on 'who'. But how and why are the questions? Some of it is quite chilling. Indridason plays with our fear for dark and shadows.

Erlendur is also investigating the case of disappearance of two young people thirty years ago. Erlendur seems to be at leisure to investigate these disappearances and suicide, no work pressure. He also has to come to terms with his experience and loss in a blizzard as a young boy. There is his personal story of his long estrangement with his wife and its impact on his grown up children. Will there be a friendly reunion? Will they at least forget the past and meet on friendly terms?

I found the story interesting but the ending repetitive. We already have the story of what happened to Maria side by side of Erlendur's investigation. Why was the need to sum it up again? Erlenur does seem naive in the end. A Chilling Mystery! I am planning to read other books by Arnaldur Indridason.