"The Shadow District" A Reykjavik Wartime Mystery by Arnaldur Indridason

Book 1 published 2017

You know what to expect with an Indridason thriller. Recurring themes are: secrets, guilt, loneliness, social class, old age, the past meeting the present, folklore and the power of the Icelandic landscape.

This new series introduces the 1940's detective, Flovent, part of the city's fledgling C.I.D. and Thorson, a liaison officer for the occupying U.S. forces and the Icelandic police.
Flovent has a fascinating backstory comprising an abusive father, dodgy seances and a spell in Edinburgh studying criminology. Thorson is a loner and closet homosexual with a passionate sense of  honour and justice. Flovent seems to be an ongoing character. I do hope we return to Thorson in later books. This character is as rich as the aging detective Erlendur (from previous novels).

"The Shadow District" is cleverly structured. Present day (retired) detective Konrad investigates an old crime - a young woman is found strangled in 1944 (prior to Iceland's independence).
Past melds with present as both Thorson and Konrad carry out parallel investigations 70 years apart. A simple murder in a shady part of Reykjavik escalates into a tangled tale of rape, sexual mores, misfits, superstition, political intrigue and family secrets.

"Hypothermia" and "Strange Shores" by Arnaldur Indridason. Two books that must be read together

Subzero temperatures, Arctic storms, frozen fjords - great poolside reading on a sweltering afternoon.

This time Erlendur investigates suicide, sex and seances. Another cold case (sorry) that stirs up memories of his 8 year old brother's death in the snowstorm. Like a recurring nightmare, he returns to the ordeal and its aftermath. He relives painful memories of childhood summers in the East Fjords.
I defy the reader not to be moved by the final chapter.

"I'm interested in stories about ordeals in the wilderness" intones the obsessed Inspector Erlendur in the follow up book, "Strange Shores". This novel should be read in conjunction with "Hypothermia" as you find out more details about Erlendur's obsession and subsequent guilt about his brother's tragedy.
"Strange Shores" is all about guilt, graves and grief. The haunted Erlendur returns to his birthplace, Bakkasel, to discover how a young woman, Matthildur, disappeared in the late 1940's. I love the way this 'lone wolf" finds other similar characters in his investigations (the fox hunter, Boas; Matthildur's sister, Hrund and the tormented Ezra).
The latter section of "Strange Shores" includes a gristly Edgar Allan Poe-like tale. The last few chapters will knock your socks off.
I am now a convert to this guy's writing. Goodbye, Jo Nesbo.

"Reykjavik Nights" by Arnaldur Indridason - Inspector Erlendur prequel

Iceland is cool. Very.
Perhaps it's because I've just watched "Trapped", the brilliant TV drama. Perhaps it's because Iceland is so different from Australia. Twenty years ago the only thing I knew about Iceland was it was the home of Bjork and the setting for Jules Verne's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".
Anyway, I digress....

This is a prequel to the Inspector Erlendur crime novels set in Iceland. Reykjavik in the seventies, Erlendur is a young traffic officer investigating (on his own, of course) the death of a homeless man, Hannibal.
The young man is fascinated by lost souls and disappearances from Iceland's past.
Erlendur is a cold fish who prefers his own company (as seen by his patchy relationship with his girlfriend, Halldora). The novel explores loss and loneliness through the capital's homeless underclass.
There are some powerful scenes. One, on his last call out of the night, is a harrowing depiction of domestic violence. The other is Hannibal's back story, a car accident forcing him into a "Sophie's Choice" situation.
The dialogue is clunky at times, but this might be due to the English translation.
I enjoyed the leisurely pace and now will jump wholeheartedly into the Inspector Erlendur series.

The following is the order of English translations of this crime series. A few novels have not been translated into English so far.

"Tainted Blood", 2004 (first published as "Jar City")
"Silence of the Grave", 2005
"Voices", 2006
"The Draining Lake", 2007
"Arctic Chill", 2008
"Hypothermia", 2009
"Outrage", 2011 (centring around Erlendur's female colleague, the rational, caring Elinborg)
"Black Skies", 2012 (main character is his other colleague, arrogant, young gun, Sigurour Oli)
"Strange Shores," 2013 (while the action in "Black Skies" centres around Reykjavik, at the same time, Erlendur has taken leave to return to his eastern childhood home)
Reykjavik Nights, 2014, the aforementioned prequel, set in the 70's
"Into Oblivion", 2016  (recently translated, a follow-up to Reykjavik Nights, set in 1979, featuring Erlendur's mentor, Marion Brien)

How embarrassing! Goodbye the (old) Pole House

I am looking at the quality of blogs, full of slick stuff - do I go with style over substance ... I have neither at the moment so I decided to change my blog name. It used to be "I am retired.. now what?"  Very overused, so I turfed it. New name is more appropriate.  I look at bloggers like Charlie Brooker and witty rants of David Mitchell.... I am over my head.
One last thing
Read in paper today that "the pole house" on Great Ocean Road (Fairhaven Beach, Victoria, Australia) is being demolished. Great shame. Inside it looked like Austin Power's pad but for 40 years every driver on that coastal road would look up and marvel.

UPDATE May 2014
The Pole House has been remodelled, the interior is radically different. Here's some images (Courtesy Australia.com/Facebook).

Photo: Matt Lord & F2 Architecture

....off to read more of my Icelandic crime.... Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason. Not bad so far.

Post update, novel mentioned a few days ago is too slow - I'm half way through, still full of cyclic conversations, book moves like a glacier, hope it gets better. Will persevere, wife read it a year ago.