Icelandic Thrilles

On a jagged, bleak lava field just outside Reykjavik stands the Gallows Rock. Once a place of execution, it is now a tourist attraction. Until this morning, when a man was found hanging from it. The nail embedded in his chest proves it wasn't suicide. But when the police go to his flat, a further puzzle awaits: a four-year-old boy has been left there. He doesn't seem to have any link with the victim, his parents cannot be found and his drawings show he witnessed something terrible.

The first the police know of the crime is when clips are sent from the victim's Snapchat account, showing her begging for forgiveness. The CCTV at the cinema where she was working show her being dragged into the night by a masked killer. When the body is found, it is marked with a number 2...Detective Huldar joins the murder investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim: a relentless bully, she made life miserable for those around her.

A chilling note predicting the deaths of six people is found in a school's time capsule, 10 years after it was buried. But surely, if a 13-year-old wrote it, it can't be a real threat.... Detective Huldar suspects he's been given the investigation simply to keep him away from real police work. He turns to psychologist Freyja to help understand the child who hid the message. Soon, however, they find themselves at the heart of another shocking case.

An old man is found murdered in his Reykjavik flat. A cryptic note and a photograph of a young girl's grave are left behind. DID THE DEAD MAN’S PAST COME BACK TO HAUNT HIM? Inspector Erlendur discovers that several decades ago the victim was accused, but not convicted, of an unsolved crime. As...

Icelandic sisters Áróra and Ísafold live in different countries and aren‘t on speaking terms, but when their mother loses contact with Ísafold, Áróra reluctantly returns to Iceland to find her sister. But she soon realises that her sister isn’t avoiding her...she has disappeared. As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours, Áróra is led into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.

Brought to you by Penguin. What happened to Lara? Iceland, 1956. Fifteen-year-old Lára spends the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík. In early August, the girl disappears without a trace. The mystery becomes Iceland's greatest unsolved...

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark. But is the real danger inside...within the family itself?

When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, everyone assumes that she's taken her own life...until her body is found in the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected 15-year-old daughter, Hekla, has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?

BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick! Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who is charged with the brutal murder of her former master. Inspired by a true story, Burial Rites is perfect for fans of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and The...

Brought to you by Penguin. The chilling and heart-pounding new novel from Norwegian superstar Jørn Lier Horst. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE HIT BBC FOUR SHOW WISTING Wisting is back with his most gripping case yet. In 1999, seventeen-year-old Tone Vaterland was killed on her way home from work...

On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women - one of them barely alive. As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel's former wife, and the connections don't stop there.

Brought to you by Penguin. Set your pulse raising with the new novel from Norwegian superstar Jørn Lier Horst. A SEVERED HEAD ON A STAKE, A BODY IN THE LAKE WISTING: NOW A MAJOR BBC 4 TV SHOW WILLIAM WISTING IS IN A RACE AGAINST TIME When a severed head is found on a stake in the quiet town of...

Brought to you by Penguin. One winter evening bestselling crime author, Elín S. Jónsdóttir goes missing. There are no clues to her disappearance and it is up to young detective, Helgi, to crack the case before it's leaked to the press. As he interviews the people closest to her – a...

A terrifying ghost story from the Queen of Icelandic crime, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, author of the Thora Gudmundsdottir novels. 'Yrsa is one of the most exciting new voices in the crime thriller world.' - Peter James The crunching noise had resumed, now accompanied by a disgusting, indefinable smell...

Random House presents the unabridged, downloadable audio edition of The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason, read by Sean Barratt. OLD CRIMES, NEW CONSEQUENCES THE PAST In wartime Reykjavik, a young woman is found strangled behind the National Theatre, a rough and dangerous area of the city...

It was meant to be a quiet family fishing trip, a chance for mother and daughter to talk. But it changes the course of their lives forever. They catch nothing except a broken doll that gets tangled in the net. After years in the ocean, the doll a terrifying sight and the mother's first instinct is to throw it back, but she relents when her daughter pleads to keep it. This simple act of kindness proves fatal. That evening, the mother posts a picture of the doll on social media. By the morning, she is dead and the doll has disappeared.

Brought to you by Penguin. Four friends. One night. Not everyone will come out alive . . . The gripping stand-alone mystery from 'world-class crime writer' Ragnar Jónasson In a deadly Icelandic snowstorm, four friends seek shelter in an abandoned hunting lodge. Miles from help, and knowing they...

One cold autumn night, a woman is found hanging from a beam at her holiday cottage. At first sight, it appears like a straightforward case of suicide; María had never recovered from the death of her mother two years previously and she had a history of depression. But then the friend who found...

Brought to you by Penguin. AN OLD SANATORIUM. ONE TERRIFYING MURDER. FOUR SUSPECTS. AND A CASE THAT NEVER CLOSED... 'ONE OF THE FINEST CRIME WRITERS IN THE WORLD TODAY' DAILY MAIL WELCOME TO THE SANATORIUM High up in the mountains stands a sanatorium. Once a hospital dedicated to treating...

The final nail-biting installment in Ragnar Jónasson's critically-acclaimed Hidden Iceland series, The Mist, from the newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene. 1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland. The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't. The...