Crime Book Club – Video and Voting

On Monday the crime book club met and discussed The City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita. There was also a Q&A with the author for the first twenty minutes. 

You can watch the video below. Be aware it contains full spoilers. 

The next book we are reading is Nordic Noir. The meeting is at 8 p.m. (GMT) on Monday 11th November. 

To vote for the book we will read, check out the blurbs below and leave your vote in the comments below by the end of Saturday, October 19th. 

Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurðardóttir

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, without trace.

As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours – who have their own reasons for staying out of sight – Áróra is led into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.

Baffled by the conflicting details of her sister’s life, and blinded by the shiveringly bright midnight sun of the Icelandic summer, Áróra enlists the help of police officer Daníel, as she tries to track her sister’s movements, and begins to tail Björn – but she isn’t the only one watching…

The Sins of our Fathers by Åsa Larsson

Forensic pathologist Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live when he asks Rebecka Martinsson to investigate a murder that has long since passed the statute of limitations. A body found in a freezer at the home of the deceased alcoholic, Henry Pekkari, has been identified as a man who disappeared without a trace in 1962: the father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion Börje Ström. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case – she has enough to worry about. But how can she ignore a dying man’s wish?

When the post-mortem confirms that Pekkari, too, was murdered, Rebecka has a red-hot investigation on her hands. But what does it have to do with the body kept in his freezer for decades?

Meanwhile, the city of Kiruna is being torn down and moved a few kilometres east, to make way for the mine that has been devouring the city from below. With the city in flux, the tentacles of organized crime are slowly taking over . . .

The Mermaid by Anki Edvinsson

Could the prime suspect in a murder be a victim too?

The body of a homeless woman is found in the river, viciously beaten and with all her teeth removed. A young immigrant, the prime suspect in a recent spate of robberies in Umeå, was seen running in the vicinity around the time the body was dumped. Trouble is, he hasn’t been seen since. When he does appear, in the town square, he’s wearing an explosive vest and holding a detonator.

Called in to investigate, Detectives Charlotte von Klint and Per Berg have a complex web of leads to contend with. But Per is preoccupied with a serious illness within the family, while Charlotte is struggling to make her peace with an old flame being assigned to their unit while she navigates the early days of a new relationship. Despite the upheaval in their private lives, the duo must use all their focus to discover whether the two incidents are connected—and, if so, how.

Was the bomber responsible for the woman in the river? Or is it possible he’s another victim in the case? With time running out, the pressure is on for Charlotte and Per to catch the killer and restore peace in a city fast spiralling out of control.

Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson

A remote island. A brutal murder. A secret hidden in the past . . .

In the middle of the North Sea, between the UK and Denmark, lies the beautiful and rugged island nation of Doggerland.

Detective Inspector Karen Eiken Hornby has returned to the main island, Heimö, after many years in London and has worked hard to become one of the few female police officers in Doggerland.

So, when she wakes up in a hotel room next to her boss, Jounas Smeed, she knows she’s made a big mistake. But things are about to get worse: later that day, Jounas’s ex-wife is found brutally murdered. And Karen is the only one who can give him an alibi.

The news sends shockwaves through the tight-knit island community, and with no leads and no obvious motive for the murder, Karen struggles to find the killer in a race against time.

Soon she starts to suspect that the truth might lie in Doggerland’s history. And the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that even small islands can hide deadly secrets . . .

The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons by Karin Smirnoff

The untapped natural resources of Sweden’s far north are sparking a gold rush, with the criminal underworld leading the charge. But it’s not the prospect of riches that brings Lisbeth Salander to the small town of Gasskas. Her niece’s mother is the latest woman in the region to have vanished without trace. Two things soon become clear: Svala is a remarkably gifted teenager — and she’s being watched.

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is also heading north. He has seen better days. Millennium magazine is in its final print issue, and relations with his daughter are strained. Worse still, there are troubling rumours surrounding the man she’s about to marry. When the truth behind the whispers explodes into violence, Salander emerges as Blomkvist’s last hope.