The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indriðason Published by Harvill Secker on May 18th 2017
Series: Reykjavik Wartime Mystery #1
Pages: 360
Format: hardback
See it @ Goodreads
Synopsis
A 90-year-old man is found dead in his bed, smothered with his own pillow.
On his desk the police find newspaper cuttings about a murder case dating from the Second World War, when a young woman was found strangled behind Reykjavík’s National Theatre.
Konrád, a former detective, is bored with retirement and remembers the crime. He grew up in ‘the shadow district’, a rough neighbourhood bordered by the National Theatre and an abattoir. Why would someone be interested in that crime now? He starts his own unofficial enquiry.
Alternating between Konrád’s investigation and the original police inquiry, we discover that two girls had been attacked in oddly similar circumstances. Did the police arrest the wrong man? How are these cases linked across the decades? And who is the old man?
A deeply compassionate story of old crimes and their consequences, The Man from Manitoba is the first in a thrilling new series of novels by the worldwide bestseller Arnaldur Indridason.
The Shadow District is the first book in a new series Reykjavik Wartime Mysteries by Arnaldur Indriðason.
Moving from past to present, the book explores the death of a 90-year-old man whom during World War II investigated the murder of a young woman. To add another layer to the story, Konrad, a retired policeman is looking into the death as he believes it was a murder, not just an old man who died peacefully in his sleep.
Indriðason weaves a compelling story of wartime Reykjavik, just on the verge of independence from Danish rule, dealing with the onset of American soldiers fraternizing with Icelanders.
While I noticed that in places the translation was “rough” I don’t believe that it detracted from the book.
I am very interested to see the direction Indriðason will take this new series.