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‘…a perfect example of Icelandic crime fiction at its best—atmospheric, relevant, and undeniably entertaining.’ BOLO Books

Book blurb

What does a woman do when her husband’s charged with the frenzied murder of her father and her best friend? She calls in Stella Blómkvist to investigate – however unwelcome the truth could turn out to be.

Smart, ruthless and with a flexible moral code all of her own, razor-tongued lawyer Stella Blómkvist is also dealing with a desperate deathbed request to track down a young woman who vanished a decade ago.

It looks like a dead end, but she agrees to pick up the stone-cold trail – and she never gives up, even if the police did a long time ago.

Then there’s the mystery behind the arm that emerges from an ice cap, with a mysterious ruby ring on one frozen finger? How does this connect to another unexplained disappearance, and why were the police at the time so keen to write it off as a tragic accident?

Brutal present-day crimes have their roots in the past that some people would prefer to stay forgotten.

As Stella pieces together the fragments, is she getting too close to the truth and making herself a target for ruthless men determined to conceal secret sins?

My thoughts

It’s great to be back in the company of Stella Blómkvist, a lawyer based in Iceland, she’s a wonderful character and I really enjoy reading about her exploits.

In Murder Under the Midnight Sun Stella meets with Gregory George MacKenzie, a British businessman who lives in London, he asks Stella to look into the disappearance of his niece, Julia, in Iceland some years ago. His sister, Muriel, is dying and wants to know what happened to her daughter. Stella was recommended as being the most likely to get answers and not give up. He gives Stella a document case with all the information he has, accepts that she may not be successful but very much wants to do all he can for his sisters sake and has included a very large advance in the case. Stella accepts.

Maki is a journalist, he runs the News Blog, and has been getting threats of legal actions from lawyers over an article about spying by a former minister. Stella agrees to act on his behalf.

Stella is a guest on a documentary series with a theme of ‘Smart, famous women on Icelandic glaciers’ from film director Rannveig Thorsteinsdóttir. They are filming on the slopes of the Snæfellsnes ice cap. As well as Stella and Rannveig there is a guide, Pálmi, and cameraman Jón Pétur. They climb up and down Miðthúfa. All goes well with the filming until it begins to get foggy and Jón suggests they film Stella riding the snowmobile out of the fog. Palmi says it’s not a good idea but Stella agrees to do it. As she comes out of the fog the snowmobile slews and Stella is propelled backwards down a fissure! She free falls until her head hits something and she blacks out! She wakes up only to find a frozen hand embedded in the ice, it has a distinctive ring on it.

After being successfully rescued Stella, although quite beaten up from the fall, looks into Julia’s disappearance and continues to aid Maki. Then there’s a fire at Thorláksbúð church in Skálholt two people have died. One of the victims – Thorsteinn Rögnvaldsson, the son of the man who has prompted the police investigation into Maki’s article – is Maki’s informant, he’s mortified!

Stella realises that Thorsteinn is Rannveig’s father she calls offering help and her condolences. The other victim, Jónína Katrín, is a friend of Rannveig. They were all at a seminar in Thorláksbúð that day.

There’s a lot for Stella to be doing and so her trusty assistant Lísa Björk takes on some vital research regarding Julia, the missing persons case, and keeps up the day to day running of the office. Stella also gets help from her cousin Sissi and his wife Cora who often babysit Stella’s daughter, Sóley Árdís. Sissi also helps out by accompanying Stella on a trip when she’s working on Julia’s case.

Stella gets a call from Rannveig asking her to come over. When she gets there Rannveig explains her husband Markús Hálfdánarson has been arrested in connection with the Thorláksbúð murders! Stella agrees to act as his solicitor.

As the various storylines play out there seems to be connections but is that just wishful thinking by some? There are people not telling the truth about events and that certainly muddies the waters as Stella, with the help of key information uncovered by Lisa, begins to get to grips with what happened to Julia and what happened in Thorláksbúð.

There’s an interesting cameo from Reverend Finnbogi, you may remember him from Murder at the Residence, in the storyline which I’m glad works out the way it does.

Stella is quite smitten with Rannveig and finding out she is married to Markus was disappointing but there’s a lovely development that may bode well for Stella and plays out through the latter part of the book.

As the various threads are unravelled Stella reveals the lies and secrets behind what happened at Thorláksbúð. She also uncovers the shocking and disturbing details of what happened to Julia. The Maki situation is resolved, to a point.

This is a wonderful story which I was totally engrossed in. It was gripping, charming, absorbing and compelling. Stella Blómkvist is not only a captivating and wonderful character but as the author Stella Blómkvist is fast becoming a favourite.

This is the second of the Stella Blómkvist books from Corylus Books and is a wonderful follow up to Murder at the Residence. It’s a terrific read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to reading more of this excellent series.

‘If you are a fan of Nordic crime fiction, then this title is simply unmissable.’

Tap the Line

Translation: Quentin Bates has once again done a terrific job of translating and deserves our thanks, along with the publisher Corylus Books, for bringing Murder Under the Midnight Sun to life.

Previously read: Murder at the Residence by Stella Blómkvist.

BlogTour

Why not take a look at all of these lovely blogs and then pop on down to the links below to grab a copy of Murder Under the Midnight Sun?

Thanks

Many thanks to Ewa Sherman for the invite to join this terrific BlogTour and to Corylus Books for an eCopy of Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist.

Information

Published: Corylus Books|3rd May 2024|ISBN: 9781739298944|214pp|

Buy: Kobo (world) | Kobo (U.K.) | AmazonSmileUK | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local library | Your local bookshop

Author

The tales featuring razor-tongued Reykjavík lawyer Stella Blómkvist – with her taste for neat whiskey, a liking for easy money and a moral compass all of her own – have been bestsellers in Iceland since the first of Stella’s escapades appeared in print back in the 1990s.

Since then, the author who calls herself (or himself) Stella Blómkvist has managed to remain anonymous. There has been endless speculation about who really writes the Stella Blómkvist novels, with the spotlight having focused over the years on numerous politicians, authors, journalists and others in the public eye. But so far the pseudonym still hasn’t been cracked.

The question of Stella Blómkvist’s identity is one that crops up regularly, but it looks like it’s going to remain a mystery…

Books

Murder at the Residence

Murder Under the Midnight Sun

Translator 

Quentin Bates is a writer, translator and journalist. He has professional and personal roots in Iceland that run very deep. He worked as a seaman before turning to maritime journalism. He is an author of a series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to writing his own fiction, he has translated books by Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, and crème de la crème of the Icelandic crime fiction authors Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Óskar Guðmundsson, Jónína Leósdóttir, Sólveig Pálsdóttir and Ragnar Jónasson. Quentin was instrumental in launching Iceland Noir, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.

Quentin Bates (or Graskeggur ‘grey beard’ as he’s affectionately known in Iceland) is the co-founder of the crime writing festival Iceland Noir with Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Ragnar Jonasson. He is one of the very few British authors who is writing Scandi Noir set in Iceland and who has a deep understanding of the place. He has been married to an Icelandic woman for 30 years and has spent nearly a decade living there. As someone who speaks the language and understands a lot of the subtext of what goes on there, he is more qualified than most to write about Iceland.

Quentin Bates is a translator and author in his own right you can find more information about him, his translations and his books on his website.