Iceland

Arnaldur Indriðason /  Árni þórarinsson / Hallgrímur Helgason / Ragnar Jónasson / Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson / Yrsa Sigurðardóttir


Arnaldur Indriðason
Born in 1961, Arnaldur is the son of the well-respected Icelandic novelist, Indridi Thorsteinsson. After working as a journalist and film critic, he wrote his first crime novel, in country with a very low crime rate and no crime fiction tradition. His third novel, Jar City, became a sensation at the Frankfurt Book Fair and has been translated into several languages and made into a film. He was awarded the CWA Golden Dagger in 2005, after which the British Crime Writers Association restricted the award to books originally written in English. So far all of the books translated into English, save Operation Napoleon, are part of a police procedural series featuring Erlendur Sveinsson and his team of detectives.

Books
Operation Napoleon (Napóleonsskjölin) Iceland 1999; UK 2010; US 2011
translated by Victoria Cribb

 

Erlendur series

Jar City / apa Tainted Blood ( Mýrin) Iceland 2000; UK 2006; US 2005
translated by Bernard Scudder

Silence of the Grave (Grafarþögn) Iceland 2001; UK 2005; US 2006
translated by Bernard Scudder

Voices (Röddin) Iceland 2002; UK 2006; US 2007
translated by Bernard Scudder

The Draining Lake (Kleifarvatn) Iceland 2004; UK 2007
translated by Bernard Scudder

Arctic Chill (Vetrarborgin) Iceland 2005; UK 2008
translated by Bernard Scudder

Hypothermia (Harðskafi) Iceland 2007; UK 2009; US 2011
translated by Victoria Cribb

Outrage (Myrka) Iceland 2008; UK 2011; US 2012
translated by Anna Yates

Black Skies (Svortuloft) Iceland 2009; UK 2012; US 2013
translated by Victoria Cribb

Strange Shores (Furðustrandir) Iceland 2010; UK 2013
translated by Victoria Cribb

Reykjavik Nights (Reykjavíkurnætur) Iceland 2012; UK 2014; US 2015
translated by Victoria Cribb

Into Oblivion / apa Oblivion (Kamp Knox) Iceland 2014; UK 2015; US 2016
translated by Victoria Cribb

Árni  þórarinsson

Spelled Arni Thorarinsson in English, this author, born in 1950, worked as a journalist in both print and broadcast before publishing his first work of crime fiction in 1998. He has also written screeplays for film and television and books for children.

Books
Season of the Witch (Tími nornarinnar) Iceland 2006; US 2012
translated by Anna Yates

 


Hallgrímur Helgason
Born in Reykjavik in 1959, Hallgrímur is an artist, columnist, playwright, poet, and novelist. In 2008, he wrote his first novel in English, which was subsequently translated into Icelandic, about a Croatian hitman who flees to Icland and assumes a begnign identity. He has been nominated for many awards and received the Icelandic Prize for Literature in 2001.

Books
The Hitman’s Guide to Housecleaning (10 ráð til að hætta að drepa fólk og byrja að vaska upp) Iceland 2008; US 2012

 


Ragnar Jónasson
A lawyer and law professor, Ragnar has translated a number of Agatha Christie’s mysteries into Icelandic and has also worked as a television journalist. His series set in Siglufjord, the northernmost town in Iceland, is being developed into an Icelandic television series.

Snowblind  (Snjóblinda) Iceland 2010; UK 2015
translated by Quentin Bates

Blackout (Myrknætti) Iceland 2011; UK 2018
translated by Quentin Bates

Rupture (Rof) Iceland 2012 ; UK 2017
translated by Quentin Bates

Whiteout (Andköf) Iceland 2013; UK 2017
translated by Quentin Bates

Nightblind (Nattblinda) Iceland 2014; UK 2016
translated by Quentin Bates

The Darkness (Dimma) Iceland 2015; UK 2018


Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson
Born in 1955, Viktor Arnar s both an author and a civil engineer who works for the Icelandic roads administration. Two of his novels have been nominated for the Glass Key award.

Books
House of Evidence (Engin spor) Iceland 1998; US 2012
translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery

The Flatey Enigma (Flateyjargáta) Iceland 2002 ; US 2012
translated by Brian Fitzgibbon

Daybreak (Afturelding) Iceland 2005; US 2013
translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery

Sun on Fire (Sólstjakar) Iceland 2009; US 2014
translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery

 


Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
A civil engineer by training, Yrsa wrote award-winning children’s books before turning to crime fiction. Like Arnaldur Indridason, rights to her first thriller were sold to many countries. Her series features attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir and is somewhat lighter in tone than Arnaldur’s books. She has also published a stand-alone thriller with supernatural overtones.

Books
Thora Gudmundsdottir series
Last Rituals (Þriðja táknið) Iceland 2005; UK 2008; US 2007
translated by Bernard Scudder

My Soul to Take (Sér grefur gröf) Iceland 2006; US 2009 
translated by Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates

Ashes to Dust (Aska) Iceland 2007; UK 2010; US 2012
translated by Philip Roughton

The Day is Dark (Auðnin) Iceland 2008; UK 2011; US 2011
translated by Philip Roughton

Someone to Watch Over Me (Horfðu á mig) Iceland 2009; US 2015
translated by Philip Roughton

The Silence of the Sea (Brakio) Iceland 2011; UK 2015; US 2016
translated by Victoria Cribb

 

Other
I remember You (Ég man þig) Iceland 2010; UK 2012
translated by Philip Roughton

Advertisement