Elin S Jónsdóttir, the best-selling crime writer, has disappeared. Famed for writing a series of ten exquisite crime novels – and then stopping – there seems to be no reason for her to vanish. And it falls to the detective Helgi to find the writer before the news breaks in the press.
As Helgi looks deeper and deeper into Elin’s life, he realises that Elin’s life was far less straightforward than anyone expected, but his own issues threaten to distract him from finding the truth.
I didn’t realise that this was a sequel to last year’s Death At The Sanatorium – to be honest, I thought the way that book ended kind of stopped a sequel from happening. Helgi is now working for the police – although he does seem to be the only police officer working in his department.
It’s an odd book. Like the previous book, Jonasson decorates the tale with classic crime fiction references, but the mystery itself doesn’t resemble a classic mystery at all. Everything that Helgi discovers is told to him – there’s no deduction here at all.
On top of that, the other strand of Helgi’s story concerning his personal life – well, it feels like were just getting an episode of it, rather than a complete tale. And the story about Helgi’s predecessor also feels like a section of a story, something to keep coming back to in later books.
To be honest, though, I don’t think I’ll be coming back for more though. The mystery is interesting enough, but Helgi’s personal story is just too depressing for me, and that seems to be the thread that the author is more interested in.
I’ll admit, I’m not a regular reader of Scandi-Noir, so fans of the genre will probably love this, but don’t be lured in by the classic mystery trappings if that’s what you’re looking for.
The Mysterious Case Of The Missing Crime Writer is out on Thursday 21st August in hardback and ebook. Many thanks for the review e-copy via NetGalley.
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 