My Soul to Take

“Top notch crime fiction.”

—Boston Globe

American readers first met Icelandic lawyer and investigator Thóra Gudmundsdóttir in Last Rituals. In My Soul to Take, internationally acclaimed author Yrsa Sigurdardóttir plunges her intrepid heroine into even graver peril, in a riveting thriller set against the harsh landscape of Smila’s Sense of Snow territory. A darkly witty and continually surprising suspense tale that places Yrsa Sigurdardóttir firmly in the ranks of Sue Grafton, Tess Gerritsen, Faye Kellerman and other top mystery writers, My Soul to Take is ingenious Scandinavian noir on a par with the works of Henning Mankell and Arnaldur Indridason. Stieg Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) fans should also take note.

In Sigurdardóttir's engaging second crime novel to feature attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir (after Last Rituals), Jónas Júlíusson, a client Thóra assisted with a land purchase in West Iceland, calls for more help. The superstitious Júlíusson, who believes one of the farmhouses on the land he bought to develop a spa and hotel is haunted, invites Thóra to stay at his facility and investigate. Her arrival coincides with the discovery under some seaweed on the beach of the sexually abused corpse of architect Birna Halldórsdóttir, who was working on a new building. Júlíusson, who apparently sent a text message arranging a rendezvous with the victim at the time and place where she died, becomes the prime suspect. The lawyer shifts gears from ghost busting to amateur sleuthing. As Thóra pursues an array of suspects and clues, Sigurdardóttir keeps readers guessing whodunit. (May)
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Thora returns in her second case (following Last Rituals, 2007), this time representing a client convinced that a ghost is haunting his newly acquired property, a resort on the west coast of Iceland. Thora heads out to the coast to consult, looking forward to a weekend without her children. Markedly more cozy and less macabre than the previous book, this one is also slower paced, both in the reading and the investigation. Thora does not believe in the ghost, but when bodies start turning up around the resort, she decides to poke around. The historical elements and leisurely investigation are reminiscent of Indridason’s Erlendur series, but it has a much brighter outlook, and unlike Erlendur, Thora is not a depressed, alcoholic loner—just a slightly stressed single mom and small-time lawyer. Suggest to fans of Asa Larsson’s Rebecca Martinsson series, another Scandinavian lawyer and murder investigator, or Helene Tursten’s Inspector Huss novels, starring a happily married mother of two. --Jessica Moyer