BOOK: Tainted Blood (Jar City) by Arnaldur Indridason

Tainted Blood (Jar City) by Arnaldur Indridason, 338 pages
 translated by Bernard Scudder

Thrillers and Suspense Challenge; A- Z Author Challenge

Oddly, I've managed to leave the last Indridason I have left to read as the first that had been translated. (My understanding is that it is the third written in the series. Publishers!) I kind of enjoyed going back to the beginning, and meeting Erlender, Sigundur, and Elinborg as they are first introduced. Erlender is dealing with Eva Lund, his junkie estranged daughter, Sigunder is just beginning his relationship with his partner, and Elinborg has always dealt with Erlender with a mixture of respect and astoundedness. It's been like finding old home movies of people from before you knew them.

The mystery is, as is often the case, built on an old crime. Erlender follows his instinct that this crime (a man found murdered in his flat, with a note over him) had something to do with a forty year old rape. It leads him to a genetic mapping project, perfect for the relatively homogeneous Icelandic population. The setting is dark, raining, and gloomy - just like Erlendur. The only negative I have about this book is now I have run out of Indridason's to read, and must wait for a new translation. There are at least four more to be translated. Is someone getting on that?

also reviewed:
nan at letters from a hill farm
kerrie at mysteries in paradise

ps loving Bloggers new compose mode! strikeout, pictures where I want to place them, and size them, undo!