Review: "The Body in the Bath," Ragnar Jónasson

By Liz Soares

Reykjavik police officer Helgi is in trouble. Bergbóra, his former girlfriend, is dead—and Helgi is accused of murdering her.

This is Helgi’s third appearance, following Death at the Sanatorium and The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. He is a low-key guy who’s obsessed with classic murder mysteries. Given his passive nature, it’s not surprising he put up with Bergbóra’s alcoholic, violent rages. Or that he never told anyone except his psychotherapist about how she abused him. Or that he even kept paying the rent on the apartment they once shared even after he left her.

Helgi finally put his foot down when Bergbóra ran over his new girlfriend, Anita. Of course, the fact that Bergbóra murdered Anita makes Helgi a prime suspect in her death.

Before Helgi is taken into custody, he was continuing to investigate the disappearance of his predecessor, Hulda. (She is the main character in Jónasson’s “Hidden Iceland” series.) Bergbóra was found dead in her bathtub. By strange coincidence, Helgi was examining one of Hulda’s cases that also involved a corpse in a tub.

But he is interrupted in his work by two of his colleagues. Alexander seems convinced Helgi did it, but the younger Mani is keeping an open mind. After all, Bergbóra was a beast. Surely she had destroyed other lives along the way.

Jónasson is the master of the slow boil. He builds suspense with spare prose. Helgi’s plight is agonizing. He has a decent lawyer, but is that enough? He doesn’t always stand up for himself as he should, but the pressure is wearing on him. Will he break?

When the final revelation of the murderer’s identity is made, it is shocking, heartbreaking, and yet totally believable.

This is a gripping addition to a fine series.

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The Body in the Bathwill be released on November 10, 2026. I read an advanced reader’s copy through NetGalley.

Review: "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer"

Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb

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By Liz Soares

The popular Icelandic crime novelist Elín S. Jónsdóttir is missing.

Police detective Helgi Reykdal is especially intrigued to be on the case. 

Readers first met Helgi in Death in the Sanitorium. He loves classic crime fiction, and was doing post-graduate work when the police recruited him. Helgi has read Jonsdottir’s work. He is intrigued by her life and determined to find out what has happened to her. 

Helgi interviews Elin's friends—her publisher Rut and husband Thor, and Lovisa, a lawyer. Lovisa and Elín had gone hiking together. Later they’d met at a favorite cafe, a ritual with them. Lovisa hasn’t seen her since.

They say they are totally flummoxed by Elin's disappearance—but are they, really?

In alternating chapters, a recorded 2005 interview with Elín (by an unnamed, unseen reporter) plays out. The writer and her life are slowly revealed.  Other chapters deal with Hulda, Helgi’s predecessor at the police station. In the 1970s, she investigated a bank robbery that resulted in an employee being killed. She has dropped out of sight since she left the force, and Helgi wants to find out what happened to her as well. 

Meanwhile, Helgi has broken up with the alcoholic and violent (and scary) Bergthóra but she’s back on the scene, now stalking Helgi's new girlfriend, Anita. 

Helgi is a somewhat passive character, yet he is growing emotionally and he is tenancious. Jónasson’s writing has a flat affect, which reflects Helgi’s personality and adds to the tension of the story. The detective’s quiet determination serves him well as he slowly uncovers the secrets of Elín's life. But he fails to confront Bergthóra, and that proves to be a tragic mistake.

I enjoyed this thriller, which kept me turning the pages without clenching my stomach. Helgi is now co-owner of a second-hand bookshop. His classic crime fiction reading list is included. Elín’s writing life, as she describes it in the interview, is absorbing. These are welcome cozy elements that enhance, rather than detract from, the evil doings in the narrative.

Though Hulda’s story eventually intertwines with Elin’s disappearance, her whereabouts are still unknown. Although I usually dislike loose ends, I assume Helgi will be continuing his investigation of Hulda in the next book. At least, I hope so. Hulda is a sympathetic and interesting character.

This, the second book in the series, ends with a shocker, as did the first one. I am already anxious to find out what really happened in the final pages. I was wrong about the first book!

Review: "Death at the Sanatorium," Ragnar Jónasson

By Liz Soares

In 1983, a nurse named Yrsa is murdered in a remote community in Iceland. She worked at a former tuberculosis sanatorium, now a general hospital. Detectives Hulda and Sverrir are sent up from Reykjavik to investigate. The hospital’s caretaker, Broddi, is arrested but released after the medical director, Fridjon, commits suicide. Surely he was the one responsible for Yrsa’s death.

Helgi, who’s writing a criminology dissertation in 2012, is not so sure. He wants to find out what really happened at the old sanatorium and sets out to interview all those who were involved and survive. This includes the nurses Trinna and Elisabet, the doctor Thorri, and Broddi himself. Sverrir and Trinna ended up marrying and having a child, but no one seems very happy. Everyone seems to have something to hide.

Helgi loves classic mystery fiction, and the investigative techniques of Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh inform both his queries and the narrative. His life is complicated as well. Helgi is involved in an abusive relationship. He’s also been offered a job with the police department—he’d be taking Hulda’s place. Should he accept it? It would mean giving up his dreams of working abroad, but his girlfriend wants to stay in Iceland, buy a house and start a family.

I was rooting for the earnest, idealistic Helgi but wondered if I knew everything about him. Was he an unreliable narrator?

The story unfolds in alternating viewpoints, including Helgi’s. The final answer lies far back in the hospital’s tragic history, and the novel ends with a shocking twist.

Death at the Sanatorium was a satisfying, absorbing read; the plot is a slow, steady burn, making it a fine example of “Scandinavian noir.”