Nordic Mysteries

If you enjoyed the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I have few suggestions.

Start with Jar City, the first of the Inspector Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason, one of Iceland's most famous authors. You'll get a view of Iceland, people and customs while following the dour detective on a police procedural. What Inspector Erlendur lacks in social niceties is compensated by his brilliant detective work.

A man is found murdered at his apartment in a poor area of Reykjavik by two children. His head has been smashed in with an ashtray. While violent crime is rare in Iceland, this is no ordinary crime of passion. It comes to light that the man was acquitted of rape charges forty years ago.

Adding to the twists of the novel is the interconnectedness of Icelandic society, populated by a mere 364,300 people, which more than a third of which have contributed to a genetic database, in order to track genetic abnormalities.

A dark and absorbing read. Available at amazon.com.