More Yrsa Sigurdardottir: * Last Rituals: An Icelandic Novel of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft, and Modern Murder

Birna stopped. The fog had suddenly thickened, reducing her visibility to just a few meters. She inhaled deeply, this time through her nose, savoring the scent of the sea.

The birds’ squawking intensified again, but Birna was too deep in thought to notice properly. She threaded her way carefully along the rocks toward the gravel path above the beach. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks and listened. She could hear crunching on the pebbles behind her.

Birna did not manage to turn around completely. Even over the noise of the birds on the cliff she clearly heard the rock swishing through the still sea air toward her head, and caught a glimpse of it as it struck her forehead with terrible force. She did not see anything more in this life....

Reluctantly, Thora travels to Snaefellsnes. Upon her arrival, the first thing she learns is that, according to local legend, the ground on which the resort was built is haunted. She initially dismisses this as myth and superstition, but as she begins to dig into the murky past of the old farm, disturbing bits of half-remembered history come to light. And then there are bizarre occurrences, such as the crying of a baby in the night, that Thora cannot explain away with her everyday, pragmatic sense of reality.

Just what is going on here? And more importantly, what does any of it have to do with Jonas, or with the savage murder of a young woman?

My Soul to Take is a good mystery, and a great book. The stark, sometimes eerie landscape of Iceland’s west coast provides a fascinating backdrop, but never oppresses. As a novel, My Soul to Take does not brood, but rather gets its wings from the contrast between the severe and forbidding setting, and the sharply drawn and lively characters with which the story is peopled. The translation from the Icelandic is expert and artful. The colorful, flowing prose helps to bring the story alive, and keeps the reader at all times engaged.

As an investigator, Thora Gudmundsdottir is no Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes. She will seldom reach the correct conclusions on first try, by brilliant deduction. Rather, she will wend her way through a sometimes plodding series of wrong guesses and dead-end clues, before she eventually has gathered enough facts to arrive at the solution to the crime. But this quality makes Thora all the more human and believable as a character.

The history and lore of Iceland that Sigurdardottir weaves into the story are a treat and a delight, and are an integral part of the reading experience. My Soul to Take is highly recommended.