Chilled to the Bone

September 1, 2014
Bates's third novel starring Icelandic Police Sergeant Gunna Gisladottir (after 2012's Cold Comfort) gives American readers the flavor of another place, but without a truly compelling storyline. Gunna is called in when the corpse of Johannes Karlsson, a haddock baron, is found in a Reykjavik hotel, tied to a bed. Bates reveals the reason for the bondage early on, showing an attractive con artist named Hekla luring another S&M client to a different hotel room, and stealing his money. Meanwhile news that three men and a woman who disappeared from Germany two years earlier have turned up dead in Libya reaches one of the minister's political advisor, leaving readers curious as to how these storylines connect. The author tosses in an ex-con muscleman nicknamed Bigfoot as well, but the ultimate resolution of the storylines is disappointing, and Gunna proves to be a rather bland lead.

December 15, 2013
In her third outing, Iceland police sergeant Gunnhildur (Gunna) G-sladttir investigates the murder of a businessman found tied to a bed in an upscale Reykjavik hotel. He's not the first man to be similarly abandoned midway through a paid-for tryst. To make matters worse, a laptop containing sensitive government data was stolen from one of the rooms. All this would be pressure enough for Gunna, but there's someone else looking for the disappearing dominatrixBaddo, a thug just returned to Iceland after an eight-year prison stint in Lithuania. Gunna is a straight-talking single mom (about to become a grandmother, thanks to an impulsive son) who has no patience for the bureaucracy that plagues the case once some escort-hiring government employees are discovered. A solid police procedural with some genuinely rewarding surprises at the end. When it comes to frosty crime novels, Iceland may just be the new Sweden. Fans of Bates' books may enjoy other Icelandic mysteries by Arnaldur Indridason and Yrsa Sigurdardttir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)