Murder in Grotta (2017)

Stella Blomkvist doesn‘t believe in life after death! When a medium comes to Stella with a vision of a gruesome murder in the future, she is dismissed as a charlatan. Stella is thus alarmed when a notorious king of fisheries and finance, Grimulfur, is found murdered in the sea at Grotta near Reykjavik, in circumstances that are eerily similar to the medium’s description. The riddles pile up and Stella needs to be in top form to stay one step ahead of cold-blooded criminals and the boys in blue at the police station. Her enemies cause a lot of problems for the tough and mouthy Stella, and thus begins a ruthless life or death struggle.

“Blomkvist’s writing is biting, hard-boiled noir in the Raymond Chandler tradition. Stella is author, narrator and guns-a-blazing leading femme fatale with the wry voice of Philip Marlowe and the same love for whiskey. Likewise, Stella would be at home in a Frank Miller graphic novel. She is every bit as bold and gutsy as a Sin City heroine, bar the gratuitous violence. Morally ambiguous, sexually adventurous, outspoken, cocky and undiplomatic, you’ll love this ‘foul-mouthed nymphomaniac who revels in the dregs of society’ and take pleasure in her ability to ruffle the feathers of those in power.

... Stella is the star – a breath of fresh air, albeit with a nippy bite. Also worth mentioning are the semi-philosophical one-liners attributed to Stella’s mother that often conclude chapters on a sardonic note; e.g.: ‘Feminine intuition is the smoke alarm of the soul, as Mother said.’ Let’s hope more chapters of Stella’s story are lined up for translation, and perhaps we’ll even meet the infamous ‘Mother’ one day.” SONJA VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, EUROPEAN LITERATURE NETWORK (on MURDER AT THE RESIDENCE)