Today we have an extract from a wonderful piece of Icelandic Noir, the third in the Arora Investigation series by Lilja Sigurdardottir. White as Snow is published by Orenda on October 12th. I also have a great giveaway with the chance to win a print copy of White as Snow. Details on how to enter are at the foot of this post.
First here's a little about White as Snow.
Daníel and Áróra hunt a brutal killer when a shipping container
with the bodies of five women is found outside Reykjavik, as Áróra
continues the search for her missing sister. Book three in the
addictive, chilling An Áróra Investigation series.
On a snowy
winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near
Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them
barely alive.
As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to
investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the
background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel's
former wife, and the connections don't stop there…
Daníel and
Áróra's cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying
agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister,
Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.
As
the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper
their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for
everyone.
Atmospheric, twisty and breathtakingly tense, White as
Snow is the third instalment in the riveting, award-winning An Áróra
Investigation series, as crimes committed far beyond Iceland's shores
come home…
Shortlisted for The Blood Drop – Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year, 2022
Extract
‘I’ve only been ready to quit once in my whole career,’
Daníel said to the commissioner, who drew up one of the red armchairs that were
arranged in her office, and sat down facing him, so close that their knees
almost touched. ‘That was an investigation
into a house fire in which someone died and I … I’ve never been able to clear my mind of the image of that
person’s body, or the smell. The smell
was the worst part.’
‘Drink this,’ the commissioner said and passed him a cup
she had filled with Coke. ‘The sugar
will pick you up.’
Daníel took the cup, drank half the sweet pop and
almost took comfort in the feeling that
his taste buds were being wiped clean, even though all his other senses were
still shackled to the woman who, only two hours ago, he had cradled in his arms
and covered with his coat, and to whom he had muttered that he was from the police and was there to help her,
faintly hoping that his words would make it through the terror in her eyes and
her chilled-through body, and that if they did make it through, they would have
some meaning for her.
‘I feel I’m ready to burst,’ he said. ‘I want to go down to
the docks and yell at Customs that they need to check every single container
that gets shipped to Iceland. They need to open every single one and…’ His
words faded away as the memory of the contents of the container up at Rauðhólar
appeared again in sharp relief before his eyes – the bodies of women wrapped in
clothes and blankets that were nowhere near enough to cope with the cold of
winter up here in the north.
‘That would be the ideal situation, but even if funding for
the Customs service was ten times what it is now, doing that still wouldn’t be realistic,’ the commissioner
said. ‘They only manage to check a tiny fraction of the containers that arrive
here. That’s why our work is so important. We have to nail whoever was behind
this horror.’
Daníel shook his head, not sure if it was the commissioner’s words he wanted to shake off, or the memory
of the curly, foul- smelling hair on the head he had held tight, in the
desperate hope the woman would sense
some warmth from him, even a little humanity and goodwill.
‘The smell…’ he said, looking up to meet the commissioner’s
eyes. ‘Her smell, and the look in her eyes … I can’t do this. I can’t work on this case.’
The commissioner sat a little straighter.
‘You are one of my most experienced officers,’ she said.
‘This is going to call for a large team, but I can ask the chief superintendent
to keep you away from any major responsibilities – you had asked for time off to look after your
children before this, anyway. We do need someone of your calibre on this,
though. Someone who can read people. Someone with your deep under- standing –
your insight and sympathy.’
‘What you call insight is really working against me right
now,’ Daníel said. ‘The whole world is somehow becoming too … too something for
me. After all these years of all kinds of investiga tions, I’ve hit my limits.
I can’t handle my job if it’s going to get
any worse.’
The commissioner placed a hand on his arm and squeezed.
‘Daníel,’ she said, and tried to catch his eye. ‘It can’t get worse than this.
This is as bad as it gets.’
Purchase Links
About the Author
Icelandic
crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in
1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning
playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first
in a new series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. Translation rights
have been sold in eight countries to date, and film rights have been
bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja has a background in
education and has worked in evaluation and quality control for
preschools in recent years. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner.
Thanks to Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books for the extract and a place on the blog tour.
Don't forget to check out these other great bloggers!
To win a print copy of White as Snow just Follow and Retweet the pinned tweet at @bookslifethings and good luck!
Closing date is October 9th 2023 and there is one winner.
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