Icelandic Thrilles

“Narrator Saskia Maarleveld creates a voice that is both determined and fragile.”—AudioFile In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family...

Icelandic sisters Áróra and Ísafold live in different countries and aren‘t on speaking terms, but when their mother loses contact with Ísafold, Áróra reluctantly returns to Iceland to find her sister. But she soon realises that her sister isn’t avoiding her...she has disappeared. As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister’s reclusive neighbours, Áróra is led into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.

This magnificent novel - which secured for its author the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature - is now available to contemporary American audiences. Although it is set in the early 20th century, it recalls both Iceland's medieval epics and such classics as Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter. And if Bjartur of Summerhouses, the book's protagonist, is an ordinary sheep farmer, his flinty determination to achieve independence is genuinely heroic and, at the same time, terrifying and bleakly comic.

The Icelandic nation has a long and rich history of storytelling. Throughout centuries characterized by hardship, poverty, and dark winters, the Icelanders kept their spirits high and moral values intact by telling each other stories. In this collection of 15 Icelandic folk legends, we get a glimpse of the world view of the Icelanders in centuries past as they endeavored to understand and cope with the natural phenomena around them. There are stories of malicious ghosts, outlaws living in carved-out boulders, hidden people residing in grassy knolls...

When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, everyone assumes that she's taken her own life...until her body is found in the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected 15-year-old daughter, Hekla, has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?

Introducing an instant classic--master storyteller Neil Gaiman presents a dazzling version of the great Norse myths. Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura...

"[A] joyously peculiar book." -- The New York Times ‘Bjarnason’s intriguing book might be about a cold place, but it’s tailor-made to be read on the beach.’ –New Statesman The untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries. The...

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark. But is the real danger inside...within the family itself?

It is a few years after Reykjavik Nights closed. Erlendur is now a detective working for the shadowy Marion Briem and is already divorced. It is 1979. A body of a man has been found in the blue lagoon, which has not yet become the tourist spot it is today. Apparently the victim fell from a great height, and at first the police investigate the possibility that he has been thrown out of an airplane.

"Fans of Nordic noir will enjoy this performance. For those new to the genre and looking for an easy start, Barrett offers an expert entry into a world of danger and intrigue." –AudioFile Magazine Retired detective Konrad returns to a haunting cold case in The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur...

From Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir comes a thrilling and unique audiobook series The Legacy is the first installment in a stunning new audiobook series from the author of The Silence of the Sea, winner of the 2015 Petrona Award for best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The only person who might...

With over three million copies sold worldwide, Ragnar Jónasson, along with Katrín Jakobsdóttir, brings us a gripping and chilling new thriller, Reykjavík. What happened to Lára? Iceland, 1956. Fourteen-year-old Lára decides to spend the summer working for a couple on the small island of...

BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick! Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who is charged with the brutal murder of her former master. Inspired by a true story, Burial Rites is perfect for fans of Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and The...

This program is read by actor Sam Woolf, known for his roles on Call the Midwife, Humans, The Crown, and The Witcher. He currently stars in the World War II drama We Were The Lucky Ones. Fresh off his career-changing standalone co-written with Icelandic PM, Reykjavík, #1 Icelandic bestseller...

An Epic Clash of Faith and Reason Amid the Ravages of the Black Death The spellbinding prequel to Terminal Warfare: Lady, Scientist, Lover, Spy in which the ancient world grapples with the collision of faith and reason in the shadow of a devastating pandemic. Delve into the enchanting world of the ancient Icelandic sagas at one of the landmark events in world history: the era of the Black Death which decimated Europe and has lessons for today and our collective future as the human race. As the Black Death sweeps across 14th-century Europe, a mysterious dark rider appears on the glacial ...

All is lost. The Gods decided to reward Wortimer and punish Ash, and the future of Britannia is hanging in the balance. In the darkness of a prison cell, through pain of torture, Ash tries to remember how everything has gone so terribly wrong. Wortimer defeated his father and conquered Londin. He took Rhedwyn into his chamber, and threw Ash into the deepest dungeon. His armies are rampaging throughout the province, killing Iutes and Saxons wherever they can find them. It seems nothing and nobody can stop the new Dux of Britons from fulfiling his mission to destroying the Iutes and cast all ...

From Ragnar Jónasson, the award-winning author of the international bestselling Ari Thór series, The Girl Who Died is a standalone thriller about a young woman seeking a new start in a secluded village where a small community is desperate to protect its secrets. Teacher Wanted At the Edge of...

"Narrator Amanda Redman gives an adept performance as she takes on the various characters in this Icelandic thriller." — AudioFile Magazine The newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene has arrived with a superb followup to The Darkness. Shortlisted for the Crime Novel of the Year...

The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed. Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice.

Vaka sits on the cold steps of her new school. Her father appears to have forgotten to pick her up, her mother has forgotten to give her this week’s pocket money, and the school is already locked for the day. With no way to call home, she resigns herself to waiting on the steps until her father remembers her. When a girl approaches, Vaka recognizes her immediately from class and from her unusual appearance: two of her fingers are missing. The girl lives at the back of the school, and Vaka asks to call her father from the girl's house. That afternoon is the last time anyone sees Vaka.