Review of THE CLUES IN THE FJORD by Satu Rämö

 3 Stars

I picked up this book because it’s the first of a new series set in Iceland and because it has had glowing reviews. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

Hildur Rúnarsdóttir, working out of Ísafjörður, is the only detective in the Westfjords. She is joined by Jakob Johanson, a police trainee from Finland who chose Iceland’s most sparsely populated region for his internship. Both Hildur and Jakob have difficult backstories. Hildur’s two sisters disappeared 25 years ago and she self-medicates by exercising strenuously. Jakob is the midst of a custody battle for his son; he has taken up knitting as a way of helping himself keep calm.

The pair’s first case begins when a man’s body is found after an avalanche destroys his home but evidence clearly shows that he was murdered. Then two other murders occur and it becomes clear that the three victims must be somehow connected and that the motive for the killings lies in that connection.

Both Hildur and Jakob are appealing characters. They are intelligent, sensitive, kind, and empathetic. Though hampered by his not understanding the Icelandic language, Jakob helps as he can and he and Hildur quickly become good partners and friends. Because both are familiar with loss, they earn the reader’s sympathy.

One problem with the book is its slow pace. Since this is the first of a series, I understand the need to develop character but often there seems to be more focus on the characters’ personal lives than on the investigation. Sometimes elements seem to serve little purpose. For instance, Jónas and his story are entirely superfluous. On the other hand, there are unanswered questions regarding the case.

Then there are the over-explanations about Iceland and its culture and customs. There are passages like, “As is customary in Iceland, the door opened inward. The amount of snow that packed in front of doors would make them impossible to open outward. An inward-opening door guaranteed a quick exit, even in winter.” We are given information about Ístex, “Iceland’s largest and oldest woollen mill. Ístex was owned by sheep farmers, and most wool from the autumn and spring shearings was sold to the mill and turned into yarn of various qualities. Wool from Icelandic sheep had made a name for itself among knitting communities around the world, and the most popular colours were hard to find outside Iceland.” We learn that Icelandic police don’t carry firearms, but the author feels the need to explain “Police firearms were a regular topic of debate, but no changes had been made to the legislation yet. And Icelanders were in no way anti-gun. There were actually quite a few guns in the country because a lot of people liked to hunt.”

The author moved to Iceland from Finland and the book gives the impression that she wants to expound on what she has learned about her adopted country. What is the relevance of the information about the Centre Party? Is it necessary to preach about the importance of runners warming up the upper parts of their bodies? I might enjoy learning about the expensive, expressionist landscapes of Jóhannes Kjarval, “Iceland’s most famous twentieth-century painter” but is that information relevant to the plot?

The book was not carefully edited. For instance, Hildur drives to the police station and waits in the vehicle for her boss Beta. Beta opens the driver’s door and climbs in and Hildur drives away. Both women are sitting in the driver’s seat? We learn early in the novel that Hildur has an aunt named Tinna living in Ísafjörður and another aunt in the Faroe Islands but then later there’s a statement that “Tinna was Hildur’s sole remaining relative”? Hildur contacts an excavator operator and “made him promise to wait for her. She would stop by that evening to show him the exact spot [to dig]” but by the time she gets to the location, the man had already “opened that mound”? Why would a passer-by ask to take a photo using someone else’s camera if the photo would remain with the camera owner?

For those interested, the second book in the series, The Grave in the Ice, will be released in the spring of 2025, and the third, The Shadow of the Northern Lights, will be available in the fall. I’m not certain I will continue following Hildur and Jakob because the weak plot and slow pace do not make for a gripping page-turner.