Review of THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE MISSING CRIME WRITER by Ragnar Jónasson (New Release)

 2.5 Stars

This is a frustrating book; it begins okay but then the plot becomes disjointed and the ending will have readers wondering if pages are missing at the end.

It is 2012 when a bestselling crime author Elín Jónsdóttir goes missing. Detective Helgi Reykdal is charged with determining what happened to the writer. He investigates by interviewing those closest to Elín: her publisher, Rut Thoroddsen, and two friends, Thor and Lovísa, whom she sees regularly. Secrets in Elín’s life are gradually revealed.

There are also three timelines with their own storylines. There is some focus on a bank robbery in 1965 in which a guard was killed. Einar Másson was arrested and imprisoned, but he never revealed his accomplice who actually shot the guard. In the 1970s, Hulda Hermannsdóttir, Helgi’s predecessor, interviews Einar, hoping to learn the identity of the accomplice. In 2005, Elín is interviewed by an unidentified reporter.

Background is given into Helgi. He’s obsessed with golden age detective novels. We also learn about his relationship with Bergthóra who verbally humiliated and physically attacked him. He has walked away from that relationship, but Bergthóra seems unwilling to let Helgi move on. Helgi’s investigative skills are not highlighted: all he does is interview people and talk to people who contact him. I had assumed this was a standalone novel but have learned that Helgi is actually introduced in an earlier novel, Death at the Sanatorium.

I had a number of issues with the plot which definitely lessened my enjoyment. Hulda went missing years earlier, but police haven’t really investigated her disappearance. This makes no sense. The police were also incompetent in the bank robbery case. Any checks into Einar’s background would easily have uncovered his accomplice’s identity. And the motive for the bank robbery was to commit the perfect crime “’for the thrill of it . . . as a way of spicing up their life’”? This just seems like a weak motivation, especially given who the robbers are. What exactly are the clues in the interview that have a woman suddenly talking to her parents about a sensitive topic she’d never felt a reason to address earlier? Helgi is told he must “’maintain complete discretion’” about the contents of a document, but he then proceeds to reveal them? Then there are the plot holes in Elín’s life. She teaches for a year and then goes into teacher training? She hikes to stay fit so the explanation as to her fate is illogical. Once her disappearance is explained, Helgi doesn’t bother to confirm what he is told and just proceeds to repeat the information to everyone?

The novel just feels flat. Helgi does little but talk to characters again and again. The case is solved because someone comes to see him. Dialogue often feels unnatural. And there is little excitement or tension, and that is crucial in crime fiction. Only as regards Bergthóra’s behaviour is there any real suspense.

I was disappointed with this book; though the publisher’s description does not indicate this, I assume it’s the first of a new series. I dislike being left totally hanging.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.