*This event is now sold out.*
Prime Minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir and international best-selling crime fiction author Ragnar Jónasson discuss their collaboration on Reykjavik: A Crime Story, a lauded novel set during a transformative time in Iceland’s history — 1986, a year that saw the city’s 200th anniversary and the Reagan-Gorbachev conference. The event will be moderated by Otto Penzler (owner of The Mysterious Bookshop, NYC).
In 1956, 14-year-old Lára decides to spend the summer working for a couple on the small island of Videy, just off the coast of Reykjavík, only to disappear without a trace in early August. As time passes, the mystery becomes Iceland’s most infamous unsolved case. What happened to the young girl? Is she still alive? Did she leave the island, or did something happen to her there?
Thirty years later, as the city of Reykjavík celebrates its 200th anniversary, journalist Valur Robertsson begins his own investigation into Lára’s case.
But as he draws closer to discovering the secret, and with the eyes of Reykjavík upon him, it soon becomes clear that Lára’s disappearance is a mystery that someone will stop at nothing to keep unsolved…
Books will be available for purchase and signing. This program will take place at Scandinavia House. Registration recommended; sign up at the link above.
“A slow-burning, spellbinding whodunit. Agatha Christie, to whom it’s dedicated, would be proud” —Kirkus Reviews
“A beautifully constructed mystery by two super smart partners in crime”—Anthony Horowitz, New York Times bestselling author of Magpie Murders
“This is Nordic noir at its most authoritative”—Financial Times
About the Authors
Katrín Jakobsdóttir is the prime minister of Iceland. She holds a master’s degree in Icelandic literature and wrote her master’s thesis on Icelandic crime fiction author Arnaldur Indriðason. She taught Icelandic literature, and worked for media and publishing houses, before becoming a member of the Icelandic parliament in 2007. She served as the minister for education, research and culture from 2009-2013 and became the chair of her political party, the Left-Green Movement, in 2013. She has been the prime minister since 2017, and lives with her husband and three sons in Reykjavík. Reykjavík is her first novel.
Ragnar Jónasson is an international number one-bestselling author who has sold over three million books in 36 countries worldwide. Jónasson was born in Reykjavík, where he also works as an investment banker and teaches copyright law at Reykjavík University. He has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV news reporter, and, since the age of 17, has translated 14 of Agatha Christie’s novels. He is the co-founder of the Reykjavík international crime writing festival Iceland Noir. His critically acclaimed international bestseller The Darkness is soon to be a major TV series, and Outside is soon to be a feature film. Jónasson lives in Reykjavík with his wife and two daughters. Find him on Twitter @ragnarjo.
About the Moderator
Otto Penzler, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, founded The Mysterious Press in 1975, which publishes literary crime fiction; Penzler Publishers in 2018, which includes Scarlet, Crime Ink, and American Mystery Classics; and e-books through MysteriousPress.com. Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, MWA’s Ellery Queen Award, and the Raven. He has been given Lifetime Achievement awards by Noircon, Killer Nashville, and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies.