Stella Blomkvist: Murder at the Residence, translated by Quentin Bates
It’s New Year and Iceland is still reeling from the effects of the financial crash when a notorious financier is found beaten to death after a high-profile reception at the President’s residence. Maverick lawyer Stella Blómkvist investigates and delivers justice in unexpected ways in this explosive mix of murder, intrigue and surprise. One of Iceland’s best-loved crime series (although the identity of the author remains a mystery), it has recently been adapted for TV, starring Heida Reed of Poldark fame (yes, she really is Icelandic!).
Stella Blómkvist has been a bestselling series in Iceland since the first book appeared in the 1990s and has attracted an international audience since the TV series starring Heiða Reed aired. This series features tough, razor-tongued Reykjavík lawyer Stella Blómkvist, with her taste for neat whiskey, a liking for easy money and a moral compass all of her own – and who is at home in the corridors of power as in the city’s darkest nightspots.
The books have been published under a pseudonym that still hasn’t been cracked. The question of Stella Blómkvist’s identity is one that crops up regularly, but it looks like it’s going to remain a mystery…
Quentin Bates is a writer, translator and journalist. He has professional and personal roots in Iceland that run very deep. He worked as a seaman before turning to maritime journalism. He is an author of a series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to writing his own fiction, he has translated books by Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, and crème de la crème of the Icelandic crime fiction authors Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Óskar Guðmundsson, Jónína Leósdóttir, Sólveig Pálsdóttir and Ragnar Jónasson. Quentin was instrumental in launching IcelandNoir, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.
Stella is a character that seems to attract everything! People, attention, trouble you name it. That said she is afraid of nothing and is more than capable of handling herself and getting exactly what and who she wants.
She’s a refreshing character that makes you want to know more about her. Her attitude makes you follow moth to a flame wanting to know what will happen. As we don’t know the real identity of the author, is this part of the allure? I’m not sure it is. She’s just one of those characters that has been so well written it hauls you in and holds you there entranced. Her freshness, humour and her own ideas of being determined to go her own way are part of it. If she thinks someone or in this case an organisation like the police is wrong about something she investigates on her own. The fact that she’s written in first person, something I love, made me immerse myself and I felt I knew her more as she’s an open book. I hope Corylus produces some more of this author’s work, whoever they are! As always the translation by Quentin Bates is spot on.
With thanks to Ewa Sherman, Corylus and the author for the advanced reading copy of this book.
Books’n’banter 