The haunting final chapter to an award-winning series…

And a final reckoning…

With the fate of her missing sister, Ísafold, finally uncovered, Áróra feels a fragile relief as the search that consumed her life draws to a close. But when Ísafold’s boyfriend – the prime suspect in her disappearance – is found dead at the same site where Ísafold’s body was discovered, Áróra’s grip on reality starts to unravel … and the mystery remains far from solved.

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To distract herself, she dives headfirst into a money-laundering case that her friend Daníel is investigating. But she soon finds that there is more than meets the eye and, once again, all leads point towards Engihjalli, the street where Ísafold lived and died, and a series of shocking secrets that could both explain and endanger everything…

My Review

Black As Death is Book 5 and the final episode in the Áróra Investigation series. We have followed Áróra as she tries to discover what happened to her sister Ísafold, but we now know that she is dead, her body found in a suitcase inside a fissure on the Reykjanes peninsular. Believing that her boyfriend Björn killed her, it came as a surprise when his body was also found in the same place.

Their relationship was turbulent, Björn regularly beating her up, gaslighting her, and making her believe she was stupid. All the time Björn was dealing in drugs, eventually persuading Ísafold to steal tablets from the residents of the old people’s home where he made her get a job.

We are also introduced to other characters including Sturla, another drug dealer, one of his ‘boys’ called Felix, and the owners of a seemingly successful chain of coffee shops called Kaffiko Ltd. Except that the coffee shops are making too much money compared to their actual trade, and Áróra helps her now boyfriend police officer Daniel to investigate the irregularities. Then there is Grimur, whose strangeness has been discussed in previous books. He is Ísafold’s neighbour and is very protective of her.

The saddest part of the story is when we hear from Ísafold herself, as she tells us about Björn, her fear of being beaten and abused, how she has to hide in the bathroom when he’s been drinking, but how she still loves him. No matter how many times Áróra tells her to leave him, she can’t. Áróra gave up on her a long time ago, Ísafold tells us.

This whole series has been exceptional. There are always exciting stories – the supernatural element in Book 4 was my favourite – at the forefront of the books, but Ísafold’s disappearance simmers away in the background until we get the final resolution in Black As Death.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Icelandic crime writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in
Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written eleven crime
novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone
thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide. Snare was longlisted for the CWA
International Dagger, Cage won Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year and was a Guardian Book
of the Year, and Betrayal was shortlisted for the prestigious Glass Key Award and won Icelandic
Crime Novel of the Year. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by
Glassriver. Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the
UK in 2021 and was followed by Red as Blood, White as Snow and Dark as Night. TV rights to the
series have been bought by Studio Zentral in Germany. Lilja lives in Reykjavík with her partner and
a brood of chickens.

About Orenda Books

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.