So, I decided to go back to Iceland and back to Arnaldur Indridason well written Reykjavik series featuring Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson. The series thus far has been solidly written. Voices (2003), translated by the late Bernard Scudder, is the third book in the series and is told in third person narrative. The story begins with Christmas approaching. The doorman is found murdered in the hotel basement. Every Christmas he would play Santa and he was a regular jack of all trades. The police investigate the case as discreetly as they can to appease the hotel manager who seems more concerned about the reputation of the hotel and scaring off the tourists. Murder seems to be more of an afterthought.

Inspector Erlendur and his team arrive at the crime scene and find Santa half-naked and stabbed to death. Trying to find someone who knew the door man proves to be difficult as the victim didn’t have any friends. Even at the hotel where he worked for several years, nobody claims to know him outside of work. As the investigation unfolds, Erlendur learns that a British collector/traveler had a scheduled meet with the victim and surprises us all when he tells Erlendur why he was meeting him. Seems the doorman/Santa was a former child star, a soprano/choirboy with a beautiful voice and a promising future ahead of him. Then something happened: his voice broke. The two recordings that he made are now worth millions of dollars. Continue reading →