Brian Fitzgibbon

Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson

Investigator Kjartan's investigation of the murders of a cryptographer with ties to a medieval manuscript and a victim mutilated in a Viking tradition embroils him in a world of legend and symbology in his search for the killer.

The Flatey Enigma

Janice Hopper

What an interesting and quirky little book this is. I think it's the only book I've read that was set in Iceland. It's sort of a mystery and it's sort of a riddle.

The book is set in 1960, so it's a bit distant in time as well as in space. It starts with a decayed body that's been found on one of the little skerries (skerry = small rocky island or reef) not far from Flatey. The folk of Flatey Island would go out to these little rocky islands and hunt seals for skin, or eiderdown to wash and sell. Since the island is only about 2 km long and 1 km wide, there's not a lot to do on Flatey. I think the book mentioned 57 inhabitants there at the time.

But the body found is just a jumping-off point. There's a rare manuscript with a riddle in it that no one has been able to solve. The story alternates between the investigation of what appears to be a murder, and discussion of the riddle in the manuscript. Old sins come back to haunt some residents, but probably no in the way you'd think. And I had no idea how it was all going to shake out until the very last part of the very last chapter, pretty much the same way the riddle gets worked out.

This is not an exciting book, but it's full of charm and quiet interest (at least to me.) While I was reading it, I thought a bit of the movie Babette's Feast, since they both depict small, isolated communities. The subject matter is very different, though!

It's good. I think I got it as a Kindle freebie and it was well worth the reading.

The Flatey Enigma

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