Stella Blomkvist delivers an explosive mix of murder, intrigue and surprise!
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.
The police are certein they have the killer – or do they? Determined to get to the truth, maverick lawyer Stella Blomkvist isn‘t so sure.
A stripper disappears from one of the city‘s seediest nightspots, and nobody but Stella seems interested in finding her. A drug mule cooling his heels in a prison cell refuses to speak to anyone but Stella – although she‘s never heard of him. An old man makes a deathbed confession and request for Stella to find the family he lost long ago.
With a sharp tongue and a moral compass all of her own, Stella Blomkvist has a talent for attracting trouble and she‘s as at home in the corridors of power as in the dark corners of Reykjavik‘s underworld.
REVIEWS
“… the hard-drinking Stella is a knight errant to be reckoned with as she criss-crosses Iceland in her “silver steed” investigating financial chicanery, political corruption and sex trafficking. Unapologetically self-aggrandising, Stella knows her worth to those who cannot afford the conventional route to justice, and Murder at the Residence – the first Stella Blomkvist novel to be translated into English, by Quentin Bates – is a bracing addition to the ranks of Scandi-Noir.”
DECLAN BURKE, THE IRISH TIMES
“Blomkvist’s writing is biting, hard-boiled noir in the Raymond Chandler tradition. Stella is author, narrator and guns-a-blazing leading femme fatale with the wry voice of Philip Marlowe and the same love for whiskey. Likewise, Stella would be at home in a Frank Miller graphic novel. She is every bit as bold and gutsy as a Sin City heroine, bar the gratuitous violence. Morally ambiguous, sexually adventurous, outspoken, cocky and undiplomatic, you’ll love this ‘foul-mouthed nymphomaniac who revels in the dregs of society’ and take pleasure in her ability to ruffle the feathers of those in power.
… Stella is the star – a breath of fresh air, albeit with a nippy bite. Also worth mentioning are the semi-philosophical one-liners attributed to Stella’s mother that often conclude chapters on a sardonic note; e.g.: ‘Feminine intuition is the smoke alarm of the soul, as Mother said.’ Let’s hope more chapters of Stella’s story are lined up for translation, and perhaps we’ll even meet the infamous ‘Mother’ one day.”
SONJA VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, EUROPEAN LITERATURE NETWORK
“Everything is as one might expect; the story is exciting, and Stella as cool as ever.”
DV NEWSPAPER
“I have no hesitation in recommending this intelligent, atmospheric crime thriller.”
hairpastafreckle72.blogspot.com
“The blend of political intrigue, seedy corruption and take-no-prisoners protagonist lead to a mix as potent as Blomkvist (the character)’s tipple of choice, Jack Daniels.”
CAFETHINKING.COM
