I am becoming a massive fan of Ragnar Jonasson books.

In his new book, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, we get to visit with Helgi Raykdai again as he's been predominantly featured in previous novels. Must like the other books, the reader is transported between the present day and decades previous to unravel a case.

I'd say it helps to have read the previous novels to understand Helgi's current situation and the case of his missing colleague.

Again, we have a cliff hanger that leaves me reeling for Helgi's well-being.

Thank you St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

What a fascinating and original concept for a mystery! The disappearance of a crime writer sets the perfect stage for a layered, suspenseful story that feels both classic and fresh at the same time. From the very beginning, there’s an undercurrent of unease that makes you want to read just one more chapter.

I loved how the atmosphere was crafted—it’s moody, tense, and quietly eerie, pulling you right into the shadows of the story. The pacing is deliberate but never slow, with each reveal landing at just the right moment. The characters are intriguing and flawed, and the gradual uncovering of secrets kept me engaged all the way through.

This is a mystery that manages to be both sharp and haunting, with an ending that stays with you. A compelling read for anyone who enjoys thoughtful, atmospheric suspense.

I really don’t know what to make of this read! 😵‍💫 Might be just a me thing, though?

It wasn’t a bad read - it was decent! But I felt the twists were predictable and I’m struggling to understand how incredibly laid back this police force is with solving disappearances. 🤔 And the ending was extremely abrupt!! I thought I was missing a chapter, but nope…it really does end that way! 🫣

I still would recommend it for mystery lovers, because not every book is for every person! Maybe this book will be for you! 😊

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

Iceland’s most famous author, Elín S. Jónsdóttir, has gone missing. It is up to Detective Helgi Reykdal to return to Reykjavik to interview her friends and solve the case of her disappearance.

The main story takes place in 2012, interspersed with flashbacks to earlier time periods (1965, 1976, and 2005) that reveal bits and pieces as it progresses, coming together nicely toward the end. In addition to the mysterious disappearance, Helgi is dealing with the fallout from his violent ex-girlfriend, Bergthora, while trying to put his life back together with his new love interest, Annita. The story was puzzling and entertaining, and the ending was shocking and sudden.

I thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press | Minotaur Books for providing me an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. And, of course, a big thank you to Ragnar Jonasson for this delightful read! This is the second book featuring detective Helgi (following Death at the Sanatorium), and based on the ending, I can’t wait for the next installment!

Very much written in the style of the Golden Age of mystery writers (like Agatha Christie) whom the author really admires, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer has Helgi taking on the Miss Marple role and slowly but thoroughly unraveling the web of lies spun by the missing author’s closest friends.

And while he is doing this, Helgi is also looking into the disappearance of the detective whose office he is now using as well as dealing with his crazy ex-girlfriend who seems to be stalking his current love.

This is a follow up of death at the sanatorium and it was ok. A writer goes missing a detective is on the case. I liked the mystery that needed to be solved but the ending was just sudden and left me wondering. The book is jumpy and ihad a hard time following some of it.

I usually enjoy Ragnar Jonasson's books. He's dark, and his settings are atmospheric. I especially liked Reykjavik and Death at the Sanatorium, both of which had interesting characters and excellent plots. This book, which brings back a character from Death at the Sanatorium, billed as a standalone, ends so abruptly that I wondered if this isn't meant to be a series.

Helgi Reykdal is enjoying a break from his police duties among his beloved vintage crime novels when he is asked to look into the disappearance of popular crime writer Elin Jonsdottir. None of her friends or associates has heard from her, so Helgi has little to go on. On top of that, he is under pressure to find Elin before the press breaks the story. The more Helgi digs into Elin's life, the more secrets he uncovers, leading him to believe there are multiple reasons for her disappearance.

The story shifts focus from Helgi's investigation, set in 2012, to another disappearance, that of a police detective, years earlier, and the case of a bank robbery that she was investigating. Jonasson does a good job of weaving the subplots together, but the reader is left hanging about the solution of one of the storylines. Additionally, the ending was so abrupt that I wondered if some pages were left out.

The pacing is good, and the plots are intriguing, so I was caught up in the book from the start. I wish it hadn't ended on a cliffhanger with an unresolved plot line. 3/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Minotaur Books, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is September 9, 2025.

Thank you so much for the EARC!

4.5 stars. A great mystery. Speculative, intriguing peculiar. We are left with pockets of information but pieces of the puzzle are left to figure out. There are a few timelines/storylines, and I really enjoyed the anticipation of how they fit together. I flew through this, I just had to know what happened!

I appreciated the Agatha Christie references, I’ll take this as a sign I need to pick up one of her books!

Our MC is a newer detective, and I love that trope in mysteries, but he’s also a book lover which made me love him right away. We spend each chapter trying to figure out if Elín’s disappearance was self motivated or if something more sinister is to blame.

There’s some relationship drama which the book ended off with, and one of the secondary storylines isn’t finished so I’m assuming there will be a sequel? If so, I’ll be first in line.

🔎 M Y S T E R I O U S M O N D A Y review 🔍 featuring “The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer” by Ragnar Jonasson!

Best selling crime fiction author Elin Jonsdottir has mysteriously gone missing leaving zero evidence behind of what happened. As a huge fan of her writing, the case gets assigned to a young detective named Helgi Reykdahl to try to crack the case before the press blows up Elin’s disappearance!

As Helgi interviews those closest to Elin, he soon finds out that her life outside of writing is oddly private and that her past is even more unexpected 🤔! As the clock counts down, Helgi must race against time by peeling back the multiple layers of Elin’s very secretive and mysterious life.

“You know, sometimes I think life is just one big crime novel”.

💭 I am always living in my Nordic noir era and Ragnar Jonasson has never let me down! I love a bone chilling, grim, moody, mysterious and atmospheric crime thriller and this book checked all of those boxes!

Thank you so much to @ragnarjo @minotaur_books @stmartinspress for my #gifted copy in exchange for my honest review! This book releases on September 9, 2025!

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review 💚

I had such a fun time with this one, fast paced,twisty and turny and set in Iceland with multiple mentions of my fave Icelandic city (Akureyri) what more could I ask for?

it even left me tapping multiple times at the last page on my Kindle because I wanted more

Elin Jonsdottir, a famous crime writer in Reykjavik, is missing after not turning up for several days. Detective Helgi is on the case. The main characters are Elin's friends, Helgi's former lover, a new love interest and a journalist who interviewed Elin. Oh, and by the way, there is Hulda, Helgi's predecessor in the department, who also disappeared. That sub-plot harks back to a previous book. The novel jumps back and forth between Hulda's story (1978), the interview (2005) and the present day search for Elin (2012). From here there is not much to report that wouldn't be considered a spoiler. Suffice it to say there is murder, infidelity, spousal abuse, new love and a bank robbery which I was hoping would be neatly tied up in a satisfying ending. I really hate cliffhangers unless the next book is right there waiting for me. I confess I will read the next one when and if it emerges.

Ragnar Jónasson is clearly a skilled writer and once I figured out how the time frames related to one another I became invested in the characters and couldn't put the story down. During the last ten pages I kept wondering how all the sub-plots could possibly be resolved in the remaining space. Well ... much goes unanswered. My feeling at the close was not AHHHH, but OMG what??!?

3.5 stars

This was an ok mystery. I felt like the book jumped around too much for my liking and the main mystery didn't get enough of a spotlight. I wasn't really invested enough to find out what happened and the solution also felt underwhelming. I was intrigued by the private life of the detective himself though - I did enjoy the glimpses we got of his private life and all the drama that came with it. That cliffhanger... 👀

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc and audio in exchange for my honest review

I thought parts of this book were good. I didn’t really like all the jumping around back and forth.
The ending was not what I was expecting either. I’m not sure I care enough about the characters to read the next one.

An Icelandic thriller

Although this is my first experience with this author, I understand this book is the second featuring Reykjavik Detective Helgi Reykdal.

The story in a few words:

One winter evening bestselling crime author, Elín S. Jónsdóttir goes missing it is up to Helgi to crack the case. He realises that Elin’s life may not have been so cut and dry. As the hours passes Helgi uncovers that Elin was living a very unexpected life…

My thoughts in a few words:

It will take time to find your footing with this book….be patient it is all worth it.

The narrative begins with interviews between a reporter and Elin and shifts to the present-day (2012) investigation then harks back to the 70’s with Hulda as a young officer investigating her own crimes. We cross multiple time lines as this story unravels at a lightning speed but I assure you even if you are not a fan of the back and forth you will easily get sucked into the suspense. This story is a real puzzle, revealing bits and pieces till most fit together but one. A loose end that left me disappointed, I didn’t care for the ending, a cliff-hanger I would think …maybe a sign of book #3 to come.

I simply love how this story is dialogue driven with exchanges between characters vividly told. In whole, a good story well-said and well-done.

Great mystery with well-developed characters. I really liked the setting and could picture the places since I’ve been to some of them. Solid pace that keeps you involved as Helgi tries to figure out what happened to Elin, a well known Icelandic mystery writer who has just up and disappeared.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Sept. 9, 2025
Famous Icelandic mystery writer Elin Jonsdottir disappears without a trace and, although this is something that she has done before, her close friends worry that something has happened to her this time and the young, new detective Helgi is called on to the case, chosen specifically due to his affection for mystery novels. While his investigation brings Helgi to interview some of Elin’s inner circle, he realizes that Elin’s secretive life was far more secretive than anyone realized, and one of her secrets may have led to her disappearance.
“The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer” by Icelandic author Ragnar Jonasson is a pseudo follow up to his novel, “Death at the Sanatorium”, as it features detective Helgi as the protagonist, and the disappearance of his predecessor, Hulda (who we met in “Sanatorium”) is a background plotline in “Writer”. Helgi’s abusive ex-girlfriend returns throughout this novel, too, and a few other bit characters from the previous novel. That being said, “Writer” is completely engaging and enjoyable as a stand-alone.
“Writer” is multi-timeline, primarily told in 2012, when Helgi is investigating the disappearance of Elin. There are brief chapters focused on a bank robbery that takes place during the 1970s, which is connected to the main plotline although we don’t find this out until later, and snippets of a recorded interview Elin did years before she went missing. These timelines are expertly combined to form a well-formed, smooth-flowing plot that kept me turning the pages.
Helgi is a fantastic protagonist, using his love of mystery novels to help him solve the case of the missing crime writer. The main plotline, Elin’s disappearance, is solved (although in a pretty anticlimactic way), but another novel (or set of novels) is sure to follow, as Hulda’s disappearance has not yet been solved, and “Writer” has yet another plotline, featuring Helgi’s ex-partner, that ends the novel in a huge cliffhanger.
I love Jonasson’s writing style, and “Writer” is sharp and addicting. Helgi is relatable and likable and his current budding romance with his new partner is endearing. Mysteries abound in “Writer”, and there was an unending supply of twists, making the story a complete page-turner.
I haven’t read as much Jonasson as I would like, through no fault of the author, but I hope that this is something I can rectify soon. Icelandic crime fiction has surged in popularity as of late, and with authors like Jonasson, it is easy to see why. I loved “Sanatorium”, and I look forward to what comes next for Helgi.

I have one word for the newly translated Icelandic thriller, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. Frustrating.

This book has a mystery of a missing crime writer but so much more. It has a detective with a violent ex-girlfriend in 2012, a bank robbery being planned in 1965, another detective in 1976 trying to solve the now cold bank robbery case, that detective’s mysterious disappearance one day before retirement year’s later, and of course the titular case of the missing crime writer in 2012. There are also newspaper accounts and an interview of the crime writer in 2005. Even with the dates in the chapter titles that is a lot to keep straight.

I was loving this complex mystery—until the wild cliffhanger at the end. I kept trying to turn the page in my Kindle several times until I saw it said 100% complete. WHAT? I am so disappointed that I am lowering my review to 3 stars. Admittedly, two of the main mysteries were solved and I was completely surprised by the perpetrators. After some research, I discovered one of the unsolved mysteries is explored more fully in this author’s Hidden Iceland series, that also ends with a cliffhanger. Did I say the word frustrating already? This book, and its author, truly are the definitive example of frustrating. Diane, make up your own endings to the two unsolved mysteries, get over it already, and move on.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advanced review copy.

This was a great quick read. Helgi, the detective assigned to find Elin Jonsdottir, a world famous crime author known for releasing one book a year. He finds out that Elin is very private and only talks to a few people, her publisher, an accountant, and a retired judge. Helgi has to find out if she is in hiding and wants to be left alone, hurt, or dead. The twists and turns kept me interested until the end.

I hope there are more books by Ragnar, Helgi was a great protagonist!

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This was an easy one to get into and enjoy. I can't wait to see if Jonasson will write a sequel.
Great character development and great pace. Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this book.

#mystery #ARC #netgalley

Thank you @minotaur_books #partner for the gifted copy of this book!

Okay, first of all… Iceland! 🧊 One of my favorite places I’ve ever visited, so the setting of this book already had me hooked before I even started reading. The story follows the disappearance of a crime writer (love that premise!) and of course, a detective on the case. It played out in my head a bit like a game of Clue, which made it really fun to read.

The book is told across three different timelines, which kept the pace moving and added some great layers to the mystery. While it’s technically considered Nordic Noir, it didn’t really feel like the same dark/bleak vibe as others I’ve read in that genre. It leaned way more cozy mystery to me, which I really enjoyed.

It’s also a follow-up in a series, but I haven’t read the others and had no trouble diving right in. Plus, it’s short with quick chapters, so I ended up flying through it in one sitting. 🙌

If you love cozy mysteries, unique settings, or stories that feel like a modern-day Agatha Christie/Clue mash-up, this one’s definitely for you!