The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer

Name: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer
Rating: 3.567 (134 reviews)
ISBN: 9781250408273

By Ragnar Jónasson

Publisher Description

An Instant National Bestseller

The next thrilling golden-age-style mystery from #1 Icelandic bestseller Ragnar Jónasson, author of Death at the Sanatorium and Reykjavík.

One winter evening, bestselling crime author Elín S. Jónsdóttir goes missing.

There are no clues to her disappearance and it is up to young detective Helgi to crack the case before its leaked to the press.

As Helgi interviews the people closest to her—a publisher, an accountant, a retired judge—he realizes that Elín’s life wasn’t what it seemed. In fact, her past is even stranger than the fiction she wrote.

As the case of the missing crime writer becomes more mysterious by the hour, Helgi must uncover the secrets of the writer's very unexpected life.

Download the free Fable app

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer Reviews

3.5

Mariana Orfão

Carolyn

Andreia Cipriano

FeebleExcuses

“Really enjoyed the different timelines. The audiobook is really well done as well.”

Bo.reads❤︎

Created 30 days ago

“After finishing Death at the Sanatorium and taking a quick detour into Hulda's story with The Darkness, I couldn't stay away from Helgi Reykdal for long. Book one ended on such a dramatic cliffhanger that I needed to know what happened next, but I was also looking forward to spending more time with a protagonist I'd quickly grown attached to. The premise is simple but effective: a crime writer suddenly disappears without explanation. That alone was enough to hook me, but knowing Helgi and the kind of detective he is made the mystery even more appealing. As both a detective and an avid reader of crime fiction, this case was right up his alley, and I loved following the way he approached each new clue. The story is told across multiple timelines, and I loved piecing the mystery together alongside Helgi as each one gradually revealed another piece of the puzzle. There were plenty of suspects to consider and enough twists to keep me second-guessing, although listening on audiobook occasionally made it difficult to keep track of some of the Icelandic names without seeing them written down. Helgi continues to be the standout for me. I love that he's such a bibliophile because it gives him a different perspective to the average detective. He's warm, approachable and genuinely good at getting people to open up, but he's also quietly observant, paying just as much attention to what's left unsaid as to what's spoken. I also liked seeing him mature a little here, particularly as he begins questioning whether he's really in the right profession. He realises that the parts of detective work he loves most are the puzzles, patterns and clues that make up a great whodunit, while the reality of investigating crime is often far more tragic. I thought that was a really interesting layer to his character. As someone who's still fairly new to Golden Age detective fiction, I loved all the little references sprinkled throughout the story. Somewhere along the way I had one of those "how did I not realise this sooner?" moments when it finally clicked that the mystery was inspired by Agatha Christie's own disappearance. I've watched enough documentaries about Christie that I really should have picked up on it earlier! I was left feeling satisfied by the mystery and, although I only guessed a few pieces correctly, it was fun trying to work out how everything connected. Ragnar Jónasson also seems to have a habit of ending these books quite abruptly, leaving me wanting to reach straight for the next one. Can Bergthóra please just leave the poor man alone? This was another really strong entry in the series that deepened my appreciation for both Helgi and Hulda. More than anything, it reminded me why I'm enjoying these books so much, and I can't wait to see where The Body in the Bath takes Helgi next.”

About Ragnar Jónasson

RAGNAR JÓNASSON is the award-winning Icelandic author of the international bestselling Hulda series, the Dark Iceland series, and standalone crime fiction, with five million copies sold across 36 territories. Ragnar was also an executive producer of the CBS Studios TV series The Darkness, based on the first novel in his Hulda series, starring Lena Olin and directed by Lasse Hallström. His novel Outside is being developed for the screen by Ridley Scott.