The Ice Princess

Lackberg, Camilla. Trans. Steven T. Murray.  The Ice Princess.

An ARC sent by Gretchen and Meghan of Tandem Literary Publicity and Marketing.  The novel  is the 2008 winner of  the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière Best International Crime Novel of the Year.  I intended to mention the translator because the translation read so fluidly, and then discovered that Steven T. Murray should have been recognized immediately by anyone who has read Stieg Larrson or Henning Mankell.

Camilla Lackberg's U.S. debut is only the first of her seven novels.  It is excellent.  Sometimes we struggle with what to say about ARCs; they are free and looking for positive reviews that aren't always forth-coming.

There was no struggle with this novel that pulled me in from the beginning and kept me from wanting to put it down.

Erika Falck, a biographer, has returned to her hometown after her parents' deaths to sort through their belongings and do all the final paperwork.  When Eilert Berg discovers the body of Erika's childhood friend Alex and rushes from the house, the first person he encounters is Erika.  Thus she is drawn immediately into the situation which is first assumed to be a suicide, but later determined to be a murder.

While I have a few quibbles, I found the novel powerful and involving.  There are a couple of side stories that are also interesting and woven smoothly into the story.  For a first novel, The Ice Princess is impressive (and better than novels by many much more experienced authors).  I love a novel full of promise and this one certainly qualifies.

The Ice Princess offers the opportunity to follow a talented author as she progresses, and I'm quite eager for the  translations of her other novels.

My thanks to Tandem Literary Publicity & Marketing for this novel!

Fiction.  Mystery.  U.S. translation 2010.  393 pages.