Customer Reviews

Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Officer Gunnhildur Mysteries)

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Scandanavian Crime fiction is the 'in' read and the 'in' film. To this mix we add Qunetin Bates, Sergeant Gunnhildur "Gunna" Gísladóttir. Gunna as she is known is my kind of woman, professional, attractive and finds her way successfully in the world of men.

Sergeant Gunnhildur "Gunna" Gísladóttir has a new role in this novel. She has a command post with Reykjavík, Iceland's Serious Crime Unit. She is well known to her colleagues from her previous job, where she solved crimes and made a good name for herself. In Reykjavik, Gunna has two cases to investigate all at once. One is the murder of a fitness guru Svana Heirs. She is well known in Iceland, and was involved in a sexscapade with some well known Reykjavik men. The other case involves the escape of a convicted man, Long Ommi. Now, is the time to let everyone know that in Iceland, most everyone has a nickname, some are not readily acceptable in social strata, but that is the way in this country. What is apparent before long is that the two cases are not separate. Long Ommi's arrest for murder ten years earlier connected him to Svana and to three men who were paying her for sex. There are many other people and issues involved in these two cases, and as one clue unravels, more is known and unknown.

Gunna is a very skilled detective, and she is an excellent boss. Her colleagues respect her, and that is half the battle. Gunna's husband died and left her with two children that she has raised very well. She works long hours, but she always has time for her children. She also has met a new man, and his presence in the household is part of the big story,

The other charcters in this novel are so well drawn out, that I could see them in my mind's eye. The neighborhoods of Reyljavik are also described in a manner that I began to get a feel for this city. This is a series that has as its hero, a woman who knows her job, is secure within herself, and understands how to relate to all that she comes in contact with. I am looking forward to reading the first novel in this series, and then onto the next.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-07-12

Frozen Assets: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery

Frozen Out

The protagonist of "Cold Comfort," by Quentin Bates, is thirty-seven year old Sergeant Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir, the head of the Serious Crimes Unit in Reykjavík, Iceland. As the book opens, a brute known as Long Ómar Magnússon absconds from prison before his sentence is up, hoping to settle a few scores. Meanwhile, Gunna and her colleague, Helgi, are summoned to a crime scene where a woman was beaten to death. The deceased, thirty-three year old beauty Svanhildur Mjöll Sigurgeirsdóttir (Svana Geirs) was once a model, pop star, fitness coach, and small-time television personality. Gunna, Helgi, and a young detective named Eiríkur spend a great deal of time and effort trying to identify Svana's killer.

One of the author's central themes is Iceland's "crisis that saw the banks nationalized and the country plunged into a recession." Wealthy speculators bought land at cheap prices and made a bundle, while banks foreclosed on desperate small homeowners and business people who could not repay their debts. "Cold Comfort" centers on individuals who are obsessed with sex, money, and revenge--powerful motives for murder. Gunna is tough, uncompromising, cheeky, and highly intelligent. She understands human nature, takes no guff from anyone, and is a skilled interrogator. In addition, she knows how to use her valuable contacts to obtain confidential information. Gunnhildur is the glue that holds this complex and densely plotted novel together, and her leadership, insight, and determination to get the job done make her an indispensible member of the Reykjavík police force.

Bates would have been wise to include a list of characters with a brief description of each before the book opens. Only sharp readers will be able to keep the large cast straight and follow the narrative's myriad twists and turns. The short-handed detectives earn a great deal of overtime interviewing witnesses and suspects, tracking down leads, and trying to make sense of a series of events that might be interconnected. This is an absorbing police procedural with sharply written, sardonic dialogue as well as vividly drawn characters. Quentin Bates offers a cynical look at a dissolute society mired in corruption; it is a place where selfishness, lust, and cruelty prevail over compassion, morality, and kindness. The most noteworthy aspect of "Cold Comfort," however, is its formidable heroine, the indefatigable Gunna Gísladóttir.