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Novels






Dark Cities (2020)
The literature critic Elmar Arnarsson is preparing for Christmas, his busiest time, as most books in Iceland are published during the holidays, when he gets new information about the death of his best friend 25 years earlier. Elmar has always been certain that Felix was killed, but now becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about his friend’s fate. However, revisiting his painful past is about to shake Elmar’s lonesome existence to the core.




Brave Men’s Blood (2013)
In order to take down a major criminal organization, the ambitious head of the internal affairs unit of the Reykjavik P.D. decides to investigate a corrupt police lieutenant. Tipped off about the lieutenant's criminal dealings by a former crime kingpin, now imprisoned, he places a female former narcotics officer undercover to spy on him. These actions set him off on a dangerous path into the underworld of Reykjavík, where corruption and collusion run rampant, and no one is who they seem to be.
In 2014, the film City State 2: Brave Men’s Blood was released.





Una (2012)
A boy disappears in a blizzard and is declared dead, but Una his mother thinks differently and begins searching for him. When she starts receiving a series of mysterious clues, Una no longer knows if she's on the boy’s trail – or if she’s losing her mind. Could supernatural powers be involved? Desperate for answers, Una comes to learn about an old woman who died many years ago, but bore her exact same name. Slowly, it starts dawning on Una that she’s repeating the old woman’s life.

Una is currently in pre-production, shooting in autumn 2020.




The Liar: a True Story (2011) 
In July 1972, Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky are playing for the World Chess Championship in Cold War Reykjavík, a match dubbed the Match of the Century. But when a young cop receives a riddle it becomes clear that the real game will be fought elsewhere than on the chessboard. In March 2011, Vera and her colleagues in an underground news organization discover a dark secret about a controversial Icelandic group, which members include three former Prime Ministers. Vera’s father unexpectedly gets dragged into the case and turns out to have a secret from the summer of '72 that will change her life forever.




The Eight-Pointed Rose (2010)

The Eight-Pointed Rose follows three individuals. A feminist scholar realizes that 12 eight pointed roses on a quilt which her grandmother inherited her contains a hidden message of an old crime. A troubled teenager who can‘t find his way through life, especially after a dramatic shock. And a successful businessman, Iceland’s only hope when an international enterprise tries to buy the nation’s largest thermal heat company. At first glance the eight-pointed rose seems to be the only thing connecting them, but as the story evolves old sins and broken promises get revealed. Which mystery does the eight-pointed star contain?




Paradise City (2009)

A man in his 30s, a painted but otherwise drifting through life, moves back to his childhood home to be with his mother after his father dies. He and his brother begin remodeling the basement of the house, but find a surprise guest down there that will change their lives and everyone else’s in the city forever. Paradise City is a strange story of normal people and how they react to hardship. It deals with questions of loss and choice, of trust and responsibility, and ultimately, what matters most in our lives.
                                                           



Sun Cross (2008)
Sacred geometry, a search for pagan temples, a suspicious visit by Nazis to Iceland in 1938, Nordic mythology and lost church foundations are just a glimpse of what this page-turner deals with. Adam Swift, which readers know from Abraham’s Knife, plays one of the main roles in this new thriller, along with his girlfriend, Embla Þöll. Their search for answers and a long lost Viking secret starts in Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, but soon leads them to the legendary south of the island, to Thingvellir, where the Vikings founded the first Parliament, Skálholt, Iceland’s most religious place; and other settings of the Icelandic Sagas.





Abraham's Knife (2007)

James Donnelly, an Irish writer, receives a mysterious postcard from his recently deceased friend. In pursuit of the truth Donnelly and his Icelandic assistant get dragged into a hazardous chase around post-9/11 New York, ever closer to an ancient secret surrounding the forefather of Jews, Muslims and Christians – Abraham. An ancient secret so powerful it can alter the way people perceive their different religious status. The background of Abraham’s Knife deals with the Third World War-nature of the conflict between the Abrahamic religions and explores the possibility of peace through their common forefather.



Child’s Play (2005)

Pétur B. Ásgeirsson is a young member of congress who lives in 101 Reykjavík. He seems to have it all – handsome, a prestigious degree in law and engaged to a model. Pétur is loved and admired in Iceland, appears regularly in the tabloid sections, and helps those in need. But things are not what they seem, because Pétur has a deep, dark secret. Óttar Nordfjörd’s debut novel was highly controversial when it was published in Iceland, as the topic is not for the light-hearted.



Main publisher
Bræðraborgarstígur 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Egill Örn Jóhansson (publisher)
egill@forlagid.is

Foreign publishers
Verbum Crime (Holland)
Aufbau Verlag (Germany)
Duomo Ediciones (Spain) 
Editions Prisma (France)
Antolog (Macedonia)


Literature agent
The Parisian Agency
101, Rue Raymond-Losserand
75014 Paris, France
Alexandra Lefebvre
+33 (0)1 45 39 68 14