Where the Shadows Lie (Fire & Ice) - Softcover

Ridpath Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857891502 ISBN 13: 9780857891501

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2011

Synopsis

Amid Iceland's wild, volcanic landscape, rumours swirl of an eight-hundred-year-old manuscript inscribed with a long-lost saga about a ring of terrible power.

A rediscovered saga alone would be worth a fortune, but, if the rumours can be believed, there is something much more valuable about this one. Something worth killing for. Something that will cost Professor Agnar Haraldsson his life.

Untangling murder from myth is Iceland-born, Boston-raised homicide detective Magnus Jonson. Seconded to the Icelandic Police Force for his own protection after he runs afoul of a drug cartel back in Boston, Magnus also has his own reasons for returning to the country of his birth for the first time in nearly two decades - the unsolved murder of his father.

And as Magnus is about to discover, the past casts a long shadow in Iceland.

Binding Iceland's landscape and history, secrets and superstitions in a strikingly original plot that will span several volumes, Where the Shadows Lie is the first in a thrilling new series from an established master.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Ridpath spent eight years as a bond trader in the City before giving up his job to write full-time. He lives in north London with his wife and three children. Visit his website at www.michaelridpath.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Where the Shadows Lie
CHAPTER ONEPROFESSOR AGNAR HARALDSSON folded the letter and slipped it back into its small yellowing envelope.He glanced again at the address inscribed in an upright, ornamental hand: Högni Ísildarson, Laugavegur 64, Reykjavík, Iceland. The stamp bore the profile of a beardless British king, an Edward or a George, Agnar wasn't certain which.His heart thumped, the envelope performing a tiny dance in his shaking hand. The letter had arrived that morning enclosed within a larger envelope bearing a modern Icelandic stamp and a Reykjavík postmark.It was all that Agnar could have hoped for. It was more than that; it was perfect.As a professor of Icelandic at the University of Iceland, Agnar had been privileged to handle some of the oldest manuscripts of his country's sagas, copied out by monks with infinite care on to sheaves of calf skins using black bearberry juice for ink, and feathers from the left wings of swans for pens. Those magnificent documents were Iceland's heritage, Iceland's soul. But none of them would cause as great a stir in the outside world as this single sheet of paper.And none of them was his discovery.He looked up from his desk over the serene lake in front of him. It glittered a rare deep blue in the April sunshine. Ten minutes before it had glinted steel grey, and in a few more minutes it would do so again as dark clouds from the west chased after thosedisappearing over the snow-topped mountains across the lake to the east.A perfect location for a summer house. The cabin had been built by Agnar's father, a former politician who was now in an old-people's home. Although summer was still some time away, Agnar had escaped there for the weekend to work with no distractions. His wife had just given birth to their second child, and Agnar had a tight deadline to get through a pile of translation.'Aggi, come back to bed.'He turned to see the breathtakingly beautiful figure of Andrea, ballet dancer and third-year literature student, naked as she glided across the bare wooden floor towards him, her blonde hair a tangled mess.'I'm sorry, darling, I can't,' he said nodding towards the mess of papers in front of him.'Are you sure?' She bent down to kiss him, and ran her fingers under his shirt and through the hair on his chest, her mane tickling his nose. She broke away. 'Are you really sure?'He smiled and removed his spectacles.Well, perhaps he would allow himself one distraction.WHERE THE SHADOWS LIE. Copyright © 2010 by Michael Ridpath. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Edition details

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0857891502
• ISBN 13: 9780857891501
• Binding: Paperback