Dead Sweet

When a celebrated government official is found dead after his surprise birthday party, a young police officer uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives. Icelandic politician Katrí n Jú lí usdó ttir's award-winning debut – first in a breathtaking series…

**Winner of the Blackbird Award for Best Icelandic Crime Debut**

`A breathtaking thriller from one of Iceland’ s most exciting new voices’ Eva Bjö rg Æ gisdó ttir

`So chilling´ Heat magazine

`Katrí n Jú lí usdó ttir skilfully weaves together intense family dynamics, dark pasts and criminal endeavours in this masterful narrative´ Lilja Sigurð ardó ttir

`A sophisticated, multi-layered thriller … a series with great potential´ Financial Times

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A murder is just the beginning…

When ó ttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss. It isn’ t until young police officer Sigurdí s finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging.

As ó ttar’ s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when Sigurdí s finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account.

Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in Sigurdí s’ s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…

Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of unexpected twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, kicking off an addictive, chilling new series.

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`Exceptional and realistic characters … Dead Sweet hooks you in from the very first page and keeps you there until the unexpected ending´ Blackbird Award judges: Yrsa Sigurð ardó ttir, Ragnar Jó nasson and Bjarni Þ orsteinsson

`Delve into a world of corruption, power and a rising body count in one of your new favourite noir series’ B.S. Casey

`A very welcome addition to the growing number of writers of Icelandic Noir … many twists and turns until all is revealed´ TripFiction

`An excellent debut thriller with a highly original storyline´ SÆ unn Gí sladó ttir, The Reading Room

What readers are saying…

`I devoured it in two sittings. I honestly cannot believe that it’ s a debut´

`Intelligent, suspenseful and totally gripping´

`Expertly reveals secrets in a way that kept my eyes glued to the page´

`Jú lí usdó ttir spins a cracking tale and keeps the revelations and teasers unwinding´

`Another fabulous piece of Icelandic noir, with a fabulous cast of characters and a truly absorbing story´

`Dark, chilling and twisty … I couldn’ t put it down´

`Breathtakingly unnerving’

`What an ending!´

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language a new profession as a seaman and a family, before decamping en masse for England. He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism, largely by accident. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice which have been published worldwide. He has translated all of Ragnar Jó nasson’ s Dark Iceland series.

Katrí n received the Blackbird Award, an Icelandic crime-writing prize, for her first novel, Dead Sweet in 2020. Her debut novel was reviewed well by critics and hit the best-selling lists in the first weeks after publication. Katrí n has a political background and was a member of Parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to Parliament, Katrí n was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector, as well as the Managing Director of a student union during her uni years. She worked from a young age in the fishing industry, as a store clerk and took nighttime shifts at a pizza place. She studied Anthropology and has an MBA from Reykjaví k University. She was raised in Kó pavogur, about 15 minutes' drive from downtown Reykjaví k. She now lives in the neighbouring town of Garð abæ r with her family. She is married to author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing. They have four boys.

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language a new profession as a seaman and a family, before decamping en masse for England. He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism, largely by accident. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice which have been published worldwide. He has translated all of Ragnar Jó nasson’ s Dark Iceland series.

Katrí n received the Blackbird Award, an Icelandic crime-writing prize, for her first novel, Dead Sweet in 2020. Her debut novel was reviewed well by critics and hit the best-selling lists in the first weeks after publication. Katrí n has a political background and was a member of Parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to Parliament, Katrí n was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector, as well as the Managing Director of a student union during her uni years. She worked from a young age in the fishing industry, as a store clerk and took nighttime shifts at a pizza place. She studied Anthropology and has an MBA from Reykjaví k University. She was raised in Kó pavogur, about 15 minutes' drive from downtown Reykjaví k. She now lives in the neighbouring town of Garð abæ r with her family. She is married to author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing. They have four boys.