Category: Mystery
Publisher: Picador
ISBN-13: 9780312428068
Series: Inspector Erlendur, #3
Pub. Date: September 2008
Date Read: December 2008
"The man was sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall. He was wearing a bright red Santa suit and still had the Santa cap on his head, but it had slipped down over his eyes. A large artificial Santa beard hid his face. He had undone the thick belt around his waist and unbuttoned his jacket. Beneath it he was wearing only a white vest. There was a fatal wound to his heart."
The Christmas season is anything but jolly for Inspector Erlendur who has been called out to the exclusive Reykjavik hotel after the doorman is found dead in his small room in the hotel basement.
Gudlaugur had been working at the hotel for ages but who would want to kill him. The way his body was found suggested that it could possibly be a sex crime but Inspector Erlendur's questions about the doorman only lead to dead ends. No one claims to have known him well and all from the chef and manager to the front desk assistant and housekeeping staff just want to get on with their job at this the busiest time of the year.
When Inspector Erlendur interviews an Englishman who is staying at the hotel he realizes that there is a lot more to Gudlaugur. The man, in his boyhood, had been a singing star. A choirboy with the voice of an angel but after one key performance his life is forever changed.
Erlendur "moves in" to the hotel to conduct his investigation but it's really more than that. His daughter, Eva Lind, is still struggling with her drug addiction and the season and this case brings back long buried memories for Erlendur.
While the tone of the story is sombre despite the season, more than in the other Erlendur novels there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for the Inspector. His co-workers reach out to him more and offer their friendship and the Inspector contemplates the thought of not being alone anymore.
Perhaps the only part that didn't work so well for me with this entry was the additional story line that one of the other detectives is following up with about a boy who was possibly hurt by one of his parents. I felt that this part intruded too much with the narrative and to me it didn't feel like it was necessary. Still, this is a very well written police procedural and a series that I will continue to follow.