All is quite on the Reykjavik University campus in the early morning until professor Gunnar Gestvik arrives to and discovers the mutilated body of German student Harald Guntlieb. The police officers quickly clear the scene and arrest a young man but Harald's family isn't so certain about the police's efforts and they contract Thóra Gudmundsdóttir to investigate the case.
Thóra is an up-and-coming attorney who with her law partner is trying to get their law firm off the ground. She isn't quite sure what she can do for the Guntlieb family but she knows that if she pulls off this project, the law firm is sure to gain more attention, and well the money offered is substantial too. As a divorced mother with two children the extra money will surely come in handy. She meets with Matthew Reich, a trusted friend of the Guntlieb's, to uncover more about Harald and what exactly he was doing in Iceland.
It turns out that Harald was pursuing studies about an ancient text on witchcraft, the Malleus Maleficarum. As Thóra and Matthew dig deeper into Harald's life they uncover that Harald's lifestyle was out of the norm and the list of suspects grows. And, more importantly they uncover the family secrets that led Harald to pursue the truth in Iceland.
Along with the investigation we have Thóra dealing with her growing attraction to Matthew, which is reciprocated. The author does a good job of setting up the beginning of the novel and giving the reader a clear picture of the students and university life.
I didn't find this novel as dark as I would have expected given the subject matter and the tone of other Scandinavian novels I've read yet I was still caught up in the story. I hope that the next book in the series will continue to weave more of Iceland's history and customs in the stories.
Added 12/07