If you have met Óskar Guðmundsson at a book festival, maybe at Granite Noir, CrimeFest or Newcastle Noir in the UK, or on his home turf in Reykjavík at Iceland Noir, you would know that he is a charming friendly sweetness-and-light type of man, allowing darkness to enter his books. Easy to talk with and definitely artistic, crating beautiful images of some familiar and surprising themes. You can follow him on Instagram Tinnamyndir and read more here (Google translate might help) from which I used the photo below.

Music is also important for Óskar who says: ’I listen a lot to music while I write, and choose what to listen to depending on what kind of chapters or scenes I’m writing. For the more laid-back chapters I go for softer music such as Shade Shade or GDRN and for the action chapters I need something with a harder beat, and listen a lot to Kaleo’

In November 2021 The Dancer was published in Iceland. It tells of a young man Tony, always been on the losing side in life. He was brought up by his troubled, alcoholic mother who had a past of her own as a talented ballerina, until a life-changing accident brought her dreams to a sudden end. As her own ambitions for fame and success were crushed, she used cruel and brutal methods to project them onto her young son – with devastating consequences. There is also a case handed to veteran detective Valdimar, supported by Ylfa taking her tentative first steps as a police officer with the city’s CID while coping with her own family difficulties. The duo search for a vicious killer after a discovery made on Reykjavík’s Öskjuhlíð hillside revealed that the body found has been there for a long time.

‘The way the idea for The Dancer came to me was quite special, and let’s say that it pushed its way into my head. We had been spending time in the countryside and I was driving back to the city in the evening, with the family asleep in the car. I switched on the radio and there was a Rolling Stones song playing, and all of a sudden I had an image of a young man ballet dancing to the song. Forty-five kilometres later, I parked the car outside our house and I had practically the whole story in my mind so the first thing I did was to jot down its outline. It was almost unbelievable that nearly the whole time I was working on it, I knew where the story was going. I’ve often thought how great it would be – and how convenient – if every idea could come floating through the air without having to be persuaded.

With this idea I knew right away that it would not take place in the present day. I was delighted because I had thought over whether it would be interesting to write a story set before the age of computers. It’s challenging but also satisfying to get to grips with a story that doesn’t have any of those gadgets. Another reason for setting the story at that time, 1983, is that this was precisely when I was a teenager and knew the centre of Reykjavík very well. It was fantastic to be able to travel back in time, revisiting all those places and the shops that aren’t there any longer. All the research work was great fun, as it meant checking on the clothes fashions of the time, what kitchen appliances were in use, and so on. At that time microwaves were the latest thing, and I enjoyed allowing this technology to irritate my detective, Valdimar, although his wife loved it.’

The Dancer was an immediate bestseller, released during Jólabókaflóð or book flood simultaneously as an eBook, audiobook and paperback. It was accompanied by an original song in which Óskar’s words have been put to music featuring some of Iceland’s leading musicians Daniel Agust, Bomarz, Doctor Victor: Dansarinn. Now this first instalment of a new series will be available in English from 5^th January 2024, published by Corylus Books. Óskar Guðmundsson is delighted: ‘I have a great relationship with my translator Quentin Bates, and we are good friends. I’m fortunate he’s so good at what he does, and our conversations aren’t that often about how to translate this or that. When we need to discuss anything to do with a translation, it’s normally about passages that need some attention, or to do with people’s names and that kind of detail. It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to relax, knowing that the book is in good hands.’

Óskar Guðmundsson keeps writing and creating: ‘The next story in the trilogy has been published in Iceland and it’s called The Puppet Master. In The Dancer we got to know that Ylfa was struggling with family problems, and in The Puppet Master we get to find out more about that. She and Valdimar are given a case to investigate that involves hostel for boys in Hvalfjörður, as those connected to the place begin to disappear one by one. The investigation touches on a ten-year-old murder case that was never solved, when young siblings were found murdered and tied beneath a buoy in Reykjavík harbour. The story takes on how society dealt with youngsters who found themselves excluded from the mainstream and who were sent to these hostels, with horrific consequences. It also deals with an eternal problem here in Iceland, of the personal relationships and nepotism that have led to a great deal of corruption within government.’

Gleðileg jól!