Having stayed in several hotels in Reykjavik over the years I never had any issues to write home about. Once I was asked to relocate to a bigger room because the heating packed up but I think it was a genuine reason, and not the sudden plan to refurnish the entire floor. Also, I was not familiar with the swanky Bristol Hotel (must be a totally new development) nor had any idea that there is such a serious publication as a manual for anxiety-ridden professional hotel managers. However, to be fair there had never been a reason for me to deal with disposing a body after a weird night. Ever. Hence my excitement to read The Hotel Manager’s Guide to Murder, written by Erlendur Arason and smoothly translated from Icelandic by the maestro of words Quentin Bates. The novel first appeared as an audiobook Leiðarvísir hótelstjóra að morði, published by Storytel last year in Iceland, and now it’s ready to smile enthusiastically to the English-speaking readers while firmly gripping their souls and pulling them into the money-and-power games behind Aurora Borealis, hot geysers and coach trips on that magical cold island.

Erlendur Arason is the new voice in the Icelandic dark crime fiction landscape, and a master of calm but determined storytelling as he turns mundane daily routines into nerve-wrecking string of tense events of the international proportions. Not that the main character Torfi Páll Sævarssson would have known about the extent of complicated criminal tentacles when he first used a word ‘everything’. Ages ago he had moved to Reykjavik from the north of the country and since then had worked in the hospitality industry. Day in, day out. Dutiful, reliable, quietly confident.

His fairly boring life consisted of very early mornings, unchanged tasks at work, constant financial worries, some family tensions (new wife and her two teenage sons, plus his daughter, slightly older than the boys, from the first marriage), and effectively ignoring regular ‘breakfast club’ outside the back door of the hotel building. That last thing he really approves of even if giving hot porridge and hot coffee to a group of homeless people is definitely not a part of the bigger management’s programme. Manuela, the breakfast chef, fights for the silent crowd’s rights to a life-affirming meal. 

But those who lost everything and had nothing still deserved to be fed, and to be seen. Hence Raggi and Láki get noticed and get attention, also from the dangerous baddies. That human aspect of the book is especially moving as it shows the author’s empathy and being in touch with the reality of what’s happening in a popular capital besieged by tourists and money. It also brings to mind Lilja Sigurðardóttir’s Áróra series and sharp societal observations.

Sudden promotion and unexpected climb from the near bottom of the employment’s food chain brought more money, additional responsibilities and an acute sense of unease, and then both guilt and fear as demands from the top managers escalated. Some still considered Torfi as a glorified waiter, others gossiped. The main players Ásbjörn and Sigríður accommodated Torfi’s gullibility / innocence and his practical ‘usefulness’ in their scheme, sorry, scam, that involved risky business deals, drugs and well, murder! The contrast between normality of ordinary existence and the attitude of ‘Everyone is expendable. All of us. The skill is in staying useful’ is brilliantly shown during the course of risky wintery period at the hotel when the staff is getting nervous and the guests have no clue whatsoever of any behind-the-scenes drama. There’s a touch of dark humour and hilarity in this extraordinary situation and confrontations with good cop – bad cop duo. That particular pair, Haukur and Dagny, follows different leads and motives as they search for the killer, and their uneasy relationship provides a solid background for much bigger crime.

Now I am looking forward to the next chapter of this story The Hotel Manager’s Guide to Murder: 1 (Reykjavík Shadows) and do hope that at least one person from the intriguing entourage will continue as a close friend to Torfi. Maybe in a different hotel, maybe up North. Enjoying a sandwich with decent Polish sausage or chatting with nice colleagues, and ‘addicted to peace of mind’. Fingers crossed it’s not in the same place.

I would recommend that you read the book and also check posts from the bloggers who are joining The Hotel Manager’s Guide to Murder blogtour.

Synopsis:

Guests at one of Reykjavík’s smartest hotels never know what happens behind the scenes, including what brings a group of down-and-outs to the Bristol Hotel every winter night while the rest of the world sleeps.

When overworked supervisor Torfi finds himself given an unexpected promotion that comes with a respectable pay rise, he takes it as a lucky break, until he’s told to make a murder victim disappear, and that he doesn’t have any choice. That’s when his life rapidly gets a lot more complicated. What isn’t he being told? Torfi doesn’t know, but when police officers Haukur and Dagný start asking awkward questions, he needs to find answers – even though he knows only half of the story.

Longing desperately to go back to his old, boring life, Torfi finds himself desperately out of his depth as his family are threatened and his problems spiral far out of his control.