Description:

When the editors at Reykjavik-based* The Afternoon News *decide to expand the newspaper into northern Iceland—with their crime writer Einar as its sole reporter on location—the journalist feels as though he has stepped back in time. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the capital, where the nation’s economic and social crises rear their heads on a daily basis, the small town of Akureyri feels slow, quiet, and terribly old-fashioned. So it’s only fitting that one of Einar’s first assignments is to cover a college theater production of *Loftur the Sorcerer*, an Icelandic folktale of ambition and greed. But that supposedly ancient history becomes ominously relevant when a local woman dies after falling overboard during a corporate boating retreat. All evidence indicates an accident, but when the victim’s mother cries foul play, kindhearted Einar agrees to investigate. Just days later, the lead actor in *Loftur* vanishes, leaving the locals reeling—and Einar unconvinced that a single village could be so accident prone. Keenly perceptive and hungry for the truth, Einar begins to chip away at the quaint small-town facade, uncovering a tangled web of power and greed that threatens to devour the historic community for good. ** ### Review "There is a lot to like in *Season of the Witch* . . . the mystery is solid, the Icelandic setting well-conveyed, and the characterization more rounded than a typical crime novel" -- *Petrona* ### About the Author Arni Thorarinsson grew up in Reykjavik, Iceland, channeling his childhood interests in film, music, and writing into a career as a journalist. He cofounded and edited Iceland’s first independent weekly, and covered stories big and small, local and international, for the nation’s largest magazine and the weekend editions of two major newspapers. In addition to print journalism, he has worked regularly in radio and television. In the mid-1990s, he stumbled upon a penchant for writing screenplays and crime novels, including Blue Moon, The Seventh Son, and Angel of the Morning. Season of the Witch was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize.