At a university in Reykjavík, the body of a young German student is discovered, his eyes cut out and strange symbols carved into his chest. Police waste no time in making an arrest, but the victim's family isn't convinced that the right man is in custody. They ask Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, an attorney and single mother of two, to investigate. It isn't long before Thóra and her associate, Matthew Reich, uncover the deceased student's obsession with...

"Top notch crime fiction." -Boston Globe American readers first met Icelandic lawyer and investigator Thóra Gudmundsdóttir in Last Rituals. In My Soul to Take, internationally acclaimed author Yrsa Sigurdardóttir plunges her intrepid heroine into even graver peril, in a riveting thriller set against the harsh landscape of Smila's Sense of Snow territory. A darkly witty and continually surprising suspense tale that places Yrsa Sigurdardóttir...

The murder was meant as a punishment - but what sin could justify the method? The only person who might have answers is the victim's seven-year-old daughter, who was found hiding in the room where her mother died. And she's not talking. Newly promoted, out of his depth, Detective Huldar turns to Freyja and the Children's House for their expertise with traumatized young people. Freyja, who distrusts the police in general and Huldar in particular, isn't...

Vaka sits, regretting her choice of coat, on the cold steps of her new school. Her father appears to have forgotten to pick her up, her mother has forgotten to give her this week's pocket money, and the school is already locked for the day. Grownups, she decides, are useless. With no way to call home, she resigns herself to waiting on the steps until her father remembers her. When a girl approaches, Vaka recognizes her immediately from class, and...