Search Cliffhangers
Search Cliffhangers
liffhangers Crime Fiction
C
Cliffhangers Crime Fiction
Books and videos for  mystery mavens
Books and videos for mystery  mavens
Recommendations
Links
Series Review
Icelandic Lawyer with Soul of New Yorker
Lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir, the heroine of the five mystery novels in the series that bears her name, takes everything in stride except boredom and being inappropriately dressed. When her clueless but innocent clients wind up in jail, Thora leaps at the opportunity to launch her own investigations and clear their names. She has piloted investigations in Iceland and Greenland.

If you're looking for an absorbing cozy set in an exotic location, try one of these.

This female legal eagle just cracks me up. Her sense of humor and intelligence keep her going when her investigations uncover dark doings and desperate people. Highly recommended to cozy fans and anyone looking for an engrossing murder mystery, a world-weary female hero and snappy dialogue.

Series Guide
Start at the beginning with Last Rituals (#1).

Book Summaries
Below, the detective novels in chronological order:

Last Rituals (2007, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #1)
Strange, sordid secrets of the super-rich and super-dysfunctional.
BUY
Read review

My Soul to Take (2009, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #2)
A spa weekend turns to murder.
BUY
Read review

Ashes to Dust (2010, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #3)
The long reach of dark family secrets
BUY
Read review

The Day is Dark (2011, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books  #4)
Mysterious happenings in a research camp in Greenland.
BUY
Read review

Someone to Watch Over Me
(2015, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #5)
A man with Downs Syndrome is wrongly convicted of murder.
BUY
Read review

Thora Gudmundsdottir Mysteries
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Cozy Series Set in Iceland
Book Reviews
Thora Gudmundsdottir Series
(From newest to oldest; Dates refer to publication in the US in English;
# refers to series order)
Above, from top to bottom:  
Fishing village in Iceland; Northern Lights as seen from Iceland; Glacier in Iceland
Iceland: Fishing Village
Iceland: Northern Lights
Iceland: Ice
Ashes to Dust (2010, Lawyer Thora #3)  by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Cliffhanger's 4 Heart Rating
Cliffhanger's 4 Heart Rating
My Soul to Take (2009, Lawyer Thora #2)   by Ysra Sigurdardottir
The Day is Dark (2011, Lawyer Thora #4)  by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Cliffhanger's 3 Heart Rating
Last Rituals
(2007, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #1)
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Translated to English by Bernard Scudder
BUY NOW

Love the story and the wise-cracking legal-eagle heroine.

Plus: Witchcraft, body piercings and ancient runes

Read summary
(Cozies. Female Hero. Private Investigators. Lawyer.  Set in Iceland.)
Cliffhanger's 5 Heart Rating
The Day is Dark
(2011, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books   #4)
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Translated to English by Philip Roughton
BUY NOW

My least favorite so far. Gloomier than usual because of milieu: dying village in Greenland. Mystery is less compelling than usual.

Read summary
(Cozies. Female Hero. Private Investigators.  Lawyer. Set in Iceland.)
Ashes to Dust
(2010, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books  #3)
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Translated to English by Philip Roughton
BUY NOW

Macabre and funny.

Plus: A trip to the Westerman islands
Plus: Volcano eruption
Plus: A head in a box

Read summary
(Cozies. Female Hero. Private Investigators. Lawyer. Set in Iceland.)
My Soul to Take
(2009, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books  #2)  
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Translated to English by Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates
BUY NOW

My favorite. Lots of interesting characters and a well-done haunted house story.

Plus: Ghosts, Nazis and New Age spa treatments

Read summary
(Cozies. Female Hero. Private Investigators. Lawyer. Set in Iceland.)
Last Rituals (2007, Lawyer Thora #1) by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Other mystery series set in Iceland:
Someone to Watch Over Me(2013, Thora Gudmundsdottir  #5) by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Someone to Watch Over Me
(2015, Thora Gudmundsdottir Mystery Books #5)
by Ysra Sigurdardottir
Translated to English by Philip Roughton
BUY NOW

NOT YET REVIEWED

Read summary
(Cozies. Female Hero. Private Investigators. Lawyer. Set in Iceland.)
Cozies
Indexes
Private Investigators
Cliffhangers' Favorites
Scandinavian Crime
Add this page to your favorites.
Tell a friend about this page