Well, Thora is still the same vain, stuck-up, dim-witted twit she was in the first book of this series. Fortunately the story and, especially the setting, make up for a lot of that in this book. A solid 3, maybe 3 1/2 stars.

Thora Gudmundsdottir has some problems. To wit they include (a) her son got his girlfriend pregnant (b) her two children hate spending time with their father (her e husband) because he plays the Icelandic version of Guitar Hero too much, (c) her secretary (d) her relationship with Matthew and, finally, (e) her client who is charged with a murder and who is considering legal action about a land deal because the place might be haunted.

Iceland is apparently like England in this regard.

The ghost is, of course, connected to the mystery of who killed the architect of Thora’s client’s hotel/spa/New Age Retreat, not to mention the guy who got stomped to death by an Icelandic Horse.

Thora also has a problem with the trailer she brought. She’s a bit rash that way.

And I think that is why this book actually works. Thora is just so weird and normal. She might live in Iceland but any reader will know at least one family like hers. The mystery itself does have to do with families and stories, so it too ties into the normalcy despite the almost craziness of the situation.

3,5.
Vel upp byggð glæpasaga. Flóra hinna grunuðu er skemmtileg og býður upp á margt, klárlega framför frá fyrri bók þar sem flestir hinna grunuðu tengdust sama einlita vinahópnum.
Þrjú morð liggja til grundavallar; eitt gamalt og tvö ný. Einn galli er sá að það er lítil stemning í kringum eitt nýju morðana - því á Eiríki árulesara - mér stóð svo gjörsamlega á sama um þann gæja og hef það á tilfinningunni að það eigi við um fleiri lesendur. Daðrið við kuklið og draugaganginn heillar. Húmorinn er skemmtilegur.

This is the second Thora book I've read and I liked it pretty well. The mystery was kind of all over the place and I think at a certain point, I stopped paying close enough attention for the resolution to fully make sense, but overall, pretty good. I like the main character, though if the author is going to advance the romance with Matthew, I think she probably needs to actually make it a BIT romantic. I'd probably read another, though.

Pitkästä aikaa vietin koko päivän kirjan parissa koska en vain malttanut laskea sitä käsistäni. Joku tämän kirjailijan kirjoitustavassa on sellaista, että sivut vain soljuvat eteenpäin ilman että kertaakaan tulee sellainen olo, että eikö tämä vieläkään lopu. Paikoitellen kirjan loppuratkaisu oli miltei arvattavissa, mutta historia motiivien taustalla oli sen verran kiinnostavaa, että mielenkiinto pysyi yllä loppuun saakka. Henkilöhahmot olivat enimmäkseen kiinnostavia ja hyvin toteutettuja, eikä toki haitannut että päähenkilöt olivat jo ennestään tuttuja aiemmasta Thora Gudmundsdottir kirjasta Kolmas merkki. Islanti on tapahtumapaikkana itselleni riittävän eksoottinen vaikka pohjoismaa onkin, joten myös se toi kirjaan oman sävynsä. Kaikin puolin maukas lukuelämys genrestä jota en ihan hirvittävän usein tule lukeneeksi.

3.5 stars

Another haunting mystery with Thora! I highly recommend these books if you want to "go" to Iceland and get the creeps along the way. Thora and Matthew make such a funny team.

I do like this protagonist, Thora Gudmundsdottir, very much. A very no-nonsense lawyer single-mother lady. Somehow I'm finding the mystery to be quite convoluted and just confounded me. I couldn't really understand exactly what's going on and how it all came out to untangled. Possibly because I got totally confused about the people and how they're connected to each other and therefore, who the baddie is. I sort of made sense of it at the end but it didn't make a very smooth reading for me. I'm still keen on continuing the series because as I said above, I do like this protagonist.