Blood, sharks and polar bears! Don’t worry, Kalmann is on the case
Kalmann – the blurb
Kalmann is the self-appointed Sheriff of Raufarhöfn. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays bait in the sea ― to catch the gigantic Greenland sharks he turns into the Icelandic fermented delicacy, hákarl. There is nothing anyone need worry about. Kalmann has everything under control. Inside his head, however, the wheels sometimes spin backwards. One winter, after he discovers a pool of blood in the snow, the swiftly unfolding events threaten to overwhelm him. But he knows that his native wisdom and pure-hearted courage will see him through. There really is no need to worry. How can anything go wrong with Kalmann in charge? He knows everything a man needs to know about life – well almost.
There’s been a murder! Or has there?
I nabbed this at the airport on my way home from Iceland. Yes I’m name dropping. I loved reading the place names I had just visited although had never got round to trying hakarl (fermented shark!) The book is told from Kalmann’s perspective so you are never entirely sure what exactly is going on. Has there been a murder or simply a disappearance? Is a polar bear really to blame or were money problems behind a sudden businessman’s disappearance? As the book goes on, it becomes less about the missing man and more about Kalmann. Will he get to visit his grandad again? Will he catch a shark? Kiss a girl? I loved Kalmann as a protagonist and thought Schmidt wrote him and the way the other characters interacted with him really well.
Most snow covered noir comes from Scandanaiva and it was refreshing to read something a bit different. Just as Kalmann himself is a bit different. It’s not a page turning thriller but it’s engrossing nevertheless. And warmhearted. For a murder(?) mystery set in Iceland.
