cover image Chilled to the Bone

Chilled to the Bone

Quentin Bates. Soho Crime, $15.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-61695-330-0

Bates's third novel starring Icelandic Police Sergeant Gunna Gisladottir (after 2012's Cold Comfort) gives American readers the flavor of another place, but without a truly compelling storyline. Gunna is called in when the corpse of Johannes Karlsson, a haddock baron, is found in a Reykjavik hotel, tied to a bed. Bates reveals the reason for the bondage early on, showing an attractive con artist named Hekla luring another S&M client to a different hotel room, and stealing his money. Meanwhile news that three men and a woman who disappeared from Germany two years earlier have turned up dead in Libya reaches one of the minister's political advisor, leaving readers curious as to how these storylines connect. The author tosses in an ex-con muscleman nicknamed Bigfoot as well, but the ultimate resolution of the storylines is disappointing, and Gunna proves to be a rather bland lead. (Dec. 2013)