Cold Comfort

In British author Bates’s solid follow-up to 2010’s Frozen Assets, Gunnhildur “Gunna” Gísladóttir, now a sergeant with the Serious Crime Unit in Reykjavík, Iceland, looks into the murder of minor celebrity Svana Geirs, who hosted a TV fitness show and was intimately involved with various athletes and business figures. Meanwhile, Ómar Magnússon, a nasty piece of work doing a stretch in prison for murder, escapes and begins causing mayhem. A rare glimpse of modern-day Iceland with its small population, troubled economy, and global ties provides the backdrop for a tricky plot involving a strong cast of police characters led by the prickly Gunna. Bates, who lived 10 years in Iceland, has an unfortunate and distracting habit of abruptly changing scene, but he still manages to engage the reader as Gunna explores the prominent men who knew Svana and deals with Magnùsson’s carnage. (Jan.)