The Ice Princess

L%C3%A4ckberg arrives in the U.S. with a first-class mystery (the first in a series), making her the latest Swedish import of Scandinavian intrigue and murder. Erica Falck is an author of biographies who has come to the small coastal town of Fjallbacka to attend to the affairs of her recently deceased parents. While she's there, she comes across the body of an old childhood friend, Alexandra ("Alex") Wijkner, frozen in a bathtub, an apparent suicide. But when she is asked to write a tribute to her friend, Erica begins to suspect that the woman did not take her own life, a suspicion confirmed by the autopsy results that Alex was murdered. What follows is a subtle, character-driven, mystery that David Thorn presents with a calm, cool delivery, perfectly suited to the material. His characterizations are expressed simply, with no over-the-top theatrics, but he still manages to give each character his or her own unique voice while keeping the story moving at a measured, easy to follow pace. His pronunciation of the Scandinavian names and locations deserves special mention. A Pegasus hardcover. (Feb.)