White as Snow by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates #blogtour #extract #WhiteAsSnow #IcelandNoir #AnAroraInvestigation #RandomThingsTours #Orentober

Hi and welcome to FromBelgiumWithBookLove where it is my absolute pleasure to share with you an extract from White as Snow! Check out my review here if you missed it the first time around, but the long and short of it is, is that White as Snow is a thrilling ride, super addictive, fast-paced and atmospheric with a great sense of setting. And the finale is literally breath-taking! I would highly recommend it, as well as the previous books in this series.

Many thanks to Anne Cater for having me on the tour, and to Orenda Books for the excerpt.

Let’s have a quick look at the blurb first:

Daníel and Áróra hunt a brutal killer when a shipping container with the bodies of five women is found outside Reykjavik, as Áróra continues the search for her missing sister. Book three in the addictive, chilling An Áróra Investigation series.
On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive.
As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel’s former wife, and the connections don’t stop there…
Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.
As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone.
Atmospheric, twisty and breathtakingly tense, White as Snow is the third instalment in the riveting, award-winning An Áróra Investigation series, as crimes committed far beyond Iceland’s shores come home…

Ready? Okay, let’s head to Iceland!

Gylfi gazed over the group in front of him, his head rising and falling as if he was registering the reactions of those present. Most seemed appalled.

‘This investigation has been given top priority, which is why you have all been called in to work on it,’ he said. ‘The commissioner and I have decided that it calls for a substantial response, which can be scaled back if necessary, rather than the opposite approach. From this moment this is the only case you are working on. I’d like you all to list your current active cases and  send them to me. I’ll assign them to other teams.’

For the first time since Gylfi had starting speaking, a low murmur went around the room. People could get close to a case, even becoming emotionally attached, or, as the chief superintendent had been known to describe it, hanging on to it like a dog with a bone.

‘I will manage this investigation personally,’ he continued, ‘and will handle the media myself. I don’t need to emphasise to you the importance of maintaining discretion and sending any media questions in the right direction. There’s no doubt that news of the container will soon hit the front pages, but the fact that one of these women is alive is something we’ll keep to our- selves for as long as possible.’ 

Now almost everyone in the room was nodding in agreement. ‘The nature of this case means that there’s going to be all kinds of rumour and speculation, so we all need to take care not to add to the media madness.’

The chief superintendent fell silent and stepped aside, and the commissioner took his place.

‘I want to introduce our colleagues from the support departments,’ she said. ‘Most of you know each other already, but it’s  as well to be clear about who does what. First is Jóna, who is the forensic pathologist.’ The commissioner gestured to an older woman with a bun of grey hair who was sitting to one side. ‘Her role, as usual, is to establish the cause of death, and in this instance there is the task of identifying the deceased. She will be supported by the national police commissioner’s International Division, so I’d like to introduce Ari Benz Liu, chief superintendent of the International Division.’

Ari Benz stood up from his chair and raised a hand to indicate  who he was, which was hardly necessary as literally everyone in the room knew him. He had started as a young officer in uniform at the Hverfisgata station, and had climbed rapidly through the hierarchy; but he was best known for repeatedly  changing his name. He had managed to stretch Iceland’s strict laws around names more than anyone else Helena knew, and while he had met with a decisive refusal on the most recent occasion, he had got around it by simply informing his superiors and colleagues that he had taken the middle name Benz. The commissioner had decided that the force should be sympathetic to its officers’ cultural backgrounds, so allowed him to use the new name and to abandon the old one that Ari’s family were convinced came with a curse attached.

Ready for more? No problem: White as Snow is out now, get your copy directly from Orenda Books here!