Ragnar Jónasson quickly has become the foremost writer of Icelandic crime fiction. His latest release, DEATH AT THE SANATORIUM, is set within the fictional world he has created that typically features Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir. It bounces between 1983 and 2012 and reflects on investigations into mysterious deaths at a sketchy sanatorium in northern Iceland.

Helgi Reykdal elevates from criminology student and former police temp to lead investigator on the recently reopened sanatorium case. He is a super-fan of classic murder mysteries, and we are regaled up front with his five favorite titles: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD by Agatha Christie, THE DUTCH SHOE MYSTERY by Ellery Queen, PERIL AT END HOUSE by Agatha Christie, ENTER A MURDERER by Ngaio Marsh, and A PUZZLE FOR FOOLS by Patrick Quentin.

"Ragnar Jónasson’s novels are always enjoyable, and his admiration and respect for classic mystery writing is consistently evident in everything he does."

We meet Helgi when a policeman is called to his apartment for a disturbance. He has a rather boisterous relationship with his girlfriend, Bergthora. Officer Reimar recognizes Helgi from his time as a temp and laughs off the call knowing that they will be working together once he completes his studies. To do so, Helgi has become obsessed with the sanatorium murders of 30 years ago that he feels weren’t solved to anyone’s satisfaction.

We then jump back to 1983 and witness the homicides through the eyes of a nurse. Tinna first finds her boss, Yrsa, stabbed to death with two fingers cut off. Not long after, a senior doctor leaps to his death, which is also witnessed by Tinna. Prior to Fridjon’s apparent suicide, Tinna tells the lead investigator, Sverrir, that she suspects Broddi, an employee, and swears she saw blood on his pants. Broddi is questioned and imprisoned for a short period until Fridjon’s jump, which then makes Fridjon the likely suspect in Yrsa’s murder as he took his own life out of guilt.

Helgi does not wish to second-guess or step on Sverrir’s decades-old case, but his research keeps revealing that something and someone else had to have been behind it all. Under the guise of finishing his research paper and prior to officially joining the police department, Helgi meets with all those still around from the events in 1983 who are willing to speak with him. They include Broddi and the man who replaced Fridjon as director of the sanatorium, Thorri. Tinna refuses to speak with Helgi, which prompts him to show up at her home only to be told by her husband that she has nothing to say.

In the past, Tinna had complained to Sverrir about strange phone calls she had been receiving since the attacks. When he does a trace for her, he learns that they're coming from the sanatorium, where she no longer works. To bring everything full circle in this clever and twisty mystery, Hulda had been working as second in charge to Sverrir in 1983 and is the one in 2012 looking into the case again prior to retiring and making way for her replacement, Helgi.

A murder of one of the figures from the original case gets Helgi and his new colleagues moving, and the finale would certainly please Dame Agatha. Ragnar Jónasson’s novels are always enjoyable, and his admiration and respect for classic mystery writing is consistently evident in everything he does.