Stop Dead

When detective-in-training Sigurdís interrupts her studies in the US to return to Iceland, after discovering that the investigation into her abusive father’s death has been dropped, she’s plunged into a completely new case when a controversial TV personality is murdered during the Reykjavík Marathon.

Icelandic detective-in-training Sigurdís is studying criminal psychology in the US, but her plans are thrown into disarray when she discovers that her boss and mentor, Garðar, has been fired from Reykjavík CID over his investigation into Sigurdís’s father’s death. 

Returning to Iceland to deal with the fallout, Sigurdís finds herself pulled into a disturbing case: controversial TV personality Olga Einars has been stabbed to death during the Reykjavík Marathon. Struggling to locate a runner waring the number 1407, who was seen near the murdered woman during the race, the police soon discover that several masked runners were wearing the same number.  

As the mystery deepens, Sigurdís and her fellow detective Unnar soon learn exactly how unpopular Olga was – not just with the interviewees she humiliated on live TV, but with her own son, her business partner, a widower who insists that she had a hand in his wife’s death, and her ex-husband, who died in suspicious circumstances thirty years ago…

As her exploration into Olga’s past becomes ever darker and more harrowing, Sigurdís must also face the truth about her own father, while searching for an attacker who will go to any lengths to cover up their crimes…

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Praise for Dead Sweet

**Winner of the Blackbird Award for Best Icelandic Crime Debut**  

‘A breathtaking thriller from one of Iceland’s most exciting new voices’ Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

‘So chilling’ Heat magazine

‘Katrín Júlíusdóttir skilfully weaves together intense family dynamics, dark pasts and criminal endeavours in this masterful narrative’ Lilja Sigurðardóttir

‘A sophisticated, multi-layered thriller … a series with great potential’ Financial Times

‘Exceptional and realistic characters … Dead Sweet hooks you in from the very first page and keeps you there until the unexpected ending’ Blackbird Award judges: Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Ragnar Jónasson and Bjarni Þorsteinsson
 
‘Delve into a world of corruption, power and a rising body count in one of your new favourite noir series’ B.S. Casey
 
‘A very welcome addition to the growing number of writers of Icelandic Noir … many twists and turns until all is revealed’ TripFiction

‘An excellent debut thriller with a highly original storyline’ Sæunn Gísladóttir, The Reading Room
 
What readers are saying…
 
‘I devoured it in two sittings. I honestly cannot believe that it’s a debut’ 

‘Intelligent, suspenseful and totally gripping’

‘Expertly reveals secrets in a way that kept my eyes glued to the page'

‘Júlíusdóttir spins a cracking tale and keeps the revelations and teasers unwinding’

‘Another fabulous piece of Icelandic noir, with a fabulous cast of characters and a truly absorbing story’

‘Dark, chilling and twisty … I couldn’t put it down’

‘Breathtakingly unnerving’

‘What an ending!’