Prime Minister Co-Authors A Crime Novel With Ragnar Jónasson

Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir have co-authored a crime novel, reports RÚV.

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The book by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir will be called ‘Reykjavík’—the crime story will be published on October 25. According to Ragnar’s Facebook post, the plot of the book takes place in Reykjavík in 1986.

Katrín spoke about the plans to write a book with Ragnar in a radio interview two years ago. But the pandemic has put these plans on hold. A year later, Ragnar mentioned that he and Katrín had started to write a book together in an interview with the Times.

“In August 1956, a young girl, Lára Marteinsdóttir, disappears from her home in Viðey. For decades, Lára’s case rests heavily on the Icelandic people, it is regularly recounted in the media without anything coming out that explains her fate. In August 1986, however, a young journalist at Vikublaðin starts digging into this mysterious disappearance—with unforeseen consequences,” writes Ragnar on Facebook.

‘Reykjavík’ is, therefore, a book that invites the readers to travel back in time when the city celebrates its 200th anniversary, Bylgjan and Stöð 2 are going on air, and the Reagan- Gorbachev’s summit is just around the corner. “This summer we also get unexpected clues about the fate of Lára Marteinsdóttir,” writes Ragnar.

For years, Ragnar has been one of Iceland’s most popular crime authors. Katrín wrote her BA thesis about Icelandic crime stories.