Title:	The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer
	Author:	Ragnar Jónasson
	Published:	September 9, 2025, Minotaur Books
	No. of Pages:	320
	Cover Price:	$29.00 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle, 17.71 Audio Book

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It’s always fun to read a mystery with a foreign culture that is interesting and unique. Such is the case with The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, by bestselling Icelandic author, Ragnar Jónasson. Elín S. Jónsdóttir is a bestselling crime writer, actually the most famous writer in Iceland. He has written a series that consists of 10 novels. She is 60 now, unmarried, and still in constant contact with her friends from high school. Although Elin rarely does interviews, she does do one with a journalist with the caveat that it be published after death. Now Elin is missing, and a young detective, Helgi, is investigating. Readers will meet all of Elin’s friends and experience unexpected scenarios, wondering if the missing writer is still alive.

Jónasson is an excellent storyteller, and the Icelandic culture comes through, making the story delightful and fun, albeit building suspense and a feeling that something has been left out. Helgi, the protagonist, is very likeable – he loves books and inherited a bookshop from his father, which he loved. He has just broken up with his long-time violent and horrible girlfriend, and has met a wonderful girl that he may want to marry. The characters seem like real people, and are very well developed.

The novel is fun to read, but the audio book is absolutely spellbinding, and the narrators are excellent and bring the novel to life. This mystery is actually a cozy, but the suspense will keep readers on the edge. Readers will want to pick up the subsequent novel, since the dénouement leaves a dangling question.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.