Something in common

The Girl by the Bridge (2018) is another in a series of fine mystery novels by the Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason.

There are three different mysteries from three different periods that would appear unconnected, yet have common threads.

In the present there is the drug death of a young woman who had been involved in smuggling drugs. Was she murdered? Was it accidental? Was it suicide? Danni has lived with her grandparents, who seemed to have taken excellent care of her. So why had she hated them?

The novel's title refers to a girl whose body had been found near a bridge years earlier. Her doll was found nearby. Her death was called accidental at the time, and records tell very little. Konrad, a former cop, wonders if she might have been murdered. Meanwhile, Danni's grandparents ask him to look into the death of their granddaughter.

At the same time Konrad has his own personal mystery that has bothered him since his youth. What kind of man was his father? Who had murdered him so many years ago? And why?

Indridason shifts his focus from one case to another and back again, gradually revealing what all three have in common.

American readers will be challenged by many of the names in the novel. This is not a book you will probably want to read aloud to somebody else. When you read this fine story to yourself, however, you are allowed to skim over the names.