I'd say that the main strengths of this book are the character of Thora and the very confident plotting. The novel is stuffed full of delightful comic observations and witty asides, which I loved but I suppose must be one reason why it seemed long. I'd prefer to see the subsidiary characters more fleshed out than they are here, which would draw the reader more into their concerns and the dramas that are described. The faultless translation is by Bernard Scudder, who sadly died in 2007, and Anna Yates

My Soul to Take, published in Iceland in 2006, is a welcome second outing for the good-natured lawyer-sleuth Thóra Gudmundsdóttir...Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s lightness of touch is refreshing, and if her novels lack intensity, there are still scenes that chill the blood