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2023: A notorious financier is found beaten to death after a high-profile reception at the President’s residence
Murder at the Residence
What you need to know before your trail
It’s New Year and Iceland is still reeling from the effects of the financial crash when a notorious financier is found beaten to death after a high-profile reception at the President’s residence.
The police are certain they have the killer – or do they? Determined to get to the truth, maverick lawyer Stella Blómkvist isn’t so sure.
A stripper disappears from one of city’s seediest nightspots, and nobody but Stella seems interested in finding her. A drug mule cooling his heels in a prison cell refuses to speak to anyone but Stella – although she’s never heard of him. An old man makes a deathbed confession and request for Stella to find the family he lost long ago.
With a sharp tongue and a moral compass all of her own, Stella Blómkvist has a talent for attracting trouble and she’s as at home in the corridors of power as in the dark corners of Reykjavík’s underworld.
Travel Guide
A tour of Reykjavik
Austurvöllur and Parliament
Where the protests took place in 2009 as Icelanders began to understand the scale of the financial crash. The Parliament building overlooks the Austurvöllur Square in the centre of the city – which is also surrounded by hotels, bars and restaurants, making this area Stella’s happy hunting ground when she has a night on the town.
Bessastaðir
The Presidential residence to the south of the city, which also has its own church where financier Benedikt Björgúlfsson was found beaten to death
Litla Hraun prison
This is where drug mule Robertas is cooling his heels, refusing to tell the police what brought him to Iceland, and pretending that he doesn’t speak any English.
Thingvallavatn
The lake an hour’s drive from Reykjavík which was the location of the country’s original Parliament back in the settlement era, now partly a national park and also something of a playgorund for the rich. This was where a road crash in 1983 triggered some of the tragic events that take place Murder at the Residence.
Borgarfjörður
The rural district north of Reykjavík where Ilona was held hostage in a remote farmhouse, until Stella and the police finally found her.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Murder at the Residence
Destination: Reykjavik Author/guide: Stella Blómkvist Departure Time: 2023
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