Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jonasson: A review

This book has three timelines, 2012, 1983, and 1950, and the narrative goes back and forth among the three. The setting of the story is an old tuberculosis sanatorium in northern Iceland and it involves the murder of a nurse and the apparent suicide (or maybe it, too, was murder) of the chief physician in 1983. 

In 2012, a student named Helgi who is a lover of whodunits, has returned to Iceland after finishing his studies in the United Kingdom. He begins work on his Master of Arts dissertation on criminology and takes as his subject the murder and suicide (or possibly second murder) that took place at the sanatorium back in 1983. 

The murder was never actually solved. The detective assigned to the case, a man named Sverrir, was eager to close it as soon as possible and he arrested the facility's caretaker on the flimsiest of evidence. Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir had misgivings about her superior's action but did not have the authority to prevent it. A few days later the chief physician died in a fall at the sanatorium and Sverrir called it the suicide of the nurse's murderer. Case closed.

In his pursuit of research for his dissertation, Helgi contacts people who worked at the sanatorium to learn their memories and opinions about what happened in 1983. He follows leads that were never investigated by Sverrir and he learns that the man is now married to the nurse who had discovered both the deaths. Coincidence? Not likely!

Helgi is considering an opportunity to join the Reykjavik police department as Hulda's successor. He proves his worthiness for that position when he actually solves the decades-old mystery. 

This was an interesting and well-written mystery. I thought I had read books by Jonasson previously but it turns out I had him confused with another writer. He's now on my "read" list and I will likely return to him in the future.