Icelanders always address each other using first names, since most people have a patronymic rather than a “proper surname", ending in -son for a son and -dottir for a daughter. People are listed by first names even in the telephone directory. Strange as it may sound to the English ear, first names are therefore used throughout the police hierarchy and when police and criminals address one another. Erlendur’s full name is Erlendur Sveinsson, and his daughter is Eva Lind Erlendsdottir. Matronymics are rare, although Audur is specifically said to be Kolbrunardottir, “Kolbrun’s daughter". Some families do have traditional surnames, however, either derived directly from or else modelled on Danish, as a result of the colonial rule which lasted until early in the twentieth century. Briem is one of these traditional surnames, and as such it does not reveal the gender of the bearer — in the case of Marion Briem the ambiguous first name compounds this secondary mystery.

Reykjavik

2001

The words were written in pencil on a piece of paper placed on top of the body. Three words, incomprehensible to Erlendur.

It was the body of a man of about 70. He was lying on the floor on his right side, against the sofa in a small sitting room, wearing a blue shirt and fawn corduroy trousers. He wore slippers on his feet. His hair was starting to thin, almost completely grey. It was stained with blood from a large wound on his head. On the floor not far from the body was a big glass ashtray with sharp corners. It too was covered in blood. The coffee table had been overturned.