"VOICES" by Arnaldur Indridason (B+)

This 2003 Arnaldur Indridason Icelandic murder mystery predates the previously reviewed "The Draining Lake" by a year. Of the two, "The Draining Lake" is clearly the better novel with a more interesting plot. However, this is not to say that "Voices" doesn't have its own strengths with its story about a murdered Santa with a curiously lost childhood mirrored by another case being being pursued by Elínborg against a father for the possible abuse of his young son.

Both of these plots dovetail emotionally with Detective Erlendur's own lost childhood after his younger brother was ripped from his arms in an avalanche and swept to his death. The body was never found again, and even after the passage of many years Erlendur still goes out to the area of the avalanche in a pathetically futile search for the remains of his lost brother.

All of the same characters are in place, but many of the relationships are less well developed. Like other mystery authors, Indridason pens his novels in chronological order so that his characters tend to become more life like. This adds to the interest of each story because the emotional interaction of the characters builds as time goes on. Their increasingly interconnected histories add depth and nuance to the plot almost as if they are real people who happen to live in another city, Reykjavik, Iceland, in this instance.

The flaw from my perspective is that many of the crime elements in this novel deal with the more unseemly aspects of life. A lonely, middle-aged Santa was found murdered in his hotel living quarters with the murder having taken place during a sex act. Overtones of pedophilia and child pornography waft through the main plot while themes of child abuse, dysfunctional families, prostitution, hotel theft, and drugs course through the minor plots. That much of this takes place behind the scenes in a supposedly high class Reykjavik hotel is even more disturbing.

Another minor complaint is that at the very last moment a previously unknown culprit is pulled like a rabbit out of a hat, leaving all of my suspicions in the dust. I am not fond of these deux ex machina plot resolutions. Nevertheless, credit still has to be given to the author for his fine writing and what certainly has to be called one of the more unusual stories that I have run across in my reading.

The story starts with Detectives Elínborg and Sigurdur Óli being called to a prominent Reykjavik hotel where the Christmas Santa has been found murdered in a small room in the basement. The obese hotel manager wants to hush the investigation in his efforts not to cause a scene and frighten any of the guests who are flocking to Iceland to celebrate the holidays.

Ösp, the hotel cleaning maid, had discovered the body of Gudlaugur, known as "Gulli" to the hotel employees, in his small room in the back of the hotel basement. He had also served as the hotel doorman and had been employed in that capacity for two decades. Gulli had no known friends and lived quietly by himself. Nothing was known about his family, or even if he had any relatives living nearby.

Detective Erlendur arrives late at the scene of the crime and decides to move into one of the empty hotel rooms during his investigation. The pain of spending another Christmas alone in his flat makes his residency in a popular hotel an appealing idea.

His investigation uncovers a hotel staff as dysfunctional as his own family.
The head chef, the manager, and the reservations clerk are all at odds with each other, and the murder investigation only deepens the gulf between them. Everyone is a suspect when it develops that Gulli was killed by a knife from the kitchen and that the hotel manager was planning to fire Gulli and kick him out of his basement room. Even the guests come under suspicion because of a personal note reminding Gulli of a meeting with a "Henry" at 6:30 pm.

The facade of the hotel's respectability begins to crumble when rumors are alleged about the possible filching of food from the kitchen and payoffs for allowing prostitutes to frequent the premises. Even Erlendur's own daughter, Eva Lind, is assumed to be a prostitute when she stops by for a late night visit with her estranged dad.

None of the hotel staff enjoys being under suspicion and they are even less pleased to have swab samples taken from their mouths for DNA testing. However, this laborious process becomes almost pleasant for the lonely Erlendur when he meets the head technician who is taking these swab samples. Something clicks and his heart begins to defrost every time he sees the comely Valgerdur stop by the hotel to continue her testing. 2003, 2006 English translation by Bernard Scudder, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur, 313 pages.