Jar City An Inspector Erlendur Novel [Paperback]

From Gold Dagger Award--winning author Arnaldur Indridason comes a Reykjav?k thriller introducing Inspector Erlendur

When a lonely old man is found dead in his Reykjav?k flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl's grave. Inspector Erlendur discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, but not convicted, of an unsolved crime, a rape. Did the old man's past come back to haunt him? As Erlendur reopens this very cold case, he follows a trail of unusual forensic evidence, uncovering secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man.

An international sensation, the Inspector Erlendur series has sold more than two million copies worldwide.

Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the book (pages 45), Erlendur says that being a detective means investigating the obvious whereas forensics handles the mysterious. Why do you think he might have said this? What makes forensic evidence more mysterious? If this is so, why do mysteries usually concentrate on the detective rather than the crime scene investigator?
2. Erlendur has a history of family difficulties, particularly with his daughter Eva Lind. Do you think that his past helps him as a detective or is it a distraction? What do you think motivates Erlendur, what drives him?
3. How would this story have been different if it were set in America instead of Iceland? Would the characters be different? Would the crime have been different? Would the investigation methods have been different? What about this case is peculiar to Iceland? What's different about an Icelandic murder?
4. On page 124, Erlendur's mentor Marion Briem told him about Holberg: Don't let him kill any part of you that you don't want rid of anyway. What do you think he meant? Why was it Holberg that Marion warned Erlendur about and not just the case in general? How could Holberg have that kind of power over him?
5. Given all that is rlS