View source for Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates

{{infobox1
|title=Chilled to the Bone
|author=Quentin Bates
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=The third book in the Officer Gunnhildur series would read well as a standalone but equally well as part of the series.  Good characters, great sense of location and twisty plot.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=268
|publisher=Constable and Robinson
|date=April 2013
|isbn=978-1472100849
|website=http://graskeggur.com/
|cover=1472100840
|aznuk=1472100840
|aznus=1472100840
}}

It would have been embarrassing for the shipowner to be found tied to his bed in one of Reykjavik's smartest hotels, abandoned in the middle of an obvious bondage session, but he was past caring.  Death was from natural causes.  It would have been easy for Sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir to write this off as an unfortunate accident, but instinct told her that things were not quite as they seemed.  Some discreet questioning around the hotels in the city brought to light several similar incidents, with the victims relieved of their credit cards and cash and grateful to keep everything quiet.  It's ''almost'' benign crime, but then some disturbing connections came to light.

A local criminal has recently returned to Iceland, after being 'in security' elsewhere.  This ''obviously'' had no connection with the government laptop which had gone missing.  Quite why retrieving it was so important no one seemed to be in a position to say, but whatever Gunna did, whatever questions she asked, the gangster and the missing laptop seemed to be involved.  It's not that she was being distracted by anything either - well, apart from the fact that her son seemed to have been procreating just a little bit ''too'' enthusiastically.

I love this series.  Gunna is a normal woman.  Her past hasn't always been wise or easy and she doesn't get to trade on being beautiful, but she's always made the most of what she's been blessed with and she works hard at her job.  Miraculously for anyone in the fictional police forces of the world she gets on with her boss and her colleagues and doesn't seem to have an alcohol problem.  It's set in a very believable Iceland too - post banking crisis and with an economy which has to keep looking over the edge to see if it's still in freefall.

It's also the sort of plot which settles you back and convinces you that you know exactly where it's going and why - only to slide a surprise in on the sly.  This is the third book in the series but each reads well as a standalone - there is an underlying and continuing background story but reading the books out of order wouldn't be a major disadvantage.  If you do prefer to start at the beginning then [[Frozen Out by Quentin Bates|this]] is the first book in the series.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

For more from Iceland we can recommend [[Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason]].

[[Quentin Bates Officer Gunnhildur Icelandic Mysteries in Chronological Order]]

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