Last Rituals Yrsa Sigurdardottir Morrow $23.95 HC Oct 2007

Once you get past the gruesome death of history student, Harald Guntlieb, Last Rituals reads like a legal cozy and that's not a bad thing. Most legal work, like most police work involves reading, writing and interviewing. Attorney Thora Guomundsdottir is hired to work with Matthew Reich, a former policeman and now the security representative for the Guntlieb, banking family. The Guntlieb's, for personal reasons, believe the Icelandic police have the wrong person locked away. They want justice served but not at the expense of the innocent. They're more than willing to pay Thora an exorbitant fee for her legal advice and her ability to translate from Icelandic into German. It seems Harald was deeply involved with witchcraft, torture and the rituals and spell casting associated with sorcery, beyond his studies. He and some fellow students formed a club to perform these very things. Harald's mutilated body is found at the university. Thora and Matthew reconstruct Harald's last few weeks looking for some evidence that will let the jailed suspect free and point them to the truly guilty.

There's a nice easy flow to Ms. Sigurdardottir's story. Thora and Matthew work well together. The back stories are all nicely interwoven and develop even the minor characters very realistically. Last Rituals is a pleasant, change of pace from the legal thriller. Last Rituals definitely makes a nice addition on the 'foreign' mysteries shelf.

Dave Biemann