An art expert joins a detective to investigate a horrific murder on a Swedish island, leading them to a mystery rooted in Viking rites and Scandinavia's deepest, darkest winter. The Queen of French Noir returns with a chilling, utterly captivating gothic thriller, based on a true story. FIRST in the The Lidingö Mysteries series.

‘Scarier than anything … a dark, dark slice of atmospheric Scandi Noir’ Heat
Heat magazine *Book of the Month*

‘The pace steadily accelerates as Gustawsson orchestrates her plot with breathless ingenuity. A successful page-turner from a rising star’ Financial Times

‘Gustawsson’s writing is so vivid, it’s electrifying’ Peter James

** Winner of the Livre de Poche Readers Crime of the Year and Cultura Ligue de l’Imaginaire Award**

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Don’t

Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.

Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide?

Trust

As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants.

When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key?

Anyone

Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…

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PRAISE FOR JOHANA GUSTAWSSON

‘Remember her name. Johana Gustawsson has become a leading figure in French crime fiction [and] Yule Island is impossible to put down’ Le Monde

‘Wonderfully dark and intricately woven … will have you hooked from the very first page’ B A Paris

‘Johana Gustawsson has become the queen of the French thriller genre’ Le Point

‘Intriguingly dark and vivid, and so cleverly told’ Essie Fox

`A gripping story of murder and black magic …Gustawsson slowly weaves together three seemingly disparate strands of her narrative with a skill that shows why she is such an admired crime writer in her native France´ The Times

‘A wonderfully creepy, unsettling read, with a superb twist in its tail‘ James Oswald

‘Bewitching and wonderfully gothic’ Sunday Express

‘Johana Gustawsson brilliantly illuminates the depths of the human heart’ Le Figaro

`A whirlpool that draws you irresistibly into levels of darkness so much deeper than you can possibly be ready for´ Ambrose Parry

‘Ethereal, romantic and as cold as death, this nerve-shattering and powerful novel immerses us in a cruel and thrilling Nordic tale where love smashes against the rocks of madness’ La Fringale culturelle

‘A stunning and beautifully written gothic thriller’ Alexandra Benedict

‘Johana Gustawsson has no equal when it comes to hooking us with stunning twists and unexpected leaps in time’ Les Echos

'A bold and intelligent read' Guardian

'Utterly compelling' Woman's Own

`Brilliant … the last chapters knocked me sideways, and it’s a long time since that’s happened´ Lisa Hall

`A dark world of elegance and grotesque … mesmeric´ Matt Wesolowski

'Cleverly plotted, simply excellent' Ragnar Jónasson

'A must-read' Daily Express