Review: "The Body in the Bath," Ragnar Jónasson

 

Reykjavik police officer Helgi is in trouble. Bergbóra, his former girlfriend, is dead---and Helgi is accused of murdering her.

 

This is Helgi's third appearance, following Death at the Sanatorium and The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. He is a low-key guy who's obsessed with classic murder mysteries. Given his passive nature, it's not surprising he puts up with Bergbóra's alcoholic, violent rages. Or that he never told anyone except his psychotherapist about how she abused him. Or that he even kept paying the rent on the apartment they once shared even after he left her.

 

Helgi finally put his foot down when Bergbóra ran over his new girlfriend, Anita. Of course, the fact that Bergbóra murdered Anita makes Helgi a prime suspect in her death.

 

Before Helgi is taken into custody, he was continuing to investigate the disappearance of his predecessor, Hulda. (She is the main character in Jónasson’s “Hidden Iceland” series.) Bergbóra was found dead in her bathtub. By strange coincidence, Helgi was examining one of Hulda’s cases that also involved a corpse in a tub.

But he is interrupted in his work by two of his colleagues. Alexander seems convinced Helgi did it, but the younger Mani is keeping an open mind. After all, Bergbóra was a beast. Surely she had destroyed other lives along the way.

Jónasson is the master of the slow boil. He builds suspense with spare prose. Helgi’s plight is agonizing. He has a decent lawyer, but is that enough? He doesn’t always stand up for himself as he should, but the pressure is wearing on him. Will he break?

When the final revelation of the murderer’s identity is made, it is shocking, heartbreaking, and yet totally believable.

This is a gripping addition to a fine series.

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The Body in the Bath will be released on November 10, 2026. I read an advanced reader’s copy through NetGalley.