Inspector Erlendur Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Erlendur Books

Chronological Order of Inspector Erlendur Books

Inspector Erlendur series is a series of murder mystery books which features the character named Erlendur Sveinsson, his colleagues Elinborg and Sigurdur oli and his mentor Marion. Inspector Erlendur is the protagonist of this novel series written by the author Arnaldur Indridason. The series of novel revolves around the country Iceland which is full of drug addicts and violent fellows.

The author Arnaldur Indridason is crime fiction writer whose books are published in 26 different countries and in 21 different languages. The author has received many awards and appreciation for his books. His most famous work of all time is series of 12 books featuring Inspector Erlendur as central character, out of which, the 9 books have been translated in English, and which won him many appreciation from Americans for his amazing work. The author also introduces the personal life of the characters in the novel which spice up the things and also gives poignant touch to the novel which grasps the attention of reader.

Inspector Erlendur is radiant cop but anti social by nature. He is all dim, depressing and likes to remain detached from the world due to his personal issues. When he is not solving the case, he is seen reading the books in his library. The author has created the character of Erlendur mysterious. Slowly and gradually as novel progresses different shades of character of Erlendur comes into picture. Erlender is Introvert; and doesn’t share his personal life and problems with anyone. Due to some tragedy in past, he always gets haunted dream which is related to his childhood memories.

In the series of novel Inspector Erlendur is seen solving the different murder and mystery cases. But apart from all this he has own problems with which he struggles his whole life, which is also featured in the series. During his childhood days he lost his brother during the snowstorms and till date he considers himself responsible for the whole incident. Later it is revealed that due to this fact he gets haunted dreams which don’t let him have a sigh of relief. So he spent his most of time in reading about the case and don’t give time to his family and friends. He doesn’t have any personal and social life. His marriage failed many years ago due to his behavior. After many years when he goes to the annual pilgrimage for search of case at that time he felt culpable for the lack of concern he had done to his children. As the series continues we also come across the characters of his children Eva, Lind and Sindri who are now adults and have their own problems. Owing to this he gets in to trouble all the days due to his drug addicted children who beats him for money and always complains about being deserted when they were young and needed him the most.

Inspector Erlendur is equally annoying as well as appealing. Due to some reason which is related with his past he disappeared, at that time his colleagues take the major role in the book. Due to his behavior he also irritates his collogue. But at the end of the day they know that he is best in his work and they support him in each and every manner as possible.

The very first novel of this saga which was translated in English in 2004 was the “Jar city” which was originally released in 2000 made the writer famous all over the world and the novel was best seller of all time. From Jar city the American readers get introduced to the new writer who has created sensation in field of writing. It has caught the attention of readers due to its extraordinary skill of writing crime fiction with thrilling twist and turns. Later a film was adapted from this novel in 2006 which features the case of murder of old man linked with the rape case of girl 30 years ago. The inspector Erlendur works together with his team to put all the pieces of case together to solve the mystery of case. The author also won glass key award for best Nordic crime novel in 2002 for jar city.

The novel silence of the grave which was translated in English in 2005 appears as the second novel of Erlendur translated in English. In this novel the story revolves around the Erlendur daughter Eva who is drug addict and Erlendur tries to save her in that he find the body on the grave. The body is quite very old and Inspector Erlendur is all set to solve the mystery regarding the body. At the end readers will get many surprises and secrets revealed in the novel. The novel got glass key award in 2003 as well as it received gold dagger award in 2005.

Apart from this two best seller novels 7 more are translated in English which has many interesting twist and turns which will thrill the reader. All his books provide the information regarding the Icelandic culture, nature of people, commercial greed and much more. One of the novels also features the genetic disease and how people’s life changes due to the disease. Also apart from Inspector Erlendur his colleague Elinborg also catches the attention of reader in one of the novel where readers will be charm with her excellent way of solving the case. Also her personal life is explored in that novel. In another novel Sigurdur oli his colleague turns the spotlight towards him with his skills. In this novel it depicts how corporate greed makes people blind which led to murder.

The latest release in 2014 is “strange shores” which feature around the women’s disappearance. This novel includes the mystery of women who has buried many secrets in herself. And in the hunt of that case many other secrets of his personal life which is related to his past memories is revealed. In this novel during his hunt for women he is also looking for his long lost brother. This novel is beautifully written which is different from all the novels author has written till date. Apart from thrill it also has emotional element which will touch the reader. Two more is on the way to be translated to English.