{"id":8711,"date":"2017-01-31T12:53:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T17:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=8711"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:13:10","slug":"jar-city-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8711","title":{"rendered":"Jar City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jar City<\/a><\/em> (2000\/2004) Arnaldur Indridason<\/a> translated by Bernard Scudder<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Inspector Erlendur works for the Reykjav\u00edk police, and he and his colleagues are called to an apartment where and old man was murdered.<\/p>\n

The elder son, 9 years old, was not as cautious as his father and quick as a flash he was in the neighbour\u2019s sitting room. A moment later the child came back and said there was a dead man in the flat, and he really didn\u2019t seem too perturbed by it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A cryptic message left on the body confuses far more than it clarifies, so they start looking into the man’s past for clues.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you know what comes into my mind when I think about that suicide? It\u2019s not the blood in the bath. Not my sister lying in the red water. Not the cuts. It\u2019s Kolbr\u00fan in the shop, buying the razor blades. Handing over the money for the razor blades. Counting out the coins.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Erlendur is a very difficult man, although one who is good at his job. He is hard to like, being brusque and rude, and he has a terrible relationship with his children, the older of whom is a drug addict, and the younger (who is out of rehab) barely speaks to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a nasty nosebleed,\u201d Erlendur said and examined Sigurdur \u00d3li\u2019s nose. \u201cNothing else though, nothing serious. There are no cuts and your nose isn\u2019t broken.\u201d He pinched it tight and Sigurdur \u00d3li let out a shriek of pain. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh, maybe it is broken, I\u2019m no doctor,\u201d Erlendur said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But yet, there is something.<\/p>\n

Erlendur turned around and walked away, wondering how God, if he existed, could possibly justify allowing someone like R\u00fanar live to an old age but taking the life of an innocent 4-year-old girl.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And as the books go on you learn more baout Erlendur’s past, about how he came to be as he is.<\/p>\n

As far as the mystery, it’s a rather fascinating story, going into the how crimes against women were treated in the past, of a Jar City, and genetics. (Iceland has a fascinating database that tracks genetic traits for the entire nation.)<\/p>\n

\u201cA crow starves sitting,\u201d she said eventually. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut finds flying,\u201d Erlendur completed the proverb.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interesting terms:
\nrising damp
\nscent card<\/p>\n

It’s a very interesting mystery, and I highly recommend this series.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Minotaur Books<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jar City (2000\/2004) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder Inspector Erlendur works for the Reykjav\u00edk police, and he and his colleagues are called to an apartment where and old man was murdered. The elder son, 9 years old, was not as cautious as his father and quick as a flash he was in the neighbour\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,8,42,41,38,934],"tags":[116,438,52,117,513],"class_list":["post-8711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-mystery","category-police","category-reread","category-translated","category-trigger-warnings","tag-arnaldur-indridason","tag-bernard-scudder","tag-iceland","tag-inspector-erlendur","tag-suicide"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2gv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9511,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9511","url_meta":{"origin":8711,"position":0},"title":"Jar City, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"December 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Jar City (2000\/2004\/2011) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder narrated by George Guidall This ended up being the next book to listen to in the car. Michael doesn't love mysteries as much as I do, but he does enjoy them, so I decided to try this one, since I do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio Book"","block_context":{"text":"Audio Book","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/audio-book"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Jar-City-e1511049281312.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4206,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4206","url_meta":{"origin":8711,"position":1},"title":"Jar City","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Jar City (2000\/2004) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder Inspector Erlendur is a detective inspector with the Reykjavik CID. He's a divorced loner with a terrible relationship with his two grown children, both of whom have issues with drugs. The body of an old man is discovered in his apartment.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Jar-City.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8724,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8724","url_meta":{"origin":8711,"position":2},"title":"Voices","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Voices (2003\/2006) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder A hotel worker is found dead in the tiny closet in which he lived in the hotel. His drawers are down and he has been stabbed repeatedly. \u2018Is he up or down?\u2019 Erlendur asked. \u2018Up or down?\u2019 the fat manager puffed. \u2018Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Voices.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4299,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4299","url_meta":{"origin":8711,"position":3},"title":"Voices","author":"Michelle","date":"December 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Voices (2003\/2006) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder There has been a murder in one of the fancy hotels. A particularly nasty murder, with a man in a Santa suit, in a compromising position, stabbed to death. Inspector Erlendur and the rest of the police have been called in, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Voices.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4226,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4226","url_meta":{"origin":8711,"position":4},"title":"Silence of the Grave","author":"Michelle","date":"December 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Silence of the Grave (2002\/2005) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder This is the second book I've read by Arnaldur Indri?dason, and the second in his Inspector Erlendur series. This mystery is also quite different from other mysteries I typically read, but also quite good. 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