Ragnar Jónasson
Icelandic crime fiction writer (born 1976)
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Ragnar Jónasson (born 20 July 1976) is an Icelandic author of crime fiction, best known for the Dark Iceland series featuring police officer Ari Þór Arason, set in the northern town of Siglufjörður, and the Hulda trilogy featuring Reykjavík detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir.[1] His books have sold several million copies and been published in around 40 countries.[2][3] In 2022 he co-wrote the novel Reykjavík with Katrín Jakobsdóttir, then the Prime Minister of Iceland, followed by a sequel, Franski spítalinn, in 2025.[4][5] He is a co-founder of the Reykjavík literary festival Iceland Noir.[6]
Ragnar Jónasson | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | 20 July 1976 Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Occupation | Novelist, lawyer, translator |
| Language | Icelandic |
| Nationality | Icelandic |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Notable works | Snowblind; The Darkness; Reykjavík (with Katrín Jakobsdóttir) |
| Website | |
| ragnarjonasson | |
Early life and career
Jónasson was born in Reykjavík on 20 July 1976.[1] His father's family came from Siglufjörður, a fishing town in northern Iceland which he visited regularly in his childhood and which later became the setting of his Dark Iceland novels; his grandfather wrote a history of the town.[7]
A reader of Agatha Christie from childhood, Jónasson began translating her work into Icelandic as a teenager, at seventeen, and has translated fourteen of her novels; the immersion in Christie's plotting is frequently cited as a formative influence on his own writing.[2][8] His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, the first by an Icelandic author in that publication.[9] Trained as a lawyer, he has taught copyright law at Reykjavík University and worked in investment banking; he previously worked in radio and television, including as a news reporter for the Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV.[10]
Writing career
Dark Iceland series
Jónasson's debut novel, Fölsk nóta, was published in Iceland in 2009. He followed it with Snjóblinda (2010), the first of the Dark Iceland series, set in Siglufjörður and featuring the young policeman Ari Þór Arason.[11][12] His international breakthrough came after he was taken on by the literary agency that had represented Henning Mankell, which sold the series widely abroad.[13] The English translation, Snowblind (2015), reached number one in the Amazon Kindle chart in the United Kingdom, was described by The New York Times as a "classically crafted whodunit", and was named by The Independent among the best crime novels of 2015.[14] Nightblind won the 2016 Dead Good Reader Award for Most Captivating Crime in Translation.[14] In 2020 he became the first Icelandic author to hold two books simultaneously in the top places of the German bestseller list, when Dimma reached second place and Drungi fourth; at that point his books had sold around 1.5 million copies worldwide.[15]
Hulda series and standalones
The Hulda trilogy – The Darkness (Dimma), The Island (Drungi) and The Mist (Mistur) – features Hulda Hermannsdóttir, a Reykjavík detective on the verge of retirement, and is told in reverse chronological order.[16] Drungi was nominated for the Icelandic crime fiction award Blóðdropinn in 2016.[17] His later standalone novels include The Girl Who Died (Þorpið), Outside (Úti) and Death at the Sanatorium.[3] The Girl Who Died was named one of the five best crime novels of the year by The Sunday Times in 2021, and its publisher reported it as the first Icelandic book to reach the top ten of the Sunday Times bestseller list.[18] In October 2025 he published Emilía, a ghost-story novella and a departure from his crime fiction.[19] His 2023 novel Hvítalogn, published in English in 2025 as The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer, concerns the disappearance of a celebrated crime novelist and was named by a critic in The Times among the best crime novels published in Britain that year.[20][21] Among his Christie translations are Death on the Nile, which had not previously been published in Icelandic.[21]
Collaborations with Katrín Jakobsdóttir
In October 2022 Jónasson published Reykjavík, co-written with Katrín Jakobsdóttir, then Prime Minister of Iceland, who wrote her master's thesis on Icelandic crime fiction; the collaboration, largely completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, was launched at Iðnó in Reykjavík and drew international press attention.[22] The mystery, set around the disappearance of a teenage girl in 1956 and a journalist's investigation during Reykjavík's bicentenary in 1986, became the best-selling book of the year 2022 in Iceland and was nominated for Blóðdropinn.[23][24] It was published in English in 2023 by Minotaur Books as Reykjavík: A Crime Story and was named among the best crime novels of 2023 by The New York Times and Kirkus Reviews.[4][25]
In 2025 the pair published a second novel, Franski spítalinn (The French Hospital), a sequel to Reykjavík set in East Iceland in February 1989, in which a man is found dead in the historic French Hospital in Fáskrúðsfjörður and a Morgunblaðið journalist investigates.[5][25]
Adaptations
In 2020 it was announced that CBS Studios and Stampede Ventures would produce an eight-episode television series based on The Darkness (Dimma), to be filmed in Iceland.[15] The adaptation, produced by CBS Studios, directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Lena Olin as Hulda, was filmed in Reykjavík in 2024, with Jónasson serving as an executive producer and spending time on set during filming.[3][21][2] His novel Outside is in development as a feature film by Ridley Scott's production company Scott Free Productions.[3][8]
Iceland Noir and other activities
In 2013 Jónasson co-founded the Reykjavík crime fiction festival Iceland Noir with Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Quentin Bates; the festival has since grown into a broader annual literary festival.[6] Together with Sigurðardóttir he also established the Svartfuglinn (Blackbird) award for the best debut crime novel by an Icelandic writer.[26] He set up the first overseas chapter of the British Crime Writers' Association in Reykjavík.[27] As of 2025 he is vice-chair of the Writers' Union of Iceland and sits on the board of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, alongside his work as a lawyer in the investment division of Arion Bank.[19]
Personal life
Jónasson lives in Reykjavík and has two daughters.[19]
Bibliography
Dark Iceland series (Ari Þór Arason)
- Fölsk nóta (2009) – not translated into English
- Snjóblinda (2010) – English translation: Snowblind (2015, translated by Quentin Bates)
- Myrknætti (2011) – English translation: Blackout (2016, translated by Quentin Bates)
- Rof (2012) – English translation: Rupture (2016, translated by Quentin Bates)
- Andköf (2013) – English translation: Whiteout (2017, translated by Quentin Bates)
- Náttblinda (2014) – English translation: Nightblind (2015, translated by Quentin Bates)
- Vetrarmein (2020) – English translation: Winterkill (2020, translated by David Warriner)
Note: the English editions were not published in the order of the original Icelandic publications, which reflect the chronology of events in the novels.[28]
Hulda series (Hulda Hermannsdóttir)
- Dimma (2015) – English translation: The Darkness (2018, translated by Victoria Cribb)
- Drungi (2016) – English translation: The Island (2019, translated by Victoria Cribb)
- Mistur (2017) – English translation: The Mist (2020, translated by Victoria Cribb)
Standalone novels
- Þorpið (2018) – English translation: The Girl Who Died (2021, translated by Victoria Cribb)
- Hvítidauði (2019) – English translation: Death at the Sanatorium (2024)
- Úti (2021) – English translation: Outside (2021)
- Reykjavík (2022, with Katrín Jakobsdóttir) – English translation: Reykjavík: A Crime Story (2023)
- Hvítalogn (2023) – English translation: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer (2025)
- Emilía (2025) – novella[19][28]
- Franski spítalinn (2025, with Katrín Jakobsdóttir)[5]
- Kistan and other stories (2026)