Near the town of Snaefellsnes on the west coast of Iceland, Jonas Juliusson is the developer of a hotel and spa and he fears that his compound may be haunted. Concerned that ghosts just might be bad for business, he contacts his attorney Thora Gudmunsdottir to see if he has grounds for a lawsuit against the people who sold him the property. Thora doesn’t really buy the haunted story but decides that she’d better go see for herself. She finds the place to be sort of a "New Age" retreat with a staff comprised of aura readers, sex therapists, mediums who conduct séances, as well as massage therapists and dieticians.

Thora arrives to the news that a sexually molested body, identified as Birna Halldorsdottir the spa’s architect, has been found partially buried in seaweed along the beach. A text message on the murdered woman’s cell phone links spa owner Jonas to the time and place of the crime. Now Thora must help him prove his innocence.

A second, even more vicious murder digs an ever deepening hole for the hotel proprietor. This time the victim is a hotel staff member found with a dead fox lashed to his chest.

The police are only looking at Jonas Juliusson as a suspect so it’s up to Thora to take the investigation in new directions. As she looks into the history of the previous owners of the land, she uncovers some very dark secrets about their past and she begins to question their innocence.

The whole investigation takes place in fairly close proximity to a dead whale that has washed up on the beach and is permeating the air with the odor of rotting blubber.

I was somewhat apprehensive about taking on a novel set in Iceland. I was worried that the culture would be very different and the book would be difficult to understand. But I found that once you get past the multi-syllabic surnames there are amazing similarities to my American culture. Much of the slang is the same and they seem to have the same kind of gadgets that we enjoy here. Fear and passion seems to be universal as well.

This is a great mystery written by a skilled author. It could have just as easily taken place on the coast of Maine. But then there’s that beached whale...