Book Review - The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackber

The novel was sent to me courtesy of Tandem Literary.

I don't like to read mysterious too much. It frustrates me that I can't figure out the bad guy. But, I enjoyed The Ice Princess, even though I did manage to pick out the wrong person AGAIN.

Camilla Lackberg is a best-selling author in Sweden and around the world. She's published 9 books in Swedish, but only two have been translated into English and six in Spanish.

The curious person in the novel is Erica Falck, a biographer who returns to her hometown of Fjalbacka to clean her parent's house, after their death.

Her childhood friend, Alex, is murdered, and she is asked to write an tribute. Her curiosity leads her to find out what caused Alex to end their friendship so many years ago and to discover how this event shaped the rest of Alex's life and choice of men.

Despite her success as a biographer, Erica doesn't feel that she is a true author. She wants to use her research into Alex's murder to write a novel.

Because of movies and the global economy, Erica does things that remind me of what young women would do in the US. When she doesn't feel like cooking, she gets a hamburger from McDonald. She also can't decide whether to wear the sexy underwear or the comfy granny panties for her date (shades of Bridget Jones.)And, she worries about Weight Watchers points.

But since Erica lives in a cold climate, she something that is not done in the South. She doesn't have time to take a shower, so she washes her underarms and then puts on her clothes. No deodorant! I would be smelly after 10 minutes.

There was only one element missing: what happened to Erica's brother -in-law? Maybe it will be explained in the next novel.

If you want to try your hand at writing mystery/crime novels, she has some guidelines here.