A Christmas Puzzle

by Ragnar Jónasson

This is a seasonal tale by Icelandic novelist Ragnar Jónasson commissioned specially for The Mysterious Bookshop! Jónasson’s story is the twenty-seventh published as an exclusive holiday offer for Mysterious Bookshop customers.

Genres: Christmas

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2020

About the author

Ragnar Jonasson is author of the award winning and international bestselling Dark Iceland series.

His debut Snowblind, first in the Dark Iceland series, went to number one in the Amazon Kindle charts shortly after publication. The book was also a no. 1 Amazon Kindle bestseller in Australia. Snowblind has been a paperback bestseller in France.

Nightblind won the Dead Good Reader Award 2016 for Most Captivating Crime in Translation.

Snowblind was called a "classically crafted whodunit" by THE NEW YORK TIMES, and it was selected by The Independent as one of the best crime novels of 2015 in the UK.

Rights to the Dark Iceland series have been sold to UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, Poland, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Morocco, Portugal, Croatia, Armenia and Iceland.

Ragnar was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he works as a writer and a lawyer. He also teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University and has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV-news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

He is also the co-founder of the Reykjavik international crime writing festival Iceland Noir.

From the age of 17, Ragnar translated 14 Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic.

Ragnar has also had short stories published internationally, including in the distinguished Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in the US, the first stories by an Icelandic author in that magazine.

He has appeared on festival panels worldwide, and lives in Reykjavik.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must confess that I had purposely stayed away from Ragnar's books because I assumed his work was part of the super dark Nordic mystery genre, and while there is some strong storytelling there, I tend to prefer my mysteries lighter and less graphic. However, I was very pleasantly surprised with this Christmas story, the more so after learning he translated over a dozen Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic. The story took place almost exclusively in the Mysterious Bookshop in NYC, and I felt as though I was practically there. A neat little mystery with a backdrop of books, which are some of my favorites.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute holiday tradition put out by the best bookshop - A Mysterious Bookshop - in Manhattan! Short story easily read in one sitting, giving vibes of the Golden Age of Mystery and holiday coziness. This is the 2020 story, and there is also a book compilation of the stories done for the past 20 years called Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop with 20 different well-known authors partaking! Highly recommend these stories and this book store!!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully dark little tale for the holidays. Thanks so much, Mr. Penzler!

[Randal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, dark little Christmas story set in The Mysterious Bookshop in NYC (the chapbook was given away as a free gift with any purchase made during the 2020 holiday season) by one of my favorite authors. The climax of the story does leave thing unresolved, however:

Otto Penzler's judgment in hiring seasonal help!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid short story from Ragnar! Well done. I didn’t see it coming until the very end.

(I read this as part of the book Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop, published 2024. Since I’ve read some other Ragnar Jonasson, I wanted to rate this individually for my GR data for Ragnar Jonasson.)

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is a perfect example of how to write a perfectly executed short story!
The wholesomeness of Jólabókaflóð with a murder mystery twist.

[Rachel Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lively bibliophile short story.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun short story.