''Leyndardómar Reykjavíkur 2000'' (''The Reykjavík Mysteries 2000'') is a

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

which was written by multiple Icelandic authors, each author writing one chapter. The novel received negative reviews. The first chapter was written by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson and then the subsequent chapters by Hrafn Jökulsson, Birgitta Halldórsdóttir,

Arnaldur Indriðason Arnaldur Indriðason (pronounced ; born 28 January 1961) is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction; his most popular series features the protagonist Detective Erlendur. Biography Arnaldur was born in Reykjavík on 28 January 1961, the son of ...

Stella Blómkvist ''Stella Blómkvist'' is an Icelandic crime television series which was first broadcast in 2017. It is produced by the Icelandic company Sagafilm. The show is loosely based on books of the same title by an anonymous Icelandic writer. The series wa ...

Árni Þórarinsson Árni Þórarinsson is an Icelandic writer born in Reykjavík on 1 August 1950. He received his Bachelor of Arts, B.A. in 1973 from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He started out as a journalist and has worked in print, radio, ...

and

Gunnar Gunnarsson Gunnar Gunnarsson (18 May 1889 – 21 November 1975) was an Icelandic author who wrote mainly in Danish. He grew up, in considerable poverty, on Valþjófsstaður in Fljótsdalur valley and on Ljótsstaðir in Vopnafjörður. During th ...

. The final chapter was composed by Kristinn Kristjánsson. The book was printed in 8000 copies and distributed promotionally at bookstores. It was written in less than two months. Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir commented that the beginning by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson is fast-paced and successful and the following chapter by Hrafn Jökulsson has the funniest section of the book. This is followed by a clunky chapter by Birgitta Halldórsdóttir and a successful one by Arnaldur Indriðason. At that point there is a chapter by Stella Blómkvist which steers the story into such a cliché-ridden form that it can never recover. The story is ultimately "yet another addition to the failed crime stories which have been written in this country in the past few years"

Katrín Jakobsdóttir Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007. A graduate of the Univers ...

commented that the initial chapter by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson is skillfully written and also comments positively on the chapters by Arnaldur Indriðason and Stella Blómkvist. She describes the story as suffering from an overloaded plot and lack of

verisimilitude In philosophy, verisimilitude (or truthlikeness) is the notion that some propositions are closer to being true than other propositions. The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer ...

. She is particularly critical of the

characterization Characterization or characterisation is the representation of persons (or other beings or creatures) in narrative and dramatic works. The term character development is sometimes used as a synonym. This representation may include direct methods ...

The Achilles heel of the work is the characterization. To begin with, the main character, Páll the policeman, is stuck in a cliché which
Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...
and
Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
popularized; he is a lecherous and drunk policeman with a constant hangover in his own private search for justice. The recipe for the character is one part Jack Daniel's stirred with one part sex. In Icelandic crime stories women have generally been even more clichéd and this book is very much in that spirit.

In a later work, Katrín observed that the book was an interesting experiment and even though it had not been particularly successful it was indicative of the rapidly increasing vitality of Icelandic crime literature at the time.

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* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyndardomar Reykjavikur 2000 Icelandic novels Crime novels 2000 novels Novels set in Iceland Collaborative novels Icelandic-language novels