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

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

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 Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson (born 12 April 1955, in Akureyri) is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction. He has a B.Sc. degree in civil engineering and, in addition to having a successful career as a writer, he continues to work full-time at the Publ ...

and then the subsequent chapters by

Hrafn Jökulsson Hrafn Jökulsson (1 November 1965 – 17 September 2022) was an Icelandic writer, journalist, politician and competitive chess player. He was best known for his writing, both as a writer and a journalist. He started working at Tíminn at the age ...

Birgitta Halldórsdóttir Birgitta is the Swedish and Icelandic form of the Irish Gaelic female name ''Brighid''. Brighid or Brigid was the name of an ancient Celtic goddess, and its English form is Bridget. Birgitta and its alternate forms Birgit and Britta became common ...

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. Early life Arnaldur was born in Reykjavík on 28 January 1961, the son o ...

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 t ...

. The final chapter was composed by

Kristinn Kristjánsson Kristen is a first name, also the Breton, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian form of Christian. As a result, Kristen is a male name in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with the female equivalent spelt as Kristin, a Scandinavian form and a variation of Chris ...

. The book was printed in 8000 copies and distributed promotionally at bookstores. It was written in less than two months.

Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir Kolbrún is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Kolbrún María Ármannsdóttir, Icelandic basketball player *Kolbrún Baldursdóttir (born 1959), Icelandic politician *Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir (born 1955), Icelandic politician * ...

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 former politician who served as the prime minister of Iceland from December 2017 to April 2024 and was a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency from 2007 to 202 ...

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 close ...

. She is particularly critical of the

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

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 characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...
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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Sources cited

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