Set in Reykjavik this is the most gritty Christmas novel I’ve ever read.  Still, there’s a gentleness to it which moves that around so in a way it’s more like Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.  It’s about drug addition and sexual dysfunction as well as families and secrets and long held grudges.  

Voices
Arnaldur Indriðason 
2003 – tr to English 2007
Read by George Guidal 9h 6m Rating –  A / Scandinavian noir 

The problem I have with it, and with all the Erlendur books, is that the names of the characters are very difficult to distinguish.

From the publisher:   The Christmas rush is at its peak in a grand ReykjavIk hotel when Inspector Erlendur is called in to investigate a murder. The hotel Santa has been stabbed to death, and Erlendur and his fellow detectives find no shortage of suspects between the hotel staff and the international travelers staying for the holidays. As Christmas Day approaches, Erlendur must deal with his difficult daughter, pursue a possible romantic interest, and untangle a long-buried web of malice and greed to find the murderer. Voices is a brutal, soulful noir from the chilly shores of Iceland.