The Draining Lake was first released in 2004 and translated into English in 2008 so it’s a pretty old book. That’s okey; I got it on sale and I’ve read and enjoyed Indriðason’s books prior.  This is the 4th in the Detective Erlendur Sveinsson (aka Reykjavik Murder Mysteries series) which went until 2014.  (I’ve read 5 overt the years but missed this one for some reason.) 

The Draining Lake 
by Arnaldur Indridason
2004 / 
Read by George Guidall 9h 15m
Rating: B- / crime procedural  
( Reykjavik Murder Mysteries, Book 4 – Iceland)

Following an earthquake an hydrologist finds a human skeleton on the bottom of a local lake which has  drained out as a result. The investigation is begun and Erlendur is involved because he looks for missing persons. Although he’s divorced,  Erlendur has his own family which consists of a son and a daughter as well as an ex-wife. His partner, 

Erlendur’s investigating and analyzing seem to show the missing man as probably being of the Cold War era when many Icelandic students studied in the USSR and spies were abundant. They find a very cold case which involved a missing man from that era – she still grieves.  

My rating?  I got very tired of the questions which take up most of the dialogue in the Detective Erlendur series. Erlanger asks a question and is answered with a question – “Why do you want to know?” “What’s it to you?” “Where are you going with this?”  This happens with his partners, the suspects, witnesses, family members everyone . It gets old and once I noticed that, um … yes,  I couldn’t stop noticing.  I still enjoy the mysteries – I may get another one or two, but they’ll be on sale or from the library.   

Another reason for reading anyway is that I really enjoy the plots in these books and the background story is okay. Detective Erlendur is pretty enjoyable as are the rest of the continuing characters.  But this is a good time to emphasize reading series in order. Sometimes reading ahead in a series results in a major spoiler in the overarching plot.