Book description
He is the self-appointed sheriff of Raufarho fn, a sleepy town in northern Iceland, and has everything under control. There's no need to worry. Day by day, he treks the wide plains which surround the almost deserted village, hunts Arctic foxes and lays shark bait in the sea - to…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Kalmann as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This was a beautifully written murder mystery set in a dying fishing village in the north of Iceland. The narrator, Kalmann, is an intriguing character. He is a shark fisherman who stumbles across a body in the snow.
At times he is variously funny, frustrating, sad, and untrustworthy. He hints at past mysteries without fully revealing what they are, or the part he played in them. I read a lot of murder mysteries, and this is the one that has stuck in my mind throughout the year.
I wasn’t sure I’d read this book, which arrived as part of a two-books-a-month plan from a local bookshop. But the cover said it was an Icelandic mystery, which sounded promising, so I started reading the first chapter and quickly devoured the rest.
The book is by turns funny, captivating, insightful, and heartwarming, and I loved it.
Kalmann, a simple soul known in his Icelandic village as "The Sheriff" because of his penchant for wearing a cowboy hat, is wise beyond expectation. When he tells of finding a pool of blood, and then the rich man of the village is…
If you love Kalmann...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like Kalmann?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 81 books like Kalmann.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,340
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Kalmann, you might also like...
Foxfire in the Snow
It's a time of change, between magic and alchemy.
Born the heir of a master woodcutter in a queendom defined by guilds and matrilineal inheritance, nonbinary Sorin can’t quite seem to find their place. At seventeen, an opportunity to attend an alchemical guild fair and secure an apprenticeship with the…
The Main Gate
Dr. Elise Marquette has spent years burying the past—until the past refuses to stay buried.
Hired to join Earth’s first interstellar contact team, she hopes the vastness of space will finally offer distance from the ghosts of war and the wounds left by a mother who never let her be…
