Close-up portrait of author Michael Ridpath with short gray hair and a gray beard, wearing a black blazer and light blue collared shirt, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.

Michael Ridpath is a Sunday Times bestselling crime and thriller writer whose books have sold over a million copies and been translated into over thirty languages.

He has written the following novels:

  • The Magnus Iceland Mysteries (7 books)

  •  Stand-alone thrillers (5 books)

  •  Financial thrillers (8 books)

Ridpath has that read-on factor that sets bestsellers apart
The Guardian.

Ridpath's thrillers are remarkable for having their finger on the pulse
– Mail on Sunday.

Book cover for 'Whale Fjord' by Michael Ridpath showing a landscape in Iceland with a small cabin, mountains, and a bird flying in a cloudy sky.

Whale Fjord – Published Feb 2024

About Michael

Author Michael Ridpath with a beard and short gray hair sitting on outdoor concrete stairs, wearing a black blazer, blue collared shirt, and a watch, looking directly at the camera.

Michael Ridpath’s first novel, after a career in finance, was Free to Trade, a bestseller about the murky world of bond trading which was translated into over thirty languages. The success of that book enabled him to become a full-time writer.

He published seven more thrillers with a financial background before starting a crime series set in Iceland featuring the Icelandic-American detective Magnus Jonson. He has also written five stand-alone thrillers.

Read more about Michael …

Free Novella

Book cover for "The Polar Bear Killing" by Michael Ridpath, featuring snow-covered mountains in Iceland and a red house in the foreground.

A starving polar bear swims ashore in a remote Icelandic village and is shot by the local policeman. Two days later, the policeman is found dead on a hill above the village. Sergeant Magnus is sent from Reykjavik to investigate.

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What’s Next

I am working on a new series. A British war veteran and a young female American foreign correspondent solve crimes around the capitals of Europe in the 1930s, starting with Berlin in 1930.