Book cover titled 'The Polar Bear Killing' by Michael Ridpath. Features a snow-covered mountain range and a small red and black house in the foreground.

The Polar Bear Killing

60-page novella

When a polar bear is sighted in a sleepy Icelandic fishing village then shot dead by local policeman Constable Halldór, it triggers a debate in the local community. Was Halldór a hero for killing the bear, or should the animal have been protected?

Animal rights activists in the area see the constable as a villain, and when days later the dead body of Halldór is discovered at a remote beauty spot, the activists are immediately under suspicion.

As Sergeant Magnus Ragnarsson and his colleague Detective Vigdís Audardóttir begin to investigate the policeman's murder, they soon discover that things are not as clear-cut as might first appear.

By degrees, Magnus and Vigdís are drawn into this small and complex community – one riven with rivalries and grudges – in search of a deadly killer...