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Articles by Michael Ridpath
66° North | Komentáře
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Operation Berlin, by Michael Ridpath
Operation Berlin is the first of a new historical mystery series set in 1930s Europe which is to be known as The Foreign Correspondent series. Its author is Michael Ridpath, an extremely accomplished one, several of whose previous books I have read and enjoyed. I believe this is something of a new direction for him. He has created a couple of oddball but engaging characters turned amateur detectives.
Michael Ridpath on Operation Berlin
Congratulations on your new mystery novel Operation Berlin, Michael. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have read several of your books. You started out with a series of financial thrillers, which I read and remember with pleasure, but I am less familiar with your more recent work prior to Operation Berlin. Does this new book represent a big change of direction for you? Over my 30-year career, I have been obliged – and have enjoyed – changing directions.
Operation Berlin
The latest work from Michael Ridpath is one of the most engrossing narratives I have had the good fortune to read this year – or rather live through. I found myself immersed completely into this golden age mystery escaping the anxieties of today, for the machinations of the German Weimar Republic between the two World Wars. Vivid characterisation is on full display with the two main protagonists, [Sir] Archie Laverick and Esme Carmichael.
Sources on Iceland 1: Non-Fiction Books
Here is a more detailed list of the various sources I have used to learn about Iceland over the years. This list is far from comprehensive. Its obvious weakness is that it only lists books published in English, thereby omitting all kinds of books only available in Icelandic, as well as books about Iceland in German, French, Spanish and other languages. And I haven’t included every book I have read on the subject.
Icelandic Crime Writers: a Wave of Fictional Murders Overwhelms a Small Peaceful Country
Icelandic Crime Writers: a Wave of Fictional Murders Overwhelms a Small Peaceful Country When I started writing crime novels in Iceland, I assumed I would have the country entirely to myself. Idiot. It turns out that plenty of Icelandic writers were thinking the same thing at the same time. There are now an extraordinarily high number of extremely good crime writers in Iceland; why this is so would make a good subject for another blog post.
Gudrid the Wanderer and the Modern Detective Novel
I write two strands of fiction in parallel: historical novels, usually concerning espionage in the 20th century, and modern-day crime novels set in Iceland. Usually, I enjoy keeping these two strands separate, but every now and then I cannot resist the urge to let Iceland’s fascinating history seep into my detective novels. I first heard of Gudrídur Thorbjarnardóttir, or Gudrid the Wanderer, when I was researching my first crime novel set in Iceland.
Too Much to Write: Guest Blog from Jónína Leósdóttir
Too Much to Write: Guest Blog from Jónína Leósdóttir Time for another guest blog. This one is from Jónína Léosdóttir, an Icelandic novelist who has turned to crime, and the wife of a former Prime Minister of Iceland. Life changed dramatically when my wife, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, became Prime Minister of Iceland at the beginning of 2009. But not in a particularly good way for me, personally. You might think that being married to a PM must be glamorous and fun, even in a small country like ours.
Re-igniting the Creative Passion: Guest Post from Solveig Pálsdóttir
Re-igniting the Creative Passion: Guest Post from Solveig Pálsdóttir Another guest post – this time from the Icelandic crime writer, Solveig Pálsdóttir. Solveig is an actor. I have often wondered whether actors have an insight into character that would help in writing a novel. Here is Solveig’s answer! This morning I started reading Harm for the Icelandic audiobook edition. When the studio session was over, I switched on my phone, and up popped a reminder to send my contribution to Writing in Ice.
The holy mountain and Bjorn's harbour
On my search for mythic Snefellsnes, I drove through the Berserkjahraun lava field to Bjarnarhöfn, Björn's Harbour. Bjarnarhöfn I had tentatively decided that this would be Magnus's grandfather Hallgrímur’s farm. I could have invented a farm; perhaps I should have done. Bad things happen in my books at Bjarnarhöfn, and real farmers live there and have lived there in the past. But I much prefer to write about a real place. It’s not just for the sake of the book; it is for my sake when I am writing it.
Fiction Book of the Month: Michael Ridpath on Traitor's Gate
Traitor’s Gate was your first foray into historical fiction, and you picked the eve of the Second World War and Nazi Germany. Why was that? After writing eight financial thrillers, I decided I wanted to do something new. A spy thriller intrigued me. I was intimidated by John le Carré and his Cold War thrillers, so I decided to try to seek out something less well known, either from the Second World War or just before.
MELTWATER by Michael Ridpath Read by Seán Barrett
Sean Barrett's cool narration is ideal for Ridpath's chilling addition to his Magnus Iceland Mystery series. This time, along with the usual political cover-ups and intrigues he must deal with, Magnus is called in to investigate the murder of a member of Freeflow, an organization similiar to WikiLeaks. The group received a video ostensibly showing U.N. observers being massacred by Israeli troops.
One man and two women men walk into a bar: a banker, a priest and a detective
I was still on the hunt for real-live Icelanders with which I could people my second Magnus novel. The banker I met Birna, a middle executive in one of the banks, who had lost all of her savings in the bank’s money-market fund, and then her job. In London I met Kristján, an Icelandic graduate student. Pétur told me about Icelandic writers. I was getting to know my characters. Now we come back to the thorny issue of stereotypes.
Favourite Places - Selatangar
There are two ways to get to the Blue Lagoon from Reykjavík – the Blue Lagoon is the large geothermal pool-spa next to a power station, and is well worth visiting, although it is expensive. One way is to take the main highway to the airport and turn left on a well-paved road following the tourist buses. The other way is by the back roads, turning off the main road just past Hafnarfjördur and following signs to Krýsuvík.
The Diplomat's Wife
The story opens in 1936. Mussolini rules in Italy. Franco is winning the Spanish civil war. In Germany Hitler, having completed the Anschluss with Austria, is now eyeing Czechoslovakia. The only alternative to the seemingly unstoppable rise of fascism appears to be communism, an idea which attracts much attention from many among the high-minded British left wingers.
Good Communists: Spying in the 1930s
Good Communists The mid-20th century historian E. H. Carr famously said: ‘We view the past, and achieve our understanding of the past, only through the eyes of the present.’ This goes a long way to explain the ebb and flow of historical debate; as the world changes so does the history, as it should. But one of the first tasks of the historical novelist is to see the past through the eyes of the past. We must understand how our characters thought, how they felt and why they felt it. We must empathise.
Writing on Ice
Ayo Onatade is an avid reader of crime and mystery fiction. She has been writing reviews, interviews and articles on the subject for the last 12 years; with an eclectic taste from historical to hardboiled, short stories and noir films Back in 2010 when Michael Ridpath wrote his first Magnus Iceland Mystery there were very few Icelandic crime fiction writers well known internationally. It was solely Arnaldur Indriðason.
Nuclear Near Misses
Nuclear Near Misses A couple of years ago I spotted an interesting tweet from Tim Harford, pointing me to an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that told the extraordinary story of a group of missilemen on Okinawa who were ordered to launch their Minuteman nuclear missiles during the Cuban missile crisis.
The Diplomat's Wife
Michael Ridpath filled star filled star filled star filled star star unfilled (314) Print copy 1936: Devastated by the death of her beloved brother Hugh, Emma seeks to keep his memory alive by wholeheartedly embracing his dreams of a communist revolution. But when she marries an ambitious diplomat, she must leave her ideals behind and live within the confines of embassy life in Paris and Nazi Berlin.
The Wanderer Review
by Michael Ridpath Magnus Jonson is an American Icelander newly returned to the Reykjavik police force. He’s called to investigate the murder of a young Italian tourist found at a sacred church in northern Iceland.
66° North - Michael Ridpath
O knize 66° North Iceland 1934: Two boys playing in the lava fields that surround their isolated farmsteads see something they shouldn't have. The consequences will haunt them and their families for generations. Iceland 2009: the credit crunch bites. The currency has been devalued, banks nationalised, savings annihilated, lives ruined. Grassroots revolution is in the air, as is the feeling that someone ought to pay ...ought to pay the blood price.
Boek | De stroman - Michael Ridpath
Econoom Nick Elliot is een groentje op het gebied van de effectenhandel, maar hij heeft dringend geld en een baan nodig. Via een goede vriend zit hij nu tegenover Ricardo Ross, de man die van het derderangs effectenkantoor Dekker Ward de toonaangevende autoriteit op de Latijns-Amerikaanse obligatiemarkten heeft gemaakt. Ross deinst er niet voor terug om de regels van de financiële wereld naar zijn hand te zetten en, indien noodzakelijk, nieuwe regels uit te vinden.
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