The Reykjavik police are called on an icy January day to a garden where a body has been found: a young, dark-skinned boy is frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation and soon unearth tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland’s outwardly liberal, multicultural society.

A brutal murder takes place in a small Alaskan community. People know who the culprit is, and he has evaded justice for many years. But Kate Shugak is determined to find the evidence needed to convict him.