Atmospheric, dark and chilling – the breathtaking finale to the twisty, immersive An Áróra Investigation series, as Áróra and her friends search for answers that may take them to places even darker than death…

The haunting final chapter to an award-winning series… And a final reckoning…

Book blurb

With the fate of her missing sister, Ísafold, finally uncovered, Áróra feels a fragile relief as the search that consumed her life draws to a close. But when Ísafold’s boyfriend – the prime suspect in her disappearance – is found dead at the same site where Ísafold’s body was discovered, Áróra’s grip on reality starts to unravel … and the mystery remains far from solved.

To distract herself, she dives headfirst into a money- laundering case that her friend Daníel is investigating. But she soon finds that there is more than meets the eye and, once again, all leads point towards Engihjalli, the street where Ísafold lived and died, and a series of shocking secrets that could both explain and endanger everything…

My thoughts

Oh no! The last in the An Áróra series! Not only this fact but the story within Black As Death fills me with sadness as we now know what happened to Áróra sister Ísafold, that we will no longer be able to read about all the wonderful characters that have been a part of this series and that it is the last time we will be so engaged in the fantastic stories of financial crimes that Áróra has investigated and how each of these stories has been so well constructed to bring us fascinating and gripping criminal investigations by Daníel and his police colleagues.

This final story Black As Death is no different although picking up from Dark As Night we now know what Ísafold’s fate was. The investigation is in full flow. Daníel has been moved away from that investigation and is on a financial investigation which leads him to ask for Áróra’s help. Helping Daníel is a boon for her as some very horrific news is discovered about Ísafold.

Alongside this we have, in her own words, what happened to Ísafold and it is a heartbreaking story of abuse, physical and mental, that she knows she should break away from but can’t bring herself to do so. No one understands how much she loves Björn and could never leave him!

Each of the investigations takes us down various paths and we are able to piece together what brought this terrible tragedy to its head.

As each investigation is conducted and begins to overlap in ways that are unexpected to the police, to Daníel and to Áróra there is an overwhelming sense of deepening sadness. I wanted to know more about what happens to several of the characters beyond these pages but life doesn’t always work out smoothly and there isn’t always a clear happy ending to everything. Sometimes we have to decide for ourselves what might happen beyond the stories ending or simply let it be.

This is storytelling at its finest and is no less than we have come to expect from Lilja Sigurdardóttir’s wonderful books.

I will sorely miss this series but look forward to whatever comes next from this wonderful author.

Beautifully translated by Lorenza Garcia. Where would we be if wonderful publishers with such excellent translators didn’t exist? We would be missing out on some of the best stories in the world and what a tragedy that would be.

Books I have read by Lilja Sigurdardóttir: Cage | Trap | Snare | Betrayal | Cold As Hell | Red As Blood | White As Snow | Dark As Night and now Black As Death.

Thanks

Many thanks to Orenda Books for an eARC of Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurdardóttir and to Anne at RandomThingsTours for the invitation to this amazing BlogTour.

BlogTour

Why not take a take a look at all these lovely blogs for more insights into Black As Death? Then check out the links below to get your very own copy of Black As Death by Lilja Sigurdardóttir.

Information

Published: Orenda Books | 23rd October 2025 | PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £9.99 | 300pp

Buy: Orenda Books | Amazon | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local bookstore | Your local library

Translator

Author

Icelandic crime writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written eleven crime novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide. Snare was longlisted for the CWA International Dagger, Cage won Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year and was a Guardian Book of the Year, and Betrayal was shortlisted for the prestigious Glass Key Award and won Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by Glassriver.

Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the UK in 2021 and was followed by Red as Blood, White as Snow and Dark as Night. TV rights to the series have been bought by Studio Zentral in Germany.

Lilja lives in Reykjavík with her partner and a brood of chickens.

Lilja Sigurðardóttir – website | @lilja1972 | Orenda Books Ltd

Books

Also by Lilja Sigurðardóttir and available from Orenda Books

The Reykjavík Noir trilogy

Snare | Trap | Cage

Standalone

Betrayal 

The Áróra Investigation Series

Cold as Hell | Red as Blood | White as Snow | Dark as Night