On a blazing hot summer’s day, holidaymakers at a guesthouse on a Norwegian island are shocked to discover a fellow guest has been found murdered out on a desolate plain. The nameless narrator, an author, was the last person to see the victim alive; shortly afterwards, he was disturbed by a noise like ‘a rattling of chains’. A local tells him this is ‘the iron chariot’, which is said to presage death.

Detective Asbjorn Krag is summoned from the capital of Kristiania, and sets about investigating the murder. When a similar death occurs on the plain, it is again preceded by the eerie sound of the iron chariot, which leaves no tracks. Mystery is added to mystery when the victim turns out to be a man believed to have died several years earlier.

Drawn unwillingly into the investigation, the narrator is puzzled by the enigmatic detective’s apparent inaction, and troubled by unfolding events. These begin to take a toll on his mental wellbeing and he sinks into a state of dread, exacerbated by mysterious happenings at the cabin where he is staying.

So profound is his unease that he feels he must leave the island. Then Krag promises to tell him the solution to the mystery…

Author

Stein Riverton

This pseudonym of Sven Elvestad (who changed his birth name of Kristoffer Elvestad Svendsen in order to start fresh after being caught embezzling from his employer) was used as the name of Norway's most prestigious crime fiction prize, the Riverton Prize.

Pseudonym Of

Sven Elvestad

Born in 1884, he started his writing career as a journalist, turning later to stories about a detective based on police officers he had met, Asbjørn Krag. He also wrote crime stories about detective Knut Gribb under the name Kristian F. Biller, a series character who was later carried on by other authors. He died in 1934. One of his novels, Jernvognen (The Iron Chariot) was adapted by Jason as a graphic novel in 2003.

Country of Origin
Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Translator
ISBN
B06VSV4CSQ
Year of Publication
Book Source
Reading Pile
Location

Add new comment

This is a book review site, with no relationship whatsoever with any of the authors mentioned here.

We do not provide a method for you to contact authors for any reason and comments of this nature are automatically deleted.

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.