Scene of the Crime in Reykjavík

If you’re as captivated by Icelandic crime fiction as we are you’ll want to know about the guided “Reykjavík Criminally” walks run by the Reykjavík City Library every Thursday in July and August. (It’s never too early to start planning your next vacation. Summer will be here before you know it!)

Developed in 2011, when Reykjavík was named a UNESCO City of Literature, the walks focus on the novels of Arnaldur Indriðason and Yrsa Sigurdardóttir, and they’ll introduce you to other Icelandic crime novelists, such as Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson, as well. Best of all, they’re free.

Prefer to go it alone? There’s a free downloadable app that includes a self-guided “Reykjavík Criminally” walk as well as an Icelandic Literary Walk. That’s where you’ll learn that even though Icelandic crime fiction is a relatively recent phenomenon, the first Icelandic books were published in the year 1000 and Icelanders have been dedicated readers ever since. No crime in that…

Photograph: Mitchell Funk/Getty Images