The cold and beautiful coast of Iceland. A pricey spa hotel. A hotel where, again and again, the corpses of victims of brutal ritual murders are found… The hotel owner, Jonas, is arrested on suspicion of the crimes, and his lawyer and talented amateur detective, Thor Gudmundsdottir, decides to help him prove his innocence. She begins her own investigation—and gradually realizes that the motives for the murders must be sought in the distant past. In a terrible tragedy at the heart of mysterious rumors and legends connected to the very place where Jonas’s hotel was built…