The Iron Chariot by Stein Riverton
Vacationers are taking advantage of the amenities of a resort hotel on an island off the southern coast of Norway. Master investigator sleuth Asbjrn Krag is called in to look into the strange death of Forestry Agent Blinde, who was just engaged to the lovely Hilde Gjaernes, on the island’s moors. To unravel this riddle, Krag will need to separate past wrongdoings, lies, and jealousies. Additionally complicating his inquiry, Asbjrn Krag is not far from the scene of Hilde Gjrnes’ grandfather’s murder, which occurs at night on the same moor. The enigmatic jernvognen, an iron wagon that stalks the moors and the island, is another intriguing figure.
Strangely, the nights that Blinde and old Gjrnes are discovered dead are when the sounds of the wagon can be heard. However, the wagon is never seen and leaves no footprints on the dirt. What is this iron chariot used for? This old-fashioned Norwegian mystery has never been translated into English before.
The Iron Chariot by Stein Riverton
7 used from $5.42
Free shipping
Amazon.com
- A charming mystery
THE IRON CHARIOT, which was originally published in Norwegian in 1909 and was only recently (2005) translated into English, can be viewed as a fair-play classic detective story. The story takes place in the summer on a somewhat remote Norwegian island, and what you will be considering are the facts that, on two separate nights, a young man and an old man are struck on their heads and killed at almost the same spot, some distance from a tourist hotel, with both their deaths occurring while a strange clanking sound was heard, a sound that some locals attribute to an invisible iron chariot that leaves no tracks on the ground.
The story takes set in the lovely summertime on a little island off the coast of Norway. While on vacation there, the book’s narrator stumbles upon a dead man’s body as he makes his way late one night back to his hotel. Since the local police officer doesn’t feel up to the task of uncovering the mystery, Asbjorn Krag, a professional detective, is called in. The detective and the murderer engage in a psychological cat-and-mouse game while mysterious iron chariot wheels begin to clang in the night, adding to the suspense.
This 1909 novel will have you wondering if this investigator, who is known to be so formidable, is up to the task of unravelling these tangled threads because the author builds the tension so subtly throughout.
