I’m doing things a bit differently today, as, instead of staying in with an author, I welcome translator Quentin Bates, who has translated Murder at the Residence by the mystery Stella Blómkvist. My enormous thanks go to Emily Burns for putting us in touch with one another. Lets find out what Quentin has to say about this fascinating role:

Staying in with Quentin Bates

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Quentin and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.

Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?

This isn’t exactly my book! We translators normally tend to lurk quietly in the background without saying too much. Usually the author is the one who gets to stand up and shout about their work – but this one’s unusual, because Stella Blómkvist is strictly anonymous. So no appearances, no interviews, no comments, no pictures – and nobody knows if the person behind Stella is a man or a woman, or a collaboration of some kind. All we can be sure of is that this person’s name isn’t Stella Blómkvist.

I bet you know much more than you’re letting on Quentin! Mid you, it’s brilliant to have a translator in the spotlight but what else can you tell us about Stella?

What’s remarkable is that the person behind Stella Blómkvist has been writing these snappy, sharp crime stories since the nineties, and has managed to maintain the secrecy all through those years. That’s practically unheard of in a close-knit place like Iceland where everyone knows everyone, and secrets rarely stay secret for long.

In fact, there are two Stellas – Stella the mysterious author, and Stella the protagonist, the razor-tongued, single-parent, hard-nosed, quick-tempered, often morally ambiguous legal eagle who has been the central character in a dozen books over the years, as well as the star of a TV series that’s fairly loosely based on the books.

I wonder how much the author and character overlap… What can we expect from an evening in with Murder at the Residence?

So – Murder at the Residence is peak Stella… A dodgy financier is found beaten to death right next door to the Presidential residence, a stripper goes missing and nobody but Stella seems to have any inclination to find out what happened to this young woman, and an old man makes a deathbed confession and a request for Stella to find the family he lost all those years ago. Oh, and there’s a drug mule cooling his heels in a cell who refuses to speak to anyone but Stella – although she’s never heard of this guy before.

Not much happening then?

Stella Blómkvist packs a lot into her books. These tales are light on description, but they get straight to the point and zip along. Stella writes less about more… There’s no wasted space here, it’s all plot, dialogue and action –including some steamy action in places.

Does that affect your translation?

For a translator, these stories are a challenge. The original Icelandic is very spare and stripped back, and it’s a challenge to maintain that sharp immediacy in the English version.

I bet! 

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?

In daylight, it’s ink-black espresso and after dark Stella (the character) has a taste for neat Jack Daniels, the nectar from Tennessee. Stella Blómkvist (the author) is no slouch at the keyboard, and it’s obvious that whoever is behind these stories knows their stuff, both their Icelandic history and literature, and also owes a lot to dark-and-dirty noir fiction.

So Stella would kick back on the leather sofa with an espresso and a dram of the Tennessee nectar, – and a volume or two of Raymond Chandler, Particia Highsmith or Dashiell Hammett.

I think Stella has the right idea. Thanks so much for chatting with me about Murder at the Residence Quentin. You’ve really made me want to read the book. You pour the Jack Daniels and I’ll give readers a few more details about Murder at the Residence:

Murder at the Residence

It’s New Year and Iceland is still reeling from the effects of the financial crash when a notorious financier is found beaten to death after a high-profile reception at the President’s residence.

The police are certain they have the killer – or do they? Determined to get to the truth, maverick lawyer Stella Blómkvist isn’t so sure.

A stripper disappears from one of city’s seediest nightspots, and nobody but Stella seems interested in finding her. A drug mule cooling his heels in a prison cell refuses to speak to anyone but Stella – although she’s never heard of him. An old man makes a deathbed confession and request for Stella to find the family he lost long ago.

With a sharp tongue and a moral compass all of her own, Stella Blómkvist has a talent for attracting trouble and she’s as at home in the corridors of power as in the dark corners of Reykjavík’s underworld.

Stella Blómkvist delivers an explosive mix of murder, intrigue and surprise, and is one of Iceland’s best-loved crime series.

Published by Corylus on 28th August 2023, and translated by Quentin Bates, Murder at the Residence is available for pre-order here.

About Quentin Bates

Quentin Bates dates back to the year of the Cuban missile crisis, grew up in English suburbia and escaped for a few years. The roots in Iceland run very deep and the pull of this volcanic rock remains strong.

Having been a factory hand, netmaker, trawlerman, truck driver, (briefly) a teacher, he found his way into writing via a series of coincidences and has been tapping at a keyboard ever since, including writing a series of crime novels and novellas set in Iceland and translating the work of many Icelandic writers into English.

For more information, visit Quentin’s website, follow him on Twitter @graskeggur or find him on Facebook and Instagram.

About Stella Blómkvist

The author who calls herself (or himself) Stella Blómkvist has managed to remain anonymous. There has been endless speculation about who really writes the Stella Blómkvist novels, with the spotlight having focused over the years on numerous politicians, authors, journalists and others in the public eye. But so far the pseudonym still hasn’t been cracked.

The question of Stella Blómkvist’s identity is one that crops up regularly, but it looks like it’s going to remain a mystery…