Spotlight for The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

 

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

Published: January 14, 2025 by Minotaur Books

Genre:  Mystery Thriller

About THE LOST HOUSE:  Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

 

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

 

Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

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Meet Melissa Larsen (taken from her website):  Melissa Larsen grew up in the Bay Area in a family of writers, believing she was the weird one for not writing. This didn’t last long. Her debut novel, Shutter, was published in June 2021 by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It has been featured in The New York Times Book Review and named a “Most Anticipated Novel” by PopSugar, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and CrimeReads. Melissa received her M.F.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from New York University. When she isn’t traveling somewhere to research her next novel—and somehow hurting herself in the process—she lives in New York City and teaches creative writing. Her next novel, The Lost House, is set to be published by Minotaur, an imprint of Macmillan, in January 2025.

 

 

Praise for THE LOST HOUSE:

"A chilling meditation on the human ramifications of the true crime industry, Melissa Larsen turns her piercing gaze to Icelandic noir. The Lost House explores inheritance, pain, loneliness, and survival, with a breathless murder mystery like an icy current running through. With this masterful novel, Larsen positions herself to become a giant of literary suspense." —Danya Kukafka, bestselling author of Notes on an Execution

 

"A notorious long-ago crime and an unfolding new one converge in the isolated confines of small-town Iceland, in a riveting story that's at once chilling and warmhearted and scary and sexy. A great read." —Chris Pavone, New York Times bestselling author of Two Nights in Lisbon

 

“The Lost House is a deeply atmospheric, layered thriller in which long-buried secrets threaten to overturn the present. With uncompromising intelligence and empathy, Melissa Larsen crafts complex characters and explores what happens when real people become caught in sensational true-crime tales—all amid a mesmerizing, unforgiving Icelandic winter.” —Clémence Michallon, internationally bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant