With one of the most popular Icelandic authors, Ragnar Jónasson, a longtime friend, she signs "Reykjavík", a thriller of 345 pages.

"Obviously it's not something I thought I had time to do," Jakobsdóttir told AFP at the novel's launch party.

In office since 2017, the forty-something, a graduate in literature, started at the start of the pandemic.

It was during a lunch at the beginning of 2020 that the idea of ​​writing a detective fiction was born.

"I was a little surprised at first that she accepted this suggestion because she is very busy," admits Mr. Jónasson.

The writing of the novel took two years - largely during the Covid 19 restrictions, the Prime Minister's busy schedule often setting the tone.

"We had to schedule calls and schedule meetings between when she was meeting (ex-British Prime Minister) Boris Johnson one day and (French President Emmanuel) Macron the other. It was quite surreal for me to work in this environment", confesses the author, whose books have sold more than three million copies worldwide.

“It was refreshing to have someone else you had to compromise with,” he says.

For the head of government, detective novels have a therapeutic virtue.

"I've read it all my life, so it's kind of in my DNA," she says as if to justify her passion for writing.

"I think every politician needs to have something to clear their minds from the day-to-day affairs of politics."

One of his predecessors, David David Oddsson had already published a fiction in the exercise of his functions in 1997.

On the North Atlantic island, one in ten people publishes a book in their lifetime.

Agatha Christie tunes

"Reykjavík", which must be translated into English and French in particular, evokes an unsolved crime: the disappearance of a teenager in Videy, a small island off the Icelandic capital, forgotten for 30 years until Valur , a reporter for a local tabloid, delves into the plot.

The novel takes place in 1986, the year in which the Icelandic capital celebrates its 200th anniversary, witnesses the appearance of its first private television and radio and finds itself hosting a historic summit between the American and Soviet leaders Reagan and Gorbachev.

Icelandic Prime Minister and novelist Katrin Jakobsdóttir during a statement to the press in Prague on October 6, 2022 Ludovic MARIN AFP / Archives

"We thought all of these events together would create the best context for a story," says Jónasson.

The local critics are seduced.

"It's a very pleasant read, it's well written and well documented," says Egill Helgason, who presents a literary program on public television RÚV.

"It reminds a bit of Agatha Christie (...) It's a mystery, not a horror story dripping with blood", underlines the 62-year-old critic, saying he identifies the influence of the Prime Minister.

For her first thriller, Katrín Jakobsdóttir expects "severe" criticism.

"I think I can handle it, I have experience as a politician so I'll be fine," she smiles.

© 2022 AFP