Al-Dhulal neighborhood

The events of the novel "Hay Al-Zilal" take place in the mysterious world of crime and follow the trail of two criminals separated by seventy years. The time spans from 1944 during World War II until 2013. The location is Hay Al-Zilal in Reykjavik, Iceland, where detective Conrad, the hero of Arnaldur Indriðason's novels, must uncover the missing link between the two crimes. The past: in Reykjavik during World War II, a young woman's body is found strangled in a dangerous area called "Hay Al-Zilal," and an Icelandic detective, assisted by a member of the American military police, tracks a brutal killer. The present: an elderly man in his nineties is found dead in his bed, strangled with his pillow, and retired detective Conrad finds old newspaper clippings in the man's house talking about the murder in Hay Al-Zilal. It is a crime he remembers because he grew up in the same neighborhood. The missing link: why did an old murder re-emerge after all this time? Did the police arrest the wrong man? What is the connection between those two crimes separated by time? Will Conrad's connection to the past help him solve the case and finally achieve justice?