Translated by Žanete Vevere Pasqualini.
Published 20th October 2026 by Fly on the Wall Press.
From the cover of the book:
When he wakes to find a body in a sack on the roadside outside his home, police chief Vincents sets off a chain of events that threaten to overwhelm him and the sleepy, Latvian backwater town he has lived in his whole life.
A reluctant and unlikely hero, Vincents grapples with his failing marriage, a domineering former police partner and an ever-growing number of strange and bewildering cases. As the body count rises and Vincents' precariously constructed world crumbles around him, the focus of his investigations closes in inexorably on a troubled young man, Jens, whose odd behaviour can no longer be contained by his controlling Aunt Erika. Ice, Flower, Herbarium is a haunting psychological story of inherited guilt and the consequences of raising a child without love or human touch. Will Vincents uncover the truth and find the strength to stand up to the town, or will his resolve melt away with the snow?
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Vincents is the police chief of Dansile, a small town in Latvia. It is not the path he intended for himself, but after finishing university and falling in love with his wife of twenty-years, Īdena, he found himself following in his father Edvards' footsteps - even though he has never quite been able to fill his shoes to anyone's satisfaction.
When Vincents finds a body in a sack, lying in the icy road outside his home, he calls on the help of his father's old partner, Dāgs, who advises hiding the dead man inside a municipal building until warmer weather approaches, and they can bury it without causing upset in the town. It is a philosophy the rest of the town's authority figures agree with, but this does not sit well with Vincents.
Meanwhile, a young teacher has gone missing from the local school, and Vincents has to put aside his concerns about the body in the sack while he begins an investigation into her disappearance. He suspects that the school's odd caretaker, Jens, might be involved, as he was the last person to see her alive, but questioning the unfortunate young man in the presence of his domineering aunt reveals few clues.
When Īdena, a human rights lawyer, hears about the murder, she is determined Vincents must do the right thing. For her part, having heard of Jens' difficult upbringing, and seemingly vulnerable ways, she is keen to offer him legal representation.
But nothing about this case is straightforward, and cutting though the web of secrets and lies in Dansile will prove damaging to Vincents in more ways that one...
I love a bit of pitch-black noir, but have not read any Baltic Noir before, so it was a very interesting experience dipping my toes in its chilly waters. The story revolves around small town complicity, with twisting plotlines that delve into the shocking consequences of the desire to preserve the semblance of a peaceful town, and unfurls though the narratives of Vincents and Jens.
Mild-mannered Vincents is bogged down by the realisation that his marriage to Īdena is crumbling, and the feelings of inadequacy fostered by his mother. He has lost the will to do his job, especially when everyone, except Īdena, is keen that he should not upset the good folk of Dansille. As he blunders along, he begins to suspect that the people in this town may not be quite as trustworthy as he thought - particularly when it comes to his own history.
In parallel we get to see inside the head of Jens, a young man with the most tragic of upbringings, who is scarred by being brought up by his cold, spite-filled aunt. He is a complex character, young-of-mind and totally out of his depth in a world he does not have the skills to navigate. There is a lot to examine about his state of mind, and whether he understands the difference between right and wrong, which gives this novel a very thought-provoking edge.
I was not sure what to expect of this one, and wondered if the absurdity of the beginning would spin out in a story with a vein of dark humour at its core. Dear reader, it was most certainly did not. Andersone does an incredible job feeding the visceral chill that builds in the pit of your stomach as dark deeds, horrifying confessionals, and any attempt to 'do the right thing' on Vincents' part goes disturbingly awry. The atmosphere is thick with the despair of a winter that seems never-ending; and the setting is full of characters disillusioned by their fate, covering for their guilt, and a whisper away from resorting to violence. The motif of flowers/herbaria and the vivid descriptions of foul armoas are used spectacularly well, and I tip my hat to the translator Žanete Vevere Pasqualini for excellent work keeping you on a knife-edge of discomfort.
If you like your noir in the darkest of dark sides, flooded with recurring themes of harsh landscapes, shifting memories, and the legacy of trauma, then this is the stuff of your dreams... or is it nightmares? What a baptism of fire into the world of Latvian literature.
Ice, Flower, Herbarium is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats.
Thank you to Fly on the Wall Press for sending me a review copy of this book.
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