Gráskeggur means Greybeard.
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.
Quentin Bates is represented by the Peter Buckman at the Ampersand Agency.
Selected Books
Frozen Out
The discovery of a corpse washed up on a beach in an Icelandic backwater sparks a series of events that propels the village of Hvalvík’s police sergeant Gunnhildur into deep waters.
Chilled To The Bone
When a shipowner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik’s smartest hotels, Sergeant Gunnhildur sees no evidence of foul play.
Summerchill
It’s the tail end of a hot summer when half of Reykjavík is on holiday and the other half wishes it was. Things are quiet when a man is reported missing from his home in the suburbs.
Translated Books
Quentin has become increasingly active as a translator, dealing with material ranging from technical and maritime subjects to news articles – and a growing list of crime and nautical fiction.