The Hermit

A car is found crashed on a beach in the Canary Island resort of Fuerteventura. In the trunk is a cardboard box containing the body of a small boy — no one knows his name, and there is no trace of a driver.

The last thing Fuerteventura needs is a murder. The island’s already got half-empty bars and windswept beaches, and the local police are under pressure to cut the investigation short. But long-time islander Erhard, who sees more than most people, won’t let the investigation drop — and he has nothing to lose. He has severed ties with his wife and child in Denmark, and has cut himself off from the modern world.

The question is: can an old man who knows nothing about cell phones, the internet, or social media possibly solve a murder in the modern world, especially one that stretches far beyond the sandy beaches of Fuerteventura?

About the Author

Thomas Rydahl is a writer and translator. The Hermit is his debut novel and was awarded the Danish Debutant Award, the first time in the award’s history that it has gone to a thriller. The Hermit has since gone on to win the prestigious Glass Key Award for the best Nordic crime novel and the Harald Mogensen Prize for the best Danish crime novel. Thomas lives with his wife and daughter in Fredensborg, Denmark.

K. E. Semmel is a writer and translator whose work has appeared in Ontario Review, Washington Post, World Literature Today and elsewhere. He is a recipient of numerous grants from the Danish Arts Foundation and is a 2016 NEA Literary Translation Fellow. He lives in Rochester, NY.