--- description: Find out why 'The Ice Princess' by Camilla Läckberg made the list. title: The Ice Princess: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd2d8f2b986931ee/698a4076457a52d5d7d67f49/TheIcePrincess.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  First published as _Isprinsessan_ in Sweden in 2003, _The Ice Princess_ centers on a writer named Erica Falck. After her parents die, she returns to her family home in the small Swedish fishing village of Fjällbacka, only to be swept up in a twisted web of lies and secrets after her childhood friend Alexandra is found dead in a bathtub in an apparent suicide. When Alex’s death turns into a murder case, Erica teams up with local detective Patrik Hedström, another childhood friend. The investigation that follows brings the pair closer together just as it threatens to tear apart their small town. The haunting psychological thriller, translated into English in 2008 by Steven T. Murray, kicked off a series of 10 novels set in Fjällbacka that has earned international best-seller Camilla Läckberg a top spot in the competitive ranks of [Nordic noir’s](https://time.com/6159793/nordic-noir-tv-books/ "undefined") most popular authors. Hailed as Sweden’s “queen of crime,” Läckberg has been published in more than 60 countries and sold more than 29 million copies of her books worldwide. —_Megan McCluskey_ **Buy Now:** _The Ice Princess_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781451621747 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3OSR9ia "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309216/the-ice-princess/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309216/the-ice-princess/"},"headline":"The Ice Princess","datePublished":"2023-10-03T12:01:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:21:19.160Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309216/the-ice-princess/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd2d8f2b986931ee/698a4076457a52d5d7d67f49/TheIcePrincess.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd2d8f2b986931ee/698a4076457a52d5d7d67f49/TheIcePrincess.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309216/the-ice-princess/","name":"The Ice Princess"}}]}] ```