Authors: Salla Simukka
Tags: #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Teen & Young Adult, #Mysteries & Thrillers, #Thrillers, #Detectives
As White as Snow
Praise for
As Red as Blood
by Salla Simukka
“Limned in stark red, white, and black, this cold, delicate snowflake of a tale sparkles with icy magic.” —
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
“Simukka creates a tough, self-sufficient heroine in seventeen-year-old Lumikki Andersson in this first book in the Snow White Trilogy . . . Fans of Nesbø and
Larsson won’t be disappointed.” —
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“[A] YA novel in the tradition of Nordic noir—edgy crime novels set in frigid lands.” —
Booklist (Review)
“A compelling start, a strong female character, the rich background setting of Finland, and a hint of a Snow White retelling are highlights of this work.” —
School Library Journal
“The Arctic setting of this import is used to full advantage, evoking a chilling mood and strewing genuine frigid weather obstacles in Lumikki’s way . . . The first entry in Simukka’s Snow White trilogy will tempt mystery readers
back for more.” —
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
ALSO BY SALLA SIMUKKA
As Red as Blood
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2013 Salla Simukka
Translation © 2015 Owen F. Witesman
Published by agreement with Tammi Publishers and
Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency, Helsinki, Finland.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Skyscape, New York
Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Skyscape are trademarks of
Amazon.com
, Inc., or its affiliates.
ISBN-13: 9781477820636
ISBN-10: 1477820639
Cover design by Jennifer Wang
Book design by Susan Gerber
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912763
CONTENTS
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, EARLY MORNING
SATURDAY, JUNE 18, EARLY MORNING
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, EARLY MORNING
THURSDAY, JUNE 16
Shirley Manson’s voice flowed into Lumikki’s ears, assuring her that she only listened to sad songs, only found comfort in black nights, and always loved bad news. The sun shone in a perfectly cloudless sky. Eighty-two-degree heat sent sweat trickling down Lumikki’s back. Her arms and legs were sticky. If she’d licked the back of her hand, she would have tasted salt. Each strap on her sandals felt like one too many. Her toes and the soles of her feet yearned for freedom.
Sitting down on a stone wall, Lumikki took off her sandals, pulled up her legs, and wiggled her toes. A group of Japanese tourists stared. A couple of the young women giggled. Hadn’t they ever seen bare feet before?
Hello, I’m from the land of the Moomins. Moomins don’t wear shoes.
It wasn’t raining like in the song. It hadn’t rained for five days.
Lumikki couldn’t sing along with Shirley because then she would have been lying. She could be happy without rain. Like now. The sun was shining and she was happy. She didn’t want things to be complicated. She didn’t feel good only when things were going wrong. Shirley could keep her doom and gloom. Lumikki switched off the music and let the tourist chatter fill her ears.
Italian, Spanish, American English, German, French, Japanese, Russian. In the melee of languages, it was tough to pick out individual words, let alone phrases. It was actually a relief because then she didn’t have to concentrate on the trivial repetition of obvious banalities. Lumikki knew exactly what most people said at this spot.
What a view!
And it was. There was no denying it. The view over Prague was stunning. Red tile roofs, treetops, church towers, bridges, the Vltava River glittering in the sun. The city took Lumikki’s breath away. Even after five days, she still wasn’t used to this sight. Every day, she made her way to some high place just to gaze at the city and feel this inexplicable joy.
Maybe it was the freedom of detachment and solitude she felt. She was completely on her own. She wasn’t accountable to anyone. No one was calling for her and no one wanted to know her schedule. She didn’t have a single responsibility. Thoughts of preparing for her senior year of high school and working for the second half of the summer could wait until she was back in Finland. Now there was only her, the blazing heat, and the city, which breathed deep sighs of history.
It was June 16. Lumikki only had a week left of her Prague vacation before she was supposed to return to Finland to spend a traditional Midsummer with her extended family, this year in the Turku archipelago. She hadn’t known how to refuse when her father assumed that of course Lumikki would come. She didn’t have anything else going on, did she? A cabin rented with some friends? Special plans with a special someone?
No, nothing. Lumikki would have preferred to spend Midsummer at her apartment, alone, listening to the silence. She didn’t yearn for merry schnapps songs, new potatoes, or herring. She didn’t want to play the role of the diligent schoolgirl, smiling and chatting politely, giving vague answers to questions about the future and boyfriends, pushing away uncles who weren’t biologically related and hugged her just a little too long.
But she knew Dad really wanted her to come. Mom too. Only three and a half months had passed since Lumikki was in the hospital. She’d been shot in the thigh, but luckily the bullet had only grazed the skin. Much worse was the frostbite she got from lying in the snow. Working to unravel the mystery of a trash bag full of blood-soaked cash thrown into her classmate Elisa’s backyard had gotten her in trouble with a network of drug smugglers. Tracking Elisa’s dad, a narcotics cop on the take, had led Lumikki to a lavish party at a carefully guarded mansion. There, she’d learned that the leader of the smuggling operation, known as Polar Bear, was actually two women who were identical twins. Lumikki had been
forced to flee when Boris Sokolov, Polar Bear’s thug, recognized her.
Based on Lumikki’s testimony, Sokolov and Elisa’s father both ended up behind bars, but no one could touch the Polar Bear twins. After everything that happened in March, Lumikki had decided that, from now on, she truly was never going to stick her nose in anyone else’s business ever again. She had been chased, nearly frozen in a freezer, and shot. That was quite enough, thank you very much. No more blood. No more sleuthing or running for her life through the snow in slippery combat boots.