"Do you ever scare yourself?" Paul Blezard recently asked Yrsa Sigurdardottir at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival, which Bill Clinton called "Woodstock of the mind". 80,000 people come together in a small town in Wales where comedy and music and kids books and literary discussion and political chat and poetry are all in the same bowl. Among this year's participants were former US president Jimmy Carter, chess master Garry Kasparov, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, John Irving, Martin Amis, Jamie Oliver, Jeremy Clarkson and Cheerie Booth. Rhian Davis wrote about the panel Yrsa took part in on her blog on bbc.co.uk: "Quick, direct and with a humour that ran throughout, [Yrsa] replied that it is the culture in Iceland to 'scare our children', so nothing scares her anymore. ... Blezard asked Sigurðardóttir about the nature of Icelandic humour. She told us it had plenty of sarcasm and was much like the British sense of humour. No surprises then that she went down a treat on her Hay day."

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir has now been published in the UK and the reviews have been quite heart warming. According to the media Last Rituals is an "accomplished debut", "a surprisingly funny book" and is "jammed with suspense". Late 2007, it was published in the US and according to American critics, Last Rituals holds "even the most jaded reader's attention", is "suspenseful, compelling, unique" and "a terrific investigate thriller" and "history is more fund when it's horrid."

My Soul to Take (Das gefrorene Licht) by Yrsa Sigurdardottir was published in paperback on December 1 in Germany and went straight to number 39 on the German bestseller list issued by Buchreport.

My Soul to Take is sold in 14 languages. It got rave reviews when it was published in Iceland last year. DV weekly said: "My Soul to Take is a superb thriller which keeps the reader spellbound and shouldn't let anyone down, especially not if its read while the winter is deepest. " Frettabladid newspaper said: "My Soul to Take has everything a good “whodunnit” must have [and] proves Yrsa’s stunning debut, Last Rituals, was no fluke." And www.bokmenntir.is said: "Yrsa is a skillfull writer ... [My Soul to Take] is an entertaining crime novel."

Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir is "brilliantly plotted crime novel," according to www.kistan.is. The critic adds that the story is very well crafted, the plot keeps the reader turning the pages until the very end which comes as a total surprice. "Ashes to Dust is thrilling right from the start to the end, a real whodunnit where the reader is superbly lead from one chapter to the other so the pace doesn't slacken for a moment."

Ashes to Dust is still number two in fiction in Iceland, second to none but Arnaldur Indridason. Rights are so far sold to Fischer Verlag (Germany), Santilliana - Suma (World Spanish), Muza (Poland) and Diigisi (Greece.

This weekend, two of the major newspapers in Iceland printed reviews on Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. The book gets five stars (full house) in Frettabladid and the critic says that it's skilfully plotted and the reader is totally taken by surprice by the ending. Morgunbladid said that Yrsa's readers will now rejoice, the characterization is suberb and it's a very well crafted crime novel. Previously, www.kistan.is said that Ashes to Dust is "brilliantly plotted crime novel ... Ashes to Dust is thrilling right from the start to the end."

Damm in Sweden has now secured the rights to Ashes to Dust. Verold has already sold it to to Fischer Verlag (Germany), Santilliana - Suma (World Spanish), Muza (Poland) and Diigisi (Greece).