Our new favourite …

Podcast

What’s it called?

Death In Ice Valley

What’s it about?

A mystery which is little known in the UK but which has gripped Norway since late 1970 when the body of an unidentified woman was found, partially burned, in a remote spot near Bergen known as Ice Valley. The initial assumption by the police was suicide but in the intervening years all sorts of rumours have swirled around the case, many involving who the woman was (she has never been identified, but is thought not to have been Norwegian), how she met her grisly end and what she was doing in Ice Valley in the first place.

Who’s in it?

The co-presenters are Neil McCarthy, a documentary maker with the BBC, and Marit Higraff, an investigative journalist with Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Higraff has long been obsessed with the mystery and it was her inquiries which caused the Norwegian police to re-open the case three years ago. It still hasn’t been satisfactorily solved.

Best bits?

The revelation that the woman, known only as Isdal Woman, had been living in hotels in Norway under a series of aliases and had a suitcase stuffed with wigs among her possessions. Does that whet your appetite?

Where can I find it?

A co-production between the BBC World Service and NRK, it’s available to download for free via iTunes or from the BBC website.

For fans of ...

Locked door mysteries, Scandi Noir, Cold War conspiracies.