Arnaldur was born in Reykjavík, the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Iceland in 1996. He worked as journalist for the newspaper Morgunblaðið in 1981-1982, and later freelanced. From 1986 to 2001, he was a film critic for Morgunblaðið.

He published his first book, Sons of Dust (Synir duftsins) in 1997, the first in the series of Detective Erlendur. The series includes ten novels as of 2010.

Arnaldur's books have been published in twenty-six countries and have been translated into Russian, Polish, German, Greek, Danish, English, Italian, Czech, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Chinese and French. Arnaldur received the Glass Key award, a literature prize for the best Nordic crime novel, in 2002 and 2003. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 2005 for the novel Silence of the Grave.

He lives in Reykjavík with his wife and three children.

Detective Erlendur series

• Synir duftsins (Sons of Dust, 1997)
• Dauðarósir (Silent Kill, 1998)
• Mýrin (Tainted Blood, also known as Jar City, 2000)
• Grafarþögn (Silence of the Grave, 2001)
• Röddin (Voices, 2003)
• Kleifarvatn (The Draining Lake, 2004)
• Vetrarborgin (Arctic Chill, 2005)
• Harðskafi (Hypothermia, 2007)
• Myrká (2008)
• Svörtuloft (2009)

Other novels

• Napóleonsskjölin (Operation Napoleon, 1999)
• Bettý (2003)
• Konungsbók (The King's Book, 2006)

Other writings

• Leyndardómar Reykjavíkur 2000 (one chapter; 2000)
• Reykjavík-Rotterdam (screenplay co-writer, 2008)

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