The Petrona Award 2026 - Longlist

From the press release which was embargoed until 8.00am today:

 

Petrona Award 2026 - Longlist

OUTSTANDING CRIME FICTION FROM FINLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 PETRONA AWARD

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - One True Word tr. Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)

Stella Blómkvist - Murder Tide tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Jón Atli Jónasson - Broken tr. Quentin Bates (Corylus Books, Iceland)

Ørjan N Karlsson - Into Thin Air tr. Ian Giles (Orenda Books, Norway)

John Ajvide Lindqvist - The Writing in the Water tr. Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)

Jo Nesbø - Wolf Hour tr. Robert Ferguson (Harvill Secker, Norway)

Aslak Nore - The Heirs of the Arctic tr. Sean Kinsella (MacLehose Press, Norway)

Satu Rämö - The Grave in the Ice tr. Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)

Lilja Sigurðardóttir - Black as Death tr. Lorenza Garcia (Orenda Books, Iceland)

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - The Wake tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)

Karin Smirnoff - The Girl with Ice in her Veins tr. Sarah Death (MacLehose Press, Sweden)

Antti Tuomainen - The Winter Job tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books, Finland)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners Satu Rämö, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Antti Tuomainen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books having three entries and Corylus Books and MacLehose Press having two apiece. Both longlisted entries by Corylus Books have been translated by Quentin Bates.

The breakdown by country is Iceland (5), Norway (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 24 September 2026.

The Petrona Award 2025 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller for a major book chain in the UK, Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE, and Sonja van der Westhuizen, a book critic for print and online publications in the UK and South Africa, as well as a blogger at WEST WORDS REVIEWS. 

The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

The Petrona Award was established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries. 

The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

More information on the history of the Award and previous winners can be found at the Petrona Award website.

The Petrona Award 2026 - Entries

I am pleased to announce that 29* titles have been entered by the publishers for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

The Longlist will be announced on 27 August 2026.

The rules for eligibility are:

• The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year ie 1 January – 31 December 2025.
• The author of the submission must either be born in Scandinavia* or the submission must be set in Scandinavia*.
• The submission must have been published in its original language after 1999.

(E-books that meet the above criteria may be considered at the judges’ discretion (does not include self-published titles))
*in this instance taken to be Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

More details about the award and the history behind it can be found on the Petrona Award website. The winner of the 2025 Award was THE CLUES IN THE FJORD by Satu Rämö translated from the Finnish by Kristian London and published by Zaffre.

Entries 

[11 titles are by Female authors and 15 by Male plus 3 teams of Female and Male authors. There are 22 individual or pairs of translators (8 Female (11 titles), 12 Male (16 titles) and 2 pairs of male and female translators (2 titles)); 7 countries are represented (10 Iceland, 7 Sweden, 6 Norway, 3 Finland, 2 France and 1 Denmark.]

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir - Home Before Dark tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland, Orenda Books)
Snæbjörn Arngrímsson - One True Word tr. Larissa Kyzer (M, Iceland, Pushkin Vertigo)

Stella Blómkvist - Murder Tide tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland, Corylus Books)

Thomas Enger & Johana Gustawsson - Son tr. Thomas Enger & Johana Gustawsson (B, Norway/France, Orenda Books)

Guðrún Guðlaugsdóttir - A Lethal Legacy tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland, Corylus Books)
Johana Gustawsson - The Scars of Silence tr. David Warriner (F, France, Orenda Books)

Jørn Lier Horst - The Lake tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway, Michael Joseph)

Arnaldur Indriðason - The Quiet Mother tr. Philip Roughton (M, Iceland, Harvill Secker)

Jón Atli Jónasson - Broken tr. Quentin Bates (M, Iceland, Corylus Books)
Ragnar Jónasson - Fadeout tr. Larissa Kyzer (M, Iceland, Orenda Books)
Ragnar Jónasson - The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland, Michael Joseph)

Ørjan N Karlsson - Into Thin Air tr. Ian Giles (M, Norway, Orenda Books
Lars Kepler - The Sleepwalker tr. Alice Menzies (B, Sweden, Zaffre)
Karl Ove Knausgaard - The School of Night tr. Martin Aitken (M, Norway, Harvill Secker)

Camilla Läckberg & Henrik Fexeus - Mirage tr. Ian Giles (B, Sweden, Hemlock Press
David Lagercrantz - False Note (ebook/audio only) tr. Elizabeth DeNoma (M, Sweden, Amazon Original Stories)
John Ajvide Lindqvist - The Writing in the Water tr. Michael Meigs (M, Sweden, Amazon Crossing)

Jo Nesbø - Wolf Hour tr. Robert Ferguson (M, Norway, Harvill Secker
Aslak Nore - The Heirs of the Arctic tr. Sean Kinsella (M, Norway, MacLehose Press)
*Olivier Norek - The Winter Warriors tr. Nick Caistor (M, France, Open Borders Press)

Satu Rämö - The Grave in the Ice tr. Kristian London (F, Finland, Zaffre)
Satu Rämö - The Shadow of the Northern Lights tr. Kristian London (F, Finland, Zaffre)

Lilja Sigurðardóttir - Black as Death tr. Lorenza Garcia (F, Iceland, Orenda Books)
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir - The Wake tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland, Hodder & Stoughton)
Karin Smirnoff - The Girl with Ice in her Veins tr. Sarah Death (F, Sweden, MacLehose Press)
Viveca Sten - Hidden in Memories tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden, Amazon Crossing)

Antti Tuomainen - The Winter Job tr. David Hackston (M, Finland, Orenda Books)

Christian Unge - Blood Will Tell tr. George Goulding & Sarah De Senarclens (M, Sweden, MacLehose Press)

Inger Wolf - The Perfect Place to Die tr. Mark Kline (F, Denmark, Wolf Productions)

*Olivier Norek's The Winter Warriors tr. Nick Caistor was submitted and is included in the statistics above, however the judges felt after reading that this was a historical novel rather than a historical crime novel and so was not considered for the longlist. 

** Mariette Lindstein's Children of Fog Island (translator unknown) was eligible but was not submitted.

Book covers courtesy of Goodreads:

Petrona Award 2026 - Eligibles

Releases - February 2026

In the better late than never category (possibly) here is February 2026's releases (103 titles). I have now got July's on the database and am trying to fill in the Mar-June gap. I may just do one post for those. I have nearly 150 titles for July though. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** 

 

Allingham, Merryn - Murder at the Homecoming #13 Flora Steele, Sussex, 1955
Amphlett, Rachel - What Evil Hides #15 Detective Kay Hunter
Atkinson, Heather - The House of Lies #5 The Alardyce Series
Baker, Ruth - The Mystery of the Forgotten Forgery #5 Lady Mildred Ramsay, 1920s
Beaton, M C - Death of a Groom (with R W Green) #37 PC Hamish Macbeth, Lochdubh, Scotland
Bonner, Sarah - A Killer Guest List
Brinkworth, J D - The Pie & Mash Detective Agency
Brolly, Matt - The Replacement #2 DS Liam Kilshaw
Browne, Sheryl - The Wife Before
Buchholz, Simone - Sharks tr. Rachel Ward #3 Chastity Riley reloaded
Burnett, R S - Deception Island
Carlyle, Christy - A Deadly Invitation #2 Electra Poole, London, 1870s
Carson, John - Second Chance #1 DCI Ewan McCall
Carter, A J - Welcome to the Family
Castle, Alice - A Country Manor Murder #5 Sarah Vane
Chase, Clare - The Antique Store Detective and the Riverside Murders #4 Bella Winter
Coffey, Edel - In Glass Houses
Coles, Catherine - Murder on the Cricket Green #4 Martha Miller
Connelly, Lucy - The Curious Case of the Poisoned Professor #1 Welsh Village Mystery
Craig, Fergus - I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home
Crawford, Frances - A Bad, Bad Place
Darlington, Leodora - The Exes ***
Dawson, Mark - Heatwave (ebook only) #11 Charlie Cooper
Dean, Will - Adrift
Dixon, Helena - Murder at Sea #23 Miss Underhay
Dylan, Michael - Drop Down Dead #5 DI Simon Wise
Ellis, Emmy - No3 #2 Crawshaw Street
Finnerty, Caroline - Other People's Marriages
Ford, P F - The Copycat (ebook only) #5 Burnham Files
French, Nicci - What Happened that Night #3 Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor
Gallagher, Charlie - Six Hours to Live #1 Police Constable Abigail Morton
Gatward, David J - Left for Dead #23 DCI Harry Grimm
Giles, Stewart - Hakuna Matata #1 Jan Norge and Hilda Baker
Giuliani, C P - Death at Home #8 Tom Walsingham
Godfrey, Jennie The Barbecue at No.9
Golden, Helen - A Dowager is Done-in #3 Duchess of Stortford, 1890s
Grace, Fiona - Treasure and Treachery (ebook only) #15 Lacey Doyle
Griffiths, Elly - The Killing Time #2 Ali Dawson
Halsall, Rona - The Gossip
Hoda, John A - The Foundling House #2 Doctor Henry Jekyll and Francine Murphy, London, 1889
Huntley, Jessica - Our Dream Home
Hurst, Daniel - I Want Your Family #1 The Hunt Family
James, Ed - The Broken Line (ebook only) #15 Cullen and Bain
Johnson, E L - Winter's Rose #4 Winter Murders, Lincoln, 12C
Jones, Rob - The Vatican Conspiracy #6 Hunter Files
Jordan, Adele - The King's Stolen Jewels #4 Shadow Cutpurses Tudor Thrillers
Jordan, G R - Seoras, Save the Kid! #2 Seoras Macleod
Keane, Jessie - Dead To Me
Kendal, Claire - Make You Mine
Kidd, Michelle - The Silent Boy #8 DI Jack MacIntosh
Leather, Stephen - Underdogs
Lee, M J - The Dead of Deva (ebook only) #4 DI Emma Christie
Lewis, N C - Moonlight Bones #9 DI Fenella Sallow
Logan, TM - The Weekend
MacBride, Stuart - And the Corpse Wore Tartan
Mackenzie, M R - The Cracks Beneath #7 Anna Scavolini
McCluskey, Laura - The Cursed Road #2 DI Georgina Lennox and DI Richard Stewart, Scotland
McDonough, Patrice - Murder by Moonrise #3 Dr Julia Lewis, Victorian Era
McGowan, Claire - The Other Couple
McLean, Rachel - The Marsh (with Joel Hames) #8 Cumbria Crime
Masson, Deborah - I'll Be Watching You
Matheson, Nadine - The Shadow Carver #4 DI Henley, London ***
Menuhin, Karen Baugh - The Belmont Affair (with Nicki Mason) #2 Alexander Wolfe, 1925
Miller, C L - The Antique Hunter's Murder at the Castle #3 Antique Hunters
Moggach, Lottie - Mrs Pearcey
Morrison Lynn What's A Little Blackmail Between Friends #1 Etty and Tris, Victorian Era
Musson, Hester - The Night Hag
Nadal, Jay - The Price of Silence (ebook only) #17 DI Karen Heath
Noel, Sarah F - A Burdened Woman #15 Tabitha & Wolf
O'Connor, Carlene - Murder at an Irish Session #12 Siobhan O'Sullivan, Kilbane, County Cork
O'Keeffe, Bernard - The Carousel of Time #5 DI Garibaldi, Barnes, London
Oliver, Kelly - The Case of the Christie Curse #3 Detection Club
Oliver, M K - A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage
Organ, Emily - A Death at Raven's Roost #4 Emma Langley, Victorian Era
Pannu, Suk - Mrs Sidhu's Just Desserts #2 Mrs Sidhu ***
Perez-Reverte, Arturo - The Final Problem tr. Frances Riddle
Pine, Amelia - Secrets of the Maison Fournier #1 A Belle Époque Bookshop Mystery
Preston, Alex - A Stranger in Corfu
Rawlins, CM - Death on the Airwaves #11 Maeve Morgan, Scotland, 1920s
Rees-Price, Cheryl - Where Darkness Dwells #11 DI Winter Meadows, Wales
Rhodes, Tyler - Brutality on the Beach #4 Max's Campsite Mystery
Richards, JJ - The Wetlands #6 DCI Walker, Lancashire
Richmond, Sadie Gordon - Close to Home #11 London
Riley, Mary-Jane - Beattie Cavendish and the Highland Hideaway #2 Beattie Cavendish, 1940s
Rose, Alex - The Game
Ross, L J - Berwick #24 DCI Ryan
Russell, Leigh - Silent Ties #24 DI Geraldine Steel
Salisbury, Emma - Small Acts of Mercy
Saxon, Diane - A Stranger in the Family
Scase, Leslie - Pagan Rite #5 Inspector Chard
Shaw, Alex - Target Echo #3 Wolf Six
Smith, Anna - The Widows
Stringer, Jay - Once Upon a Time in Glasgow
Taylor, Stephen - Whatever It Takes #13 Danny Pearson
Tremayne, S K - The Wrecker's Girl
Tyce, Harriet - Witch Trial
Weaver, Tim - The Lost Women #14 David Raker, Missing Persons Investigator
Westerbone, M J - Death of the Executioner #6 Draychester Chronicles
Whitelaw, Jonathan - All at Sea
Whitwell, Tracy - The Witch Finder #5 Accidental Medium
Williams, T A - Murder at the Duomo #14 Armstrong and Oscar
Wills, A J - The Couple in the Lodge
Wolff, James - Spies and Other Gods

The Cat Who - Japanese style?

I was a big fan of Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series, especially the earlier volumes, so I am intrigued by this new (in English) series which is being published in the UK from September. 

Japanese author Jiro Akagawa has, according to Wikipedia, written 35 novels and 13 short story collections featuring "Mikeneko Holmes", a calico cat. 

The first of these to reach an English speaking audience is A Game of Cat and Killer, in September, followed by two more in 2027, all translated by Haydn Trowell and published by MacLehose Press.

A Game of Cat and Killer is the first book in the series and was originally published in Japanese in 1978 as Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri.

Here is the delightful cover, and blurb (courtesy of amazon):

Detective Yoshitaro Katayama is afraid of many things: heights, dark spaces, blood and . . . women.

When a young female student is found murdered, he's given two choices - review the harrowing crime-scene photographs or head to Hagoromo Women's College to investigate - and reluctantly opts for the latter.

But the murders don't stop, and soon Katayama has a different surprise on his hands: a calico cat named Holmes, orphaned her owner falls victim.

Surely that's the last thing Katayama needs. Until Holmes begins to display some uncanny investigative instincts of her own . . .

Introducing one the most iconic investigative duos in crime fiction - a hapless detective and his capable cat - The Deductions of Mikeneko Holmes is a must for all readers of Japanese cat fiction and classic crime.

Also, this is a display from May of some other Japanese crime fiction at my library, including titles by the now late Keigo Higashino.

New Releases posts?

A couple of questions. Before I stopped posting back in February I actually had assembled February's new releases on my database. Is there are point in me posting them now or shall I just try and get a bit more up to date. I'm thinking of July as I've made a start...

Having said that I'm also wondering whether to just focus on books in translation as there are so many new releases each month now and it's quite time consuming and maybe I could do more and different posts instead?

Please leave a comment or drop me a message with your thoughts.

The Petrona Award 2026 - update

Hello and thank you for sticking around - I have some Petrona Award 2026 updates:

The details of the titles entered for the Petrona Award 2026 will be revealed shortly and that will in due course be followed by the announcement of the longlist which is currently being debated by the judges - more on them soon as well.

New Releases - January 2026

I am getting more up to date - here is what I've got on my database for January 2026. I am currently working on February 2026.  

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** 

 

Ahndoril, Alex - A Play to Kill tr. ??? #2 Private investigator Julia Stark
Alexander, Magda - A Murder on the Thames #3 Lady Rosalynd and Wynterbourne
Areklew, Lina - In the Dark tr. ??? #2 Detective Sofia Hjortén
Baker, Matt - A Taste For Murder
Beckett, Simon - The Bone Garden #7 Dr David Hunter
Bellamy, G J - The Toymaker's Case #1 Starling Hall Mystery
Blake, Sam - Your Every Move
Boland, Shalini - The Ex
Boyd, Damien - Blast from the Past #2 DI Bob Willis
Brooke, Amanda - A Good Liar
Burrowes, Grace - A Gentleman Far From Home #11 The Lord Julian Mysteries
Carlsson, Christoffer - The Living and the Dead tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles
Cartwright, Jack - When Blood Runs Dry #6 Deadly Wolds Murder Mystery
Carver, C J - Never Say a Word
Cole, M G - The White Horse #10 DCI Garrick
Connolly, Rebecca - Mayhem on the Marzipan Express #2 Claire Walker
Doherty, Paul - The Meadows of Murder #24 Brother Athelstan
Durrant, Helen H - Two Wives
Dylan, Rhys - Cross Cut #19 DCI Evan Warlow
Eldridge, Jim - Murder at the Pyramids #12 Former Detective Inspector Daniel Wilson
Elliott, Anna & Veley, Charles - The Valentine Cipher #8 The Homefront Sleuths
Ellis, Emmy - No5 #1 Crawshaw Street
Ellis, Joy - The House of Mystery #3 Ellie McEwan
Ellis, Kate - Killing in the Shadows #6 Detective Inspector Joe Plantagenet, Eborby
Feeney, Alice - My Husband's Wife
Finch, Paul - The Lodge
Ford, P F - The Conspiracy (ebook only) #4 Burnham Files
Goodwin, Sarah - The Alpine Retreat
Hall, Lisa - The Wife Swap
Hannah, Darci - A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle #2 Food & Spirits Mystery
Hannah, Sophie - The Opposite of Murder
Hausmann, Romy - Darling Mine tr. Jamie Bulloch
Henry, Steven - Night Flower #1 Coventry Adams, Victorian Era
Hepburn, Holly - The Locked Room #3 The Baker Street Mysteries
Higgs, Steve - Island Life #11 Patricia Fisher: Ship's Detective
Hindle, Tom - A Killer in Paradise
Hood, D K - His Next Wife
Hulse, C E - Vivian Dies Again
Hurst, Daniel - The Doctor #5 The Doctor's Wife
Idov, Michael - The Cormorant Hunt #2 The Cormorant Trilogy
James, Evelyn - A Rose by Any Other Name #38 Clara Fitzgerald
Kara, Lesley - Troublemaker
Karlsson, Ørjan - Into The Dark tr. Ian Giles #2 Jakob Weber, Chief Investigator of Nordland Police
Khan, Vaseem - The Edge of Darkness #6 Inspector Persis Wadia ***
Kuhns, Eleanor - A Murder of Furies #3 Ancient Crete Mystery
Lancaster, Mary - Petteril's Party (ebook only) #9 Lord Petteril
Linskey, Howard - Muse of Fire #2 William Shakespeare
Lynch, Rachel - First Act #1 DI Kelly Porter Prequel
Lynott, R K - Last Take #2 DI Ryan Hale, Chesterfield, Derbys
Macrae, Eva - A Death in Glasgow
Maloney, Anna - The 10:12
Manning, Nina - The Ski Lodge
Markin, Wes - Forgotten Depths #6 Detective Chief Inspector Frank Black, Whitby
Markin, Wes - The York Minster Killings #7 DCI Emma Gardner, Yorkshire
Marrs, John - Dead in the Water
Martin, Faith - A Dangerous Train of Thought #3 Val & Arbie
Mitchell, Caroline - The Ice Angels #1 Detective Elea Baker
Montclair, Allison - Fire Must Burn #8 Sparks and Bainbridge, London, Post WW2
Mosse, Greg - The Chateau Murder #2 French Village Mystery
New, J - On the Wrong Track (ebook only) #6 The Yellow Cottage Vintage Mysteries
North, Ely - Whale Cemetery #12 DCI Finnegan, Yorkshire
O'Sullivan, Darren - Our Daughter is Missing
Parker, Rob - Forbidden Waters #2 Cam Killick, Norfolk
Phifer, Helen - Silenced Sisters #17 Detective Morgan Brookes
Plant, Nigel - The Aztec Pursuit #4 Reed Hascombe
Rawlins, CM - Death in a Green Room #10 Maeve Morgan, Scotland, 1920s
Robb, Candace - A Lion's Ransom #16 Owen Archer
Seymour, Gerald - The Irregular #6 Jonas Merrick
Smith, Alex - Tin Soldiers #19 DCI Robert Kett, Norfolk
Smith, Fiona Veitch - The Berlin Murders #5 Miss Clara Vale, 1929
Stacey, L H - The One Night Stand
Thorogood, Robert - The Mysterious Affair Of Judith Potts #5 The Marlow Murder Club
Tope, Rebecca - The Eskdale Episode #16 Persimmon Brown, Florist, Lake District
Warner, Paul - A Spy in the Blood #1 Mark Wolfe
Watkin, Sean - Better Off Dead #2 DCI de Silva
Welsh, Louise - The Cut Up #3 Rilke
Wilkinson, Kerry - Tag You're It
Woods, Karen - The Hustle