Award News: Petrona Award Eligibles 2019

It's the start of the Petrona Award season. Entries are now welcomed for the 2019 Award - the winner of which will be announced at next year's CrimeFest. Also, we'll soon be revealing a change in the judging panel lineup.

Here is a list* of books (41) that can be submitted for the 2019 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year ie:

• The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year ie 1 January – 31 December 2018.
• 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 2018 Award was Malin Persson Giolito for Quicksand translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles and published by Simon & Schuster.

The award is again, sponsored by David Hicks.

Gender, country and publisher details are also included.

*This list will be updated as and when additional titles are identified.

Published in 2018

[I have tagged these titles on Goodreads.]

January

Stefan Ahnhem - Eighteen Below tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus
Mons Kallentoft - Earth Storm tr. Neil Smith (Sweden, Hodder)
Anton Svensson - Made In Sweden Part 2: The Sons tr. Hildred Crill (M, Sweden) Sphere

February

Thomas Enger - Killed tr. Kari Dickson (M, Norway) Orenda Books
Camilla Lackberg - The Girl in the Woods tr. Tiina Nunnally (F, Sweden) HarperCollins

March

Lotte and Soren Hammer - The Night Ferry tr. Charlotte Barslund (M&F, Denmark) Bloomsbury
Arnaldur Indridason - The Shadow Killer tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Harvill Secker
Ragnar Jonasson - The Darkness tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Penguin
Leena Lehtolainen - The Nightingale Murder tr. Owen F Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Harri Nykanen - Holy Ceremony tr. Kristian London (M, Finland) Bitter Lemon Press

April

Kjell Ola Dahl - The Ice Swimmer tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books
Johana Gustawsson - Keeper tr. Maxim Jakubowski (F, France) Orenda Books
Jo Nesbo - Macbeth tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Hogarth

May

Lars Kepler - The Rabbit Hunter tr. Neil Smith (M&F, Sweden) HarperCollins
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Reckoning tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton
Inger Wolf - Frost and Ashes tr. Mark Kline (F, Denmark) People's Press

June

Jonas Bonnier - The Helicopter Heist tr. Alice Menzies (M, Sweden) Zaffre
Minna Lindgren - The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: The End of Sunset Grove tr. Kristian London (F, Finland) Pan
Kristina Ohlsson - The Lies We Tell tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster
Gunnar Staalesen - Big Sister tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books

July

Robert Karjel - After the Monsoon tr. Nancy Pick & Robert Karjel (M, Sweden) HarperCollins
Emelie Schepp - Slowly We Die (UK: ebook only) tr. Suzanne Martin Cheadle (F, Sweden) HQ, HarperCollins
Jesper Stein - Unrest tr. David Young (M, Denmark) Mirror Books

August

Jorn Lier Horst - The Katharina Code tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Michael Joseph
Leena Lehtolainen - Derailed tr. Owen F Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Ane Riel - Resin tr. Charlotte Barslund (F, Denmark) Doubleday

September

Christoffer Carlsson - The Thin Blue Line tr. Michael Gallagher (M, Sweden) Scribe
Caroline Eriksson - The Watcher tr. Tara F Chace (F, Sweden) AmazonCrossing
Susanne Jansson - The Forbidden Place tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (F, Sweden) Mulholland Books
Elisabeth Noreback - Tell Me You're Mine tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (F, Sweden) Allison & Busby
Viveca Sten - In the Heat of the Moment tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) AmazonCrossing

October

Lilja Sigurdardottir - Trap tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland) Orenda Books
Viveca Sten - In Harm's Way tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) AmazonCrossing
Antti Tuomainen - Palm Beach, Finland tr. David Hackston (M, Finland) Orenda Books

November

Jens Lapidus - Top Dog tr. Alice Menzies (M, Sweden) Corvus
Hakan Nesser - The Root of Evil tr. Sarah Death (M, Sweden) Mantle
Martin Osterdahl - Ask No Mercy tr. Peter Sean Woltemade (M, Sweden) AmazonCrossing

December

Lina Bengtsdotter - For the Missing tr. Kari Dickson (F, Sweden) Orion
Karin Fossum - The Whisperer tr. Kari Dickson (F, Norway) Harvill Secker
Martin Holmen - Slugger tr. Annie Prime (M, Sweden) Pushkin Vertigo
Inger Wolf - Songbird (ebook only) tr. tbc (F, Denmark) People's Press

Podcast News: Simon Mayo's Books of the Year

I used to download the podcasts for Simon Mayo's book group back when he was on Radio 5. I missed out on the Radio 2 book club,  which has now disappeared.

Simon Mayo and Matt Williams, have set up an independent podcast, called Simon Mayo's Books of the Year. It's been running for a few months and has included appearances from crime writers, Lynda La Plante, DB John and Manda Scott.

I'm enjoying it though I would like to see more women writers on the show, currently twice as many men have appeared.

You can download it via iTunes and I have been using the Acast app to listen to it on my android phone. Here's the Acast website listing all the episodes so far. The author interviews are every fortnight with a teaser episode in the gap. Also on twitter: @BooksOfTheYear.

Blog Tour: Review of The Shrouded Path by Sarah Ward

I'm very pleased to have been invited onto the blog tour for Sarah Ward's latest book, The Shrouded Path. I've reviewed the previous three: In Bitter Chill,  A Deadly Thaw and A Patient Fury.

The Shrouded Path by Sarah Ward (September 2018, Faber & Faber, ISBN: 0571332412)

THE SHROUDED PATH opens with a chilling premise. Six schoolgirls enter a railway tunnel but only five emerge. This event is witnessed by a younger girl and it haunts her for a lifetime.

Sixty years later, DC Connie Childs is looking into the unexpected death of a woman in her seventies. Her boss DI Sadler is on leave and whilst out walking in the nearby Peaks he meets a woman called Mina whose mother, also in her seventies, is currently dying in hospital of cancer.

Mina's mother has been agitated of late. She says she's seen “Valerie” but that she can't of as she killed her. Mina, understandably shocked by this revelation, promises to find Valerie and makes sure that she's well.

Sadler is called back to work when there is a suspicious death at the hospital and Mina sets off to find out about Valerie armed with an old photograph of five girls, her mother's school-friends.

Connie and Sadler's investigations draw closer over the book as they unearth a decades-old wrongdoing which is still reverberating in the present day. Tragedy ensues for innocent and guilty alike and the Bampton police team will be deeply affected.

From its atmospheric cover to the final page, THE SHROUDED PATH hooks the reader in and keeps them there. It sounds a deceptively simple premise however things are not what they seem and it is a knotted tale indeed. As with earlier books the narrative is told both by the professionals: Connie and Sadler, but also by a civilian, in this case Mina, a professional gardener with the excellent logo of 'The Land Girl'.

This is the fourth book in the quartet and it ends satisfactorily for the detectives we've enjoyed reading about but I do hope that they will return.

Karen Meek, September 2018. 

New Releases - September 2018

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in September 2018 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). September and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything or got the date wrong, do please leave a comment.

• Adams, Jane - Kith and Kin #3 Detective Chief Inspector Henry Johnstone, 1928
• Arlidge, M J - Down to the Woods #8 Helen Grace, Southampton Police
• Benn, James R - Solemn Graves #13 Billy Boyle, WW2
• Bonner, Hilary - Wheel of Fire #2 DI David Vogel, Bristol
• Broadfoot, Neil - No Man's Land #1 Connor Fraser, Stirling
• Buchanan, Tracy - The Lost Sister
• Camilleri, Andrea - Death at Sea #2 Inspector Montalbano short stories
• Carlsson, Christoffer - The Thin Blue Line #4 Leo Junker, Police Officer
• Carofiglio, Gianrico - The Cold Summer #1 Maresciallo Pietro Fenogli, 1992
• Carrington, Sam - One Little Lie
• Cleeves, Ann - Wild Fire #8 Detective Jimmy Perez, Shetlands
• Conway, Aidan - A Cold Flame #2 Detective Michael Rossi, Rome
• Corbin, Julie - Her Watchful Eye
• De Cataldo, Giancarlo - The Night of Rome (written with Carlo Bonini)
• Diamond, Katerina - The Promise #4 DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles
• Duckworth, Charlotte - The Rival
• Edwards, Martin - Gallows Court #1 Jacob Flint, Journalist, 1930
• Ellis, J R - The Murder at Redmire Hall #3 Detective Chief Inspector Oldroyd, Yorkshire
• Eriksson, Caroline - The Watcher
• Forsyth, Frederick - The Fox
• Frances, Michelle - The Temp
• Francis, Dick - Crisis (by Felix Francis)
• Galbraith, Robert - Lethal White #4 Cormoran Strike
• Green, Cass - Don't You Cry
• Harrison, Cora - Murder at the Queen's Old Castle #6 Reverend Mother Aquinas, Cork, 1920s
• Haynes, Elizabeth - The Murder of Harriet Monckton
• Hazel, James - The Ash Doll #2 Charlie Priest, Lawyer
• Higashino, Keigo - Newcomer #8 Detective Kaga
• Hilton, Matt - Marked for Death #12 Joe Hunter
• Jansson, Susanne - The Forbidden Place
• Lemaitre, Pierre - Inhuman Resources
• Macmillan, Gilly - I Know You Know
• Maitland, Karen - A Gathering of Ghosts
• Malone, Michael J - After He Died
• McDermott, Andy - The Spear of Atlantis #14 Archaeologist Nina Wilde & ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase
• Meyrick, Denzil - The Relentless Tide #6 DCI Daley
• Mitchell, Caroline - Truth and Lies #1 Detective Amy Winter
• Nickson, Chris - The Hanging Psalm #1 Simon Westow, Thief-taker, Regency Leeds
• Noreback, Elisabeth - Tell Me You're Mine
• Perry, Anne - Triple Jeopardy #2 Daniel Pitt, Barrister,1910
• Perry, S W - The Angel's Mark #1 Nicholas Shelby, Elizabethan Era
• Powell, E M - The Monastery Murders #2 Stanton and Barling
• Purcell, Laura - The Corset
• Raabe, Melanie - The Stranger Upstairs
• Redondo, Dolores - All This I Will Give to You
• Ridpath, Michael - The Wanderer #5 Magnus Jonson, homicide detective, Iceland
• Rimington, Stella - The Moscow Sleepers #10 Liz Carlyle, MI5 officer
• Ryan, Chris - Head Hunters #6 Danny Black
• Shaw, Alex - Cold Blood #1 Aidan Snow SAS
• Smith, Alexander McCall - The Colours of all the Cattle #19 Mma Ramotswe, PI, Botswana
• Southey, Roz - Scorcher
• Sten, Viveca - In the Heat of the Moment #5 Sandhamn Murders
• Tokarczuk, Olga - Drive your Plough over the Bones of the Dead
• Ward, Sarah - The Shrouded Path #4 DC Childs, Bampton, Derbyshire
• Weaver, Ashley - An Act of Villainy #5 Amory Ames
• Wood, Michael - The Hangman's Hold #4 DCI Matilda Darke