Monday, May 27, 2019

Selecting a book by its cover

I haven't yet got a copy of G R Halliday's From the Shadows however I hope to acquire one as its cover reminds me of one of my favourite reads from last year: The Devil's Dice by Roz Watkins.


















Here's the blurb for From the Shadows from amazon:

Seven days. Four deaths. One chance to catch a killer.

Sixteen-year-old Robert arrives home late. Without a word to his dad, he goes up to his bedroom. Robert is never seen alive again.

A body is soon found on the coast of the Scottish Highlands. Detective Inspector Monica Kennedy stands by the victim in this starkly beautiful and remote landscape. Instinct tells her the case won’t begin and end with this one death.

Meanwhile, Inverness-based social worker Michael Bach is worried about one of his clients whose last correspondence was a single ambiguous text message; Nichol Morgan has been missing for seven days.

As Monica is faced with catching a murderer who has been meticulously watching and waiting, Michael keeps searching for Nichol, desperate to find him before the killer claims another victim.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

The Petrona Award 2019 - Winner

Announcing the winner for:



The 2019 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year

On 11 May 2019, at the Gala Dinner at CrimeFest, Bristol, Petrona Award judges Kat Hall and Sarah Ward announced the winner of the 2019 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

The winner is THE KATHARINA CODE by Jørn Lier Horst, translated from the Norwegian by Anne Bruce and published by Michael Joseph.

As well as the trophy, Jørn Lier Horst receives a pass to and a guaranteed panel at next year's CrimeFest.

Jørn Lier Horst and Anne Bruce will also receive a cash prize.

The judges' statement on THE KATHARINA CODE:

THE KATHARINA CODE is a twenty-year-old mystery and failure of justice that haunts its investigator. From the code’s intriguing introduction in the novel’s opening pages to the duel of wits at its end, Jørn Lier Horst has crafted an outstanding and thrilling police procedural. The judges were particularly impressed with how the author takes established tropes – the ‘cold case’, the longstanding suspect, the dogged nature of policework – and combines them in ways that are innovative and fresh. THE KATHARINA CODE is the seventh novel in Horst’s ‘William Wisting’ series to be superbly translated by Anne Bruce from Norwegian into English, and a highly worthy winner of the 2019 Petrona Award.

This is the second time that Jørn Lier Horst has received the Petrona Award: he first won in 2016 with THE CAVEMAN, translated by Anne Bruce and published by Sandstone Press. Both of the winning novels are from Horst's excellent 'Wisting' series.


The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his generous support of the 2019 Petrona Award.

Watch the presentation (recorded via Facebook):



Jørn Lier Horst with his second Petrona Award trophy:



Awards News: CWA International Dagger Longlist (2019)

Here is the longlist for the CWA International Dagger 2019. The shortlist will be announced in the summer and the winner in October. (Taken from the CWA website.):


Author Title Translator Publisher
Dov Alfon A Long Night in Paris Daniella Zamir Maclehose Press
Karin Brynard Weeping Waters Maya Fowler & Isobel Dixon Europa – World Noir
Gianrico Carofiglio The Cold Summer Howard Curtis Bitter Lemon Press
Keigo Higashino Newcomer Giles Murray Little, Brown
Håkan Nesser The Root of Evil Sarah Death Pan Macmillan – Mantle
Cay Rademacher The Forger Peter Millar Arcadia Books
Andrea Camilleri The Overnight Kidnapper Stephen Sartarelli Pan Macmillan – Mantle
Kjell Ola Dahl The Courier Don Bartlett Orenda Books
Martin Holmén Slugger A A Prime Pushkin Vertigo
Jørn Lier Horst The Katherina Code Anne Bruce Penguin – Michael Joseph

Friday, May 03, 2019

New Releases - May 2019

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in May 2019 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). May 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.
• Abson, G D - Black Wolf #2 Senior Investigator Natalya Ivanova, St Petersburg, Russia
• Adams, Jane - The Clockmaker #4 Detective Chief Inspector Henry Johnstone, 1928
• Ahnhem, Stefan - Motive X #4 Fabian Risk
• Allan, Claire - Forget Me Not
• Bannalec, Jean-Luc - The Missing Corpse #4 Commissioner Dupin
• Bilal, Parker - The Divinities #1 Crane and Drake, London
• Billingham, Mark - Their Little Secret #16 DI Tom Thorne, London
• Boyd, Damien - Beyond the Point #9 DI Nick Dixon
• Bradby, Tom - Secret Service
• Carter, Chris - Hunting Evil #10 Homicide Detective Robert Hunter, LA
• Curran, Chris - All the Little Lies
• Drinkwater, Carol - The House on the Edge of the Cliff
• Feeney, Alice - I Know Who You Are
• Finch, Paul - Stolen #3 Lucy Clayburn
• FitzGerald, Helen - Worst Case Scenario
• Ford, Nicola - The Lost Shrine #2 Hills & Barbrook
• Friis, Agnete - The Summer of Ellen
• Galan, Jorge - November
• Hall, Lisa - Have You Seen Her
• Hamer, Kate - Crushed
• Hanington, Peter - A Single Source #2 William Carver, BBC Reporter
• Harris, Oliver - A Shadow Intelligence
• Hawkins, Alis - In Two Minds #2 Harry Probert-Lloyd, 1850s, Wales
• Hilary, Sarah - Never Be Broken #6 DI Marnie Rome
• Jackson, David - Your Deepest Fear #4 DS Nathan Cody, Liverpool
• James, Peter - Dead at First Sight #15 Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, Brighton
• Johnstone, Doug - Breakers
• Jordan, Jack - Night by Night
• Kendal, Claire - I Spy
• Khoury, Raymond - The Ottoman Secret
• Kutscher, Volker - The Fatherland Files #4 Detective Inspector Rath, Berlin, 1929/30s
• Lawler, Liz - I'll Find You
• Lindsay, Douglas - Boy in the Well #2 DI Westphall
• MacBride, Stuart - All That's Dead #12 DS Logan McRae, Aberdeen
• Mariani, Scott - Valley of Death #19 Ben Hope, Ex-SAS
• Massey, Sujata - The Satapur Moonstone #2 Perveen Mistry, India's only female lawyer, 1920s
• McKenna, Clara - Murder At Morrington Hall #1 Stella and Lyndy, 1905
• Mina, Denise - Conviction #1 Anna McDonald
• Moore, Syd - Strange Tombs #4 Rosie Strange
• Morris, Vera - The Loophole #3 Anglian Detective Agency series
• Nadel, Barbara - A Knife to the Heart #21 Cetin Ikmen, Policeman, Istanbul
• Newham, Vicky - Out of the Ashes #2 DI Maya Rahman
• O'Connor, Deborah - The Dangerous Kind
• O'Sullivan, Darren - Closer Than You Think
• O'Sullivan, Darren - Close Your Eyes
• Padura, Leonardo - Grab a Snake by the Tail #7 Lt Mario Conde, Cuba
• Pavone, Chris - The Paris Diversion #2 Expats
• Reeve, Alex - The Anarchists' Club #2 Leo Stanhope, Victorian era
• Roberts, Mark - Date With Death #5 DCI Eve Clay, Liverpool
• Robinson, Maggie - Who's Sorry Now? #2 Lady Adelaide, England, 1924
• Rowe, Rosemary - A Prisoner of Privilege #18 Mosaicist Libertus, Glevum (modern Gloucester)
• Russell, Leigh - Rogue Killer #12 DI Geraldine Steel
• Sansom, Ian - The Sussex Murders #5 The County Guides to Murder
• Sebastian, Tim - Fatal Ally
• Shaw, William - Deadland #2 DS Alexandra Cupidi
• Shelton, Paige - The Loch Ness Papers #4 Scottish Bookshop Mystery
• Sheridan, Sara - Indian Summer #7 Mirabelle Bevan (retired Secret Service), 1950s
• Steiner, Peter - The Good Cop
• Swallow, James - Shadow #4 Marc Dane
• Wagner, David P - Roman Count Down #6 Rick Montoya Italian Mysteries
• Wassmer, Julie - Murder Fest #6 Pearl Nolan, Whitstable
• Weaver, Tim - No One Home #10 David Raker, Missing Persons Investigator
• Webb, Katherine - The Disappearance
• Welsh, Kaite - The Unquiet Heart #2 Sarah Gilchrist, Victorian Era, Scotland
• Wilson, Andrew - Death in a Desert Land #3 Agatha Christie
• Woodhouse, Jake - The Copycat #4 Inspector Jaap Rykel, Amsterdam