Awards News: CrimeFest Awards Shortlists Announced

The shortlists for the CrimeFest Awards have been announced. [Don't forget you can try and win a free pass here.]

From the press release:

STEPHEN KING, IAN RANKIN, PAULA HAWKINS AND MORE FIGHT IT OUT IN THIS YEAR’S CRIMEFEST AWARDS

2016 awards shortlist announced

CrimeFest, the UK’s biggest crime fiction convention, is thrilled to announce the shortlist for the Annual CrimeFest Awards. The shortlist includes a mix of established names in crime fiction as well as a host of new talent. 

Crime fiction heavyweights Stephen King, Ian Rankin and Robert Galbraith will be fighting it out in the listener-voted Audible Sounds of Crime Award, with other competition including debut novelist Clare Mackintosh for her breakthrough smash hit I Let You Go, and Paula Hawkins for her international bestseller The Girl On The Train, now a major feature film. Denise Minda and Linwood Barclay are up for the eDunnit Award, along with debut novelist Jax Miller for Freedom’s Child which she wrote whilst travelling round America on the back of the motorcycle. Elly Griffiths, Simon Brett and Christopher Fowler are amongst the names nominated for the Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel. Finally, Barry Forshaw is up for two H.R.F. Keating Awards, and Adam Sisman has also been shortlisted for his acclaimed biography of John le Carré.

The winners will be announced at the CrimeFest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, 21 May. For full shortlist details, please see below. 

Representing his fellow organisers, CrimeFest co-director Adrian Muller said: 

‘The shortlist for our awards this year is our most exciting yet, with some of crime fiction’s greatest writers up against some of the most successful debut novelists we’ve seen in recent years. To have such a diverse selection of authors spanning crime, thriller, humour, biography and non-fiction on the list is fantastic and showcases the talent out there within the genre! We are all very much excited about seeing who wins on 20^th May.’

Peter James, Anne Holt, Ian Rankin and Hugh Fraser are among the top names set to speak at this year’s CrimeFest convention. Close to 500 attendees, including more than 150 authors, agents, publishers and crime fiction fans from across the globe, will descend on the city for a jam packed four days of 65 speaking events and panel discussions.

The CrimeFest programme includes a full schedule of panel events covering everything from a mock-trial debating the hotly contested conviction of Steven Avery in Making A Murderer, to panels discussing topics such as ‘Crimes Against Humanity: Terrorism, War and International Intrigue’ and ‘Deadly Dames: Women As Killers, Investigators And Victims’

This year CrimeFest will be giving four independently published crime authors the opportunity to discuss their work at the Emerging Indie Voices Panel after what has been a landmark year for self-publishing. The convention also includes a Pitch an Agent strand, a literary agent speed-dating session where unpublished authors can present their ideas in a Dragon’s Den style session.   Those wishing to pen their own crime novel can take part in a Crime Writing Day, which includes sessions with agents and editors, optional manuscript assessments and a workshop with bestselling crime writers M.R. Hall and William Ryan.

Finally, Ian Rankin, Susan Moody, Laura Wilson and others will be battling it out in ‘Sorry I Haven’t A Cluedo’ – the ultimate quiz for crime fiction buffs, hosted by Mike Ripley

For the full line-up of authors visit www.crimefest.com/attend.html

THE 2016 CRIMEFEST AWARDS SHORTLISTS

The winners will be announced at the CRIMEFEST Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, 21 May.

SHORTLIST DETAILS:

AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2015 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader(s) share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook:

- Rachel Abbott for Sleep Tight, read by Melody Grove & Andrew Wincott (Whole Story Audiobooks)

- Lee Child for Make Me, read by Jeff Harding (Random House Audiobooks)

- Harlan Coben for The Stranger, read by Eric Meyers (Orion Publishing Group)

- Robert Galbraith for Career of Evil, read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio UK)

- Paula Hawkins for The Girl on the Train, read by Clare Corbett, India Fisher & Louise Brealey (Random House Audiobooks)

- Stephen King for Finders Keepers, read by Will Patton (Hodder & Stoughton)

- David Lagercrantz for The Girl in the Spider’s Web, translated by George Goulding and read by Saul Reichlin (Quercus)

- Clare Mackintosh for I Let You Go, read by David Thorpe & Julia Barrie (Hachette Audio)

- Ian Rankin for Even Dogs in the Wild, read by James Macpherson (Orion Publishing Group)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.

KOBO eDUNNIT AWARD

The Kobo eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2015. Courtesy of sponsor Kobo, the winning author receives £500 and a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for the eDunnit Award:

- Linwood Barclay for Broken Promise (Orion Publishing Group)

- Michael Connelly for The Crossing (Orion Publishing Group)

- Judith Flanders for A Bed of Scorpions (Allison & Busby)

- Suzette A. Hill for A Southwold Mystery (Allison & Busby)

- Laurie R. King for Dreaming Spies (Allison & Busby)

- Jax Miller for Freedom’s Child (HarperCollins)

- Denise Mina for Blood, Salt, Water (Orion Publishing Group)

- Andrew Taylor for The Silent Boy (HarperCollins)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

LAST LAUGH AWARD The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2015. The winner receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees for the Last Laugh Award:

- Sascha Arango for The Truth and Other Lies (Simon & Schuster)

- Alan Bradley for As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Orion Publishing Group)

- Simon Brett for Mrs Pargeter’s Principle (Severn House Publishing)

- Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May and the Burning Man (Transworld)

- Elly Griffiths for Smoke and Mirrors (Quercus)

- Malcolm Pryce for The Case of the ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste (Bloomsbury)
- Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Fox (Severn House Publishing)

- Jason Starr for Savage Lane (No Exit Press)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles in 2015. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction. The winning author receives a commemorative Bristol Blue Glass award.

Nominees for the H.R.F. Keating Award:

- David Stuart Davies & Barry Forshaw for The Sherlock Holmes Book (Dorling Kindersley)

- Martin Edwards for The Golden Age of Murder (HarperCollins)

- Fergus Fleming for The Man With the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters (Bloomsbury)

- Barry Forshaw for Crime Uncovered: Detective (Intellect)

- Julius Green for Curtains Up: Agatha Christie – A Life in Theatre (HarperCollins)

- Maysam Hasam Jaber for Criminal Femmes Fatales in American Hardboiled Crime Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)

- Fiona Peters & Rebecca Stewart for Crime Uncovered: Anti-hero (Intellect)

- Adam Sisman for John le Carré: The Biography (Bloomsbury)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths, November 2015, 352 pages, Hardback, Quercus, ISBN: 1784290262

Reviewed by Michelle Peckham.
(Read more of Michelle's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the second book from Elly Griffiths that is set in Brighton, post-Second World War, featuring detective Edgar Stephens. There is a new person on the CID team, a woman called Sergeant Emma Holmes, the subject of a lot of teasing, although Edgar takes a good professional attitude, and knows not to ask Emma to ‘put the kettle on’. The case facing the team at the start is the disappearance of two children; Mark, aged twelve and Anne, aged thirteen. They had been out playing after school, but had failed to come home when it became dark. And then, the children are found dead a few days later, discovered by a dog walker, with a trail of sweets leading to the bodies.

Edgar’s old friend Max Mephisto is also in town, playing in the pantomime 'Aladdin' as Abanazar, the Demon King, a job forced on him due to lack of work. Magicians are losing out to comedians such as Tommy Cooper, and the new development of television.

It turns out that Annie was a budding playwright, and had not only been writing plays, but had organised the other local children into an acting troupe, so that they could perform the plays in the garage of ‘uncle’ Brian. The garage itself had been set out as a mini theatre with red curtains above a small stage at one end. Brian is sure that the children hadn’t just run away, as they’d been looking forward to going to see 'Aladdin' the following week. But even more strangely, Annie’s latest play had been entitled ‘the Stolen Children’. Is there a connection? Or can the children’s death be somehow related to another similar children’s play ‘Hansel and Gretel’ or ‘Babes in the Wood’?

The usual slow but careful investigation follows, with Edgar and Emma both following up on different possible leads, to try to find out why the children went missing and who took them. Is there a link to the theatre and even to the theatrical production that Mephisto is starring in? The introduction of Emma onto the investigating team is a nice touch, and Edgar seems to have an incredibly modern attitude to women, choosing to use her skills and intelligence, rather than giving her more menial tasks to do. A gentle, entertaining story, that makes good use of the backdrops of Brighton and the theatre.

Michelle Peckham, April 2016

Review: The Drowning Ground by James Marrison

The Drowning Ground by James Marrison, March 2016, 384 pages, Paperback, Penguin, ISBN: 1405916931

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

A noise came behind me, muffled in the roar of the fire. A shout. I looked back. Turner was crouching in the opening of the space, gesturing wildly for me to get out. I had never seen anyone so angry or so scared. I ignored him and concentrated on the body in front of me.

Lower Quinton, Cotswolds, August 1997.
The housekeeper had managed to pull the body of Sarah Hurst out of the swimming pool and when DCI Guillermo Downes arrives the medical and police teams are already in place. It takes two men to hold back Frank Hurst when he sees his wife's body. Somewhere else in the house the housekeeper is comforting Hurst's teenage daughter.

Moreton-in-Marsh, Cotswolds, December 2002.
DS Graves arrives at his new posting, a police station neat and quiet, very unlike his previous place. His boss, Guillermo Downes has not yet arrived but lunchtime chat in the canteen introduces Graves to his boss's nickname of “Shotgun”, no-one can tell him how he earned it. They do tell him however that Downes has got through two new assistants in no time at all. Graves loses his appetite; this isn't going to be the easy fresh start he was hoping for. Graves' introduction to Downes himself comes as he stares at a magazine cutting pinned to their office wall: a photo, headlined in Spanish, of a leaping footballer and an ecstatic crowd. “Hooligans” says the voice behind him, fondness in its tone. Then Downes extends his hand to Graves, all business. Next morning, Chief Inspector Downes drives to Lower Quinton, Meon Hill to be precise. A body has been found by a dog walker. Two bodies in fact. A man with a pitchfork thrust into his neck. And his black labrador, hanging from a tree by its choke chain. The dead man is Frank Hurst, owner of the land around Meon Hill. Seeing Hurst brings back memories for Downes: the man's dead wife, lying beside their pool five years ago...

Frank Hurst, a reclusive local landowner, is found brutally murdered whilst mending the hedges of his field, his dog also dead. A witness reports seeing a white van earlier in the afternoon, its driver standing arguing with Hurst. DCI Guillermo Downes had had strong suspicions of Hurst over the death of his wife, drowned in their swimming pool, but the chief had insisted that Hurst had a good alibi and there was no case to prove. It was the rusted flower-hairpin that Downes found in the swimming pool that stoked Downes' suspicions of Frank Hurst, and not just for the murder of his wife. Downes is wondering about the unsolved disappearance of two young local girls a couple of years before the death of Mrs Hurst. When a fire in the Hurst mansion reveals another, long dead, corpse – DCI Downes and his new assistant DS Graves are led into the dark territory of child abduction.

THE DROWNING GROUND is James Marrison's début crime novel. Marrison having been born and raised in the Cotswolds but now living in Argentina and working as a journalist gives us a clue to the origins of Marrison's protagonist, the Anglo-Argentinian police detective Guillermo “Shotgun” Downes. And as my usual reading choice is that of foreign crime in translation how can I resist the call of an Argentinian police detective working in the heart of rural England? In the earlier passages of the book, Downes' thoughts include the occasional Argentinian phrase or comparison which brings a sense of the “otherness” of Downes but further into the story this flavour in Guillermo's internal speech seems lost and I missed it. There are references to what might have caused Downes to leave Argentina, rooted in the dark days of the military junta in the early 1980s, but his full story remains a mystery. As does the reason for his new Detective Sergeant’s apparent fall from grace in his previous Oxford posting. I get the sense that Marrison plans more for this pairing.

Marrison's writing is atmospheric. Good at capturing place, landscape, weather, time of day, he paints pictures well. His characters are carefully observed and he successfully builds anticipation and suspense. The twist of the final “whodunnit” moment is surprising. But I did have difficulty with Marrison's device of first-person voicing most of the book from the point of view of Guillermo Downes then placing DS Graves' passages in the third person. It's a risky ploy and, although some readers seem to have liked the technique, it didn't work for me – I found the narrative switch jarring. But even though this book did not always hit the spot for me, I hope James Marrison will continue to write about the criminal world of Graves and Downes. There are definite strengths in the writing and plenty of room for its Broadchurch-like darkness. I hope there will be more to come for this Argentinian cast adrift in the assumed gentility of the Cotswolds.

Lynn Harvey, April 2016

Win: A Pass to CrimeFest 2016

CrimeFest have kindly donated a weekend pass to the upcoming event in Bristol on 19-22 May 2016.

The pass includes admittance to all panels and interviews Thursday to Sunday, as well as a delegate goody bag and a programme, and is worth £195.

2016's featured guest authors include Ian Rankin, Peter James and Anne Holt.

From the CrimeFest website:

CRIMEFEST is a convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fanatics. Whether you come with someone or on your own, by the end of the weekend you are likely to have made new friends. Drawing top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world, CRIMEFEST gives all delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in a friendly, informal and inclusive atmosphere. The programme consists of interviews with its featured and highlighted guest authors; over forty panels with more than a hundred participating authors; a gala awards dinner*; and possibly a surprise or two.

*The Petrona Award 2016 winner will also be announced at the Gala Dinner.

As CrimeFest will be drawing the winners, all entries will be forwarded on to them. I've included a box in the form below for entrants to agree to this.

The competition will close on 6 May 2016 at 11.59pm.
There are no geographical restrictions on entrants.
Only 1 entry per person please.
All entries will be deleted once they have been forwarded to CrimeFest.

To enter the competition, please complete the form below.

Keep up to date with Euro Crime by liking the Facebook page.

Review: Thin Ice by Quentin Bates

Thin Ice by Quentin Bates, March 2016, 279 pages, Constable, ISBN: 147212149X

Reviewed by Ewa Sherman.

I’d like the Icelandic cop Gunnhildur Gísladóttir, known as Gunna, to be my friend: no-nonsense, tired, logical, grumpy and loving, with sense of humour and boundless capacity to understand; a big country girl who still appears to be finding her feet in the capital. Well, maybe not a girl anymore… All these qualities get mixed up constantly to show a very real portrait of a woman who has to deal with criminals, the system and her own family. And in THIN ICE she is having quite a hard time as her own painful past catches up with her while she investigates the disappearance of two women into the thin crisp November air, and a strange arsonist attack in Reykjavík in which a petty crook dies. Gunna’s methodological, pragmatic methods, with support from faithful colleagues Eiríkur and Helgi, bring answers to the apparently unrelated riddles, and though the story is not Gunna-driven, her presence is felt everywhere.

So… Two minor baddies get into trouble, even if practical and reasonable Magni happens to be the accidental criminal: after losing his job on a trawler he agrees to assist Össur, an ambitious but stressed out crime kingpin in robbing a leading drug dealer called Alli the Cornershop. Magni acts as a ‘heavy’, muscles to Össur’s brain. They leave the scene with more than a quarter of a million euros. Yet the ‘escape to the sun’ plan goes wrong. They hijack a car with two women: mother Erna and daughter Tinna Lind and flee Reykjavik to the middle of nowhere where they have no choice but to break into a small hotel closed for the winter. Soon enough a new relationship comes to life within the group. While terrified high-maintenance townie Erna is in a state of shock, and Össur, gun glued to his side, swings between fury and anger in his cloud of stolen dope and rubbish television shows; Tinna Lind, hippy and carefree, finds the captivity very exciting. She develops a crush on Magni and so a new type of Stockholm syndrome case is born: one where the hostage tries to take initiative because Plan B fails to materialise, and her ‘hero’ takes care of getting supplies and petrol, cooking stews, and diplomatically smooths over aggressive Össur’s outbursts. Tensions rise... The four fugitives from law and crime underworld realise that being snowed in will not protect them from the police and Alli’s revenge and more powerful friends. Because detective Gunna will eventually find their scent.

Reading Quentin Bates’ books feels like being immersed in a good friendly chat: words easily flowing, plot developing in a relaxed manner, and suddenly bang! There’s another dose of cruel violence and though sort of anticipated it comes as a shock after you’ve became lulled into a sense of weird false security, magnified by the picturesque Icelandic landscape, promising peace and quiet. These contradictions make THIN ICE another gem from the master of the engaging and suspenseful crime story, who creates convincing characters and effortlessly portrays a country that he knows so intimately.

Ewa Sherman, April 2016

The Petrona Award 2016 - the Shortlist

From the press release:

Top quality crime fiction from Scandinavia is shortlisted for the 2016 Petrona Award

Crime novels from Finland, Norway and Sweden have made the shortlist for the 2016 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, which is announced today. They are:

THE DROWNED BOY by Karin Fossum tr. Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway)

THE DEFENCELESS by Kati Hiekkapelto tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland)

THE CAVEMAN by Jorn Lier Horst tr. Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press; Norway)

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB by David Lagercrantz tr. George Goulding (MacLehose Press; Sweden)

SATELLITE PEOPLE by Hans Olav Lahlum tr. Kari Dickson (Mantle/Pan Macmillan; Norway)

DARK AS MY HEART by Antti Tuomainen tr. Lola Rogers (Harvill Secker; Finland)

The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 21 May during the annual international crime fiction event CrimeFest, held in Bristol 19-22 May 2016.

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 about the award can be found on the Petrona Award website

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

THE DROWNED BOY by Karin Fossum tr. Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway)

Fossum’s spare prose and straightforward narrative belie the complexity at the heart of this novel. After the drowning of a young child with Down’s Syndrome, Chief Inspector Sejer must ask himself if one of the parents could have been involved. The nature of grief is explored, along with the experience of parenting children with learning difficulties. There’s a timeless feel to the writing and a sense of justice slowly coming to pass.

THE DEFENCELESS by Kati Hiekkapelto tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland)

The second in Hiekkapelto’s ‘Anna Fekete’ series is an assured police procedural rooted in the tradition of the Nordic social crime novel. Its exploration of immigrant experiences is nuanced and timely, and is woven into an absorbing mystery involving an elderly man’s death and the escalating activities of an international gang. A mature work by a writer who is unafraid to take on challenging topics.

THE CAVEMAN by Jorn Lier Horst tr. Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press; Norway)

Horst’s The Caveman begins with the discovery of a four-month-old corpse just down the road from William Wisting’s home. Troubled by his neighbour’s lonely death in an apparently uncaring society, the Chief Inspector embarks on one of the most disturbing cases of his career. Beautifully written, this crime novel is a gripping read that draws on the author’s own experiences to provide genuine insights into police procedure and investigation.

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB by David Lagercrantz tr. George Goulding (MacLehose Press; Sweden)

The late Stieg Larsson created the groundbreaking, two-fingers-to-society, bisexual anti-heroine Lisbeth Salander. When Larsson’s publishers commissioned a fourth book, they turned to David Lagercrantz, whose The Girl in the Spider’s Web often reads uncannily like Larsson’s own text. His real achievement is the subtle development of Salander’s character; she remains (in Lagercrantz’s hands) the most enigmatic and fascinating anti-heroine in fiction.

SATELLITE PEOPLE by Hans Olav Lahlum tr. Kari Dickson (Mantle/Pan Macmillan; Norway)

An accomplished homage to Agatha Christie, Satellite People adds a Nordic twist to classic crime fiction tropes. References to Christie novels abound, but Lahlum uses a Golden Age narrative structure to explore Norway’s wartime past, as Inspector Kristiansen and Patricia investigate a former Resistance fighter’s death. Excellent characterisation, a tight plot and a growing sense of menace keep the reader guessing until the denouement.

DARK AS MY HEART by Antti Tuomainen tr. Lola Rogers (Harvill Secker; Finland)

Tuomainen’s powerful and involving literary crime novel has a mesmerising central concept: thirty-year-old Aleksi is sure he knows who was behind his mother’s disappearance two decades ago, but can he prove it? And to what extent does his quest for justice mask an increasingly unhealthy obsession with the past? Rarely has atmosphere in a Nordic Noir novel been conjured so evocatively.

With grateful thanks to each of the translators for their skill and expertise in bringing us these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 - Longlist

The longlist for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year 2016 has been announced; taken from their website:

Now in its twelfth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2015 to 18 April 2016.

The 2016 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Radio Times.

The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.

The longlist in full:

Time of Death by Mark Billingham, Little Brown

Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty, Serpent’s Tail

Career of Evil, Robert Galbraith, Sphere

Black Eyed Susans, Julia Heaberlin, Michael Joseph

Disclaimer, Renée Knight, Black Swan

I Let You Go, Clare Mackintosh, Sphere

The Moth Catcher, Ann Cleeves, Pan

Tell No Tales, Eva Dolan, Harvill Secker

The Ghost Fields, Elly Griffiths, Quercus

The Missing and the Dead, Stuart MacBride, Harper Fiction

Every Night I Dream of Hell, Malcolm Mackay, Mantle

Splinter the Silence, Val McDermid, Little, Brown

The Glorious Heresies, Lisa McInerney, John Murray Publishers

The Nightmare Place, Steve Mosby, Orion Fiction

The Final Silence, Stuart Neville, Harvill Secker

In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware, Harvill Secker

Death is a Welcome Guest, Louise Welsh, John Murray Publishers

Stasi Child, David Young, Twenty7

From 21 April, longlisted titles will feature in a six-week campaign across all 300 WHSmith stores and 80 library services, representing a total of 1645 library branches.

The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 31 May, followed by a seven-week promotion in libraries and WHSmiths.

The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

Previous winners of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award include Denise Mina, Val McDermid, and Sarah Hilary.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 21 July on the opening night of the 14th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Petrona Award 2016 - Progress so far

I met up with the Petrona Award judges yesterday and our annual photo is below.

It was particularly difficult to reduce this year's longlist down to six but eventually we did. It was a long lunch!

The press release announcing the six books on the shortlist will be available before the end of the month, stay tuned.

The winner will be announced on 21 May at the Gala Dinner at Crime Fest.

(Sarah Ward, Barry Forshaw, me and Kat Hall)

New Releases - April 2016

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in April 2016 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). April and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything do please leave a comment.

• Ace, Cathy - The Corpse with the Garnet Face #7 Welsh-Canadian Professor Cait Morgan, Criminologist
• Callaghan, Tom - A Spring Betrayal #2 Inspector Akyl Borubaev
• Carofiglio, Gianrico - A Fine Line #5 Guido Guerrieri, Lawyer, Bari
• Carver, C J - Spare Me the Truth
• Cohen, Tammy - When She Was Bad
• Connolly, John - A Time of Torment #14 Charlie Parker, PI, Maine
• Davis, Lindsey - The Graveyard of the Hesperides #4 Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco
• Douglas-Home, Mark - The Malice of Waves #3 Cal McGill, Oceanographer
• Flint, Shamini - Inspector Singh Investigates: A Frightfully English Execution #7 Inspector Singh
• Garnier, Pascal - Too Close to the Edge
• Hanington, Peter - A Dying Breed
• Harris, Joanne - Different Class
• Harris, Oliver - The House of Fame #3 DC Belsey, London
• Hilary, Sarah - Tastes Like Fear #3 DI Marnie Rome
• Jackson, Corrie - Breaking Dead (ebook only) #1 Sophie Kent
• Jackson, David - A Tapping at My Door #1 DS Nathan Cody, Liverpool
• Kavanagh, Emma - The Missing Hours
• Kent, Christobel - The Loving Husband
• King, Laurie R - The Murder of Mary Russell #14 Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes
• Leon, Donna - The Waters of Eternal Youth #25 Commissario Guido Brunetti, Venice
• MacKenzie, A J - The Body on the Doorstep #1 The Romney Marsh Mysteries
• Masterton, Graham - Scarlet Widow #1 Beatrice Scarlet, 1750s
• Meyrick, Denzil - The Rat Stone Serenade #4 DCI Daley
• Pasternak, Simon - Death Zones
• Ramsay, Caro - Rat Run #7 DCI McAlpine, DS Anderson and DS Costello, Glasgow
• Ramsay, Danielle - The Puppet Maker #5 DI Jack Brady, Whitley Bay
• Reading, Mario - The Templar Succession #3 John Hart
• Shepherd, Lloyd - The Detective and the Devil #4 Charles Horton & John Harriott, River Police, 19thC
• Sheridan, Sara - Operation Goodwood #5 Mirabelle Bevan (retired Secret Service), 1950s
• Sund, Erik Axl - The Crow Girl #1 Victoria Bergman trilogy
• Taylor, Andrew - The Ashes of London
• Thomson, Lesley - The House With No Rooms #4 Stella Darnell
• Winspear, Jacqueline - Journey to Munich #12 Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, 1930s London
• Yakumaru, Gaku - A Cop's Eyes

Publishing Deal - Sarah Ward

So chuffed to hear that Faber have picked up Sarah Ward's third and fourth books! From the press release received today:

Faber has acquired Sarah Ward's new novel A Patient Fury which is a gripping psychological thriller with a Scandinavian sensibility, set in the Peak District. A Patient Fury will tell the story of a deadly house fire that reveals deeply hidden family secrets and long-held resentments that have devastating consequences.

World all languages for A Patient Fury, plus one further novel, were acquired from Kirsty McLachlan at David Godwin Associates.

Ward’s debut novel, In Bitter Chill, was widely acclaimed and Faber is publishing the sequel, A Deadly Thaw, in September. Mitzi Angel, publisher at Faber & Faber, said: ‘There is a tidal wave of enthusiasm for Sarah’s writing from the entire team at Faber. She has a very exciting career ahead of her and we are delighted to be publishing two further books—she represents a very important part of the list.’

Ward has reviewed for the Los Angeles Review of Books, crimesquad.com and Eurocrime. Her articles have appeared in the Sunday Express magazine, Traveller and other publications. She is a judge for The Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel.

Review: Ordeal by Jorn Lier Horst tr. Anne Bruce

Today's review is again courtesy of CrimeTime's Bob Cornwell.

Ordeal by Jorn Lier Horst, tr. Anne Bruce (320 pages, March 2016, Sandstone Press Ltd, ISBN: 1910124745)

After the international developments of THE CAVEMAN, more domestic issues are at the forefront of the latest book to feature Chief Inspector William Wisting and his daughter Line. An opening chapter finds Wisting contemplating his relationships with the three principal women in his life (but only briefly, as regular readers might expect): his current boss Assistant Chief of Police Christine Thiis, fifteen years his junior and so far careful to keep her professional distance; his pregnant daughter Line now established in a nearby house, as she struggles (with occasional help from her father) to expunge any trace of Viggo Hansen, its previous occupant (discovered four months dead in the previous book); and Suzanne, until recently a regular feature in Wisting’s life, but who has now moved on and is running a café in the centre of Larvik, their mutual home town. Also contemplating a new start in Larvik is another single mother, Sofie Lund née Mandt, grand-daughter of a prominent local criminal. He’s now dead, and Sofie (along with her daughter, the infant Maja) is moving into his old house which, nineteen years before, she had vowed never to re-enter.

But it is Suzanne that kicks off the major plot line with her report of an unusual reaction from a patron of her café to a newspaper report of the latest case causing Wisting’s brow to furrow: the disappearance “without trace” six months ago of local taxi-driver Jens Hummel. Meanwhile the ever practical Line, having left, maybe permanently, the pressure of her job as a journalist, and whilst dreading the impending birth, is set on giving her child the best (rural) start in life. Out shopping she is recognised by Sofie. Not only were they at primary school together but Sofie is a fan of her work as a journalist. Clearly a friendship is destined, and besides, there is a mysterious safe in Sofie’s grandfather’s house to be explored.

As I suggested, a low-key entry in the series, I guess deliberately. Arguably there are too many crime novels intent on delivering shock and awe. This one proceeds calmly, though with steadily mounting tension, particularly as an ancient pistol is found in Sofie’s grandfather’s safe, and it proves to have been used in a recent murder, one about to be prosecuted in court. Horst’s emphasis is as usual on Wisting’s team and their meticulous police work, Line contributing the occasional, often crucial development. The process is never less than fascinating.

But if you were hoping that with fireworks largely missing from the major narrative (though some actual fireworks play a key role in the story), Wisting might have time to reveal a little more about himself, you could be disappointed. Some fleeting memories of his dead wife, some philosophising with Suzanne over a quote from Nietzsche is all. His weary resignation is also revealed, rather than anger, over recent changes in Norwegian society. A little more emotion – and perhaps some humour amongst the police team – might lend the Wisting books more depth and render them a trifle more sympathetic.

And will Wisting redeem his vow to Line to be present at the birth of his first grandchild? I’m taking no bets, and you’ll have to read the book to find out...

Bob Cornwell
March 2016

The Petrona Award 2016 - The Contenders

One week from now, I shall be meeting up with the Petrona Award judges, Barry Forshaw, Kat Hall and Sarah Ward, to discuss the shortlist for the 2016 Petrona Award. The winner will be announced at the Gala Dinner at Crime Fest on 21 May.

So, in a very civilised manner, the shortlist will be determined next Wednesday and the details released shortly after that. I expect the shortlist to contain 6 titles but don't hold me to it!

The list below is all the books submitted for the Award so which of these would you put on your shortlist? Email, tweet, comment below or on Facebook. Do let me know!

Jussi Adler-Olsen - The Hanging Girl tr. William Frost, Quercus
Samuel Bjork - I'm Travelling Alone tr. Charlotte Barslund, Doubleday
Cilla & Rolf Borjlind - Third Voice tr. Hilary Parnfors, Hesperus Press
Jorgen Brekke - Death Song tr. Steven T Murray, Macmillan
Christoffer Carlsson - The Invisible Man from Salem tr. Michael Gallagher, Scribe
Arne Dahl - Europa Blues tr. Alice Menzies, Harvill Secker
Torkil Damhaug - Medusa tr. Robert Ferguson, Headline
Anders de la Motte - MemoRandom tr. Neil Smith, Harper
Kjell Eriksson - Open Grave tr. Paul Norlen, Allison & Busby
Karin Fossum - The Drowned Boy - tr. Kari Dickson, Harvill Secker
Nik Frobenius - Dark Branches tr. Frank Stewart, Sandstone Press
Lotte and Soren Hammer - The Girl in the Ice tr. Paul Norlen, Bloomsbury
Kati Hiekkapelto - The Defenceless tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books
Hjorth-Rosenfeldt - The Man Who Watched Women tr. Marlaine Delargy, Century/Random House
Anne Holt - Dead Joker tr. Anne Bruce, Atlantic
Jorn Lier Horst - The Caveman tr. Anne Bruce, Sandstone Press
Arnaldur Indridason - Oblivion tr. Victoria Cribb, Harvill Secker
Ragnar Jonasson - Snowblind tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books
Ragnar Jonasson - Nightblind tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books
Mari Jungstedt - The Dangerous Game tr. Tiina Nunnally, Doubleday
Mons Kallentoft - Water Angels tr. Neil Smith, Hodder
Robert Karjel - My name is N (apa The Swede) tr. Nancy Pick & Robert Karjel, HarperCollins
David Lagercrantz - Fall of Man in Wilmslow tr. George Goulding, MacLehose Press
David Lagercrantz - The Girl in the Spider's Web tr. George Goulding, MacLehose Press
Hans Olav Lahlum - Satellite People tr. Kari Dickson, Mantle
Hans Olav Lahlum - The Catalyst Killing tr. Kari Dickson, Mantle
Jens Lapidus - Life Deluxe tr. Astri von Arbin Ahlander, Macmillan
Liza Marklund - Without a Trace tr. Neil Smith, Corgi
Jo Nesbo - Blood on Snow tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker
Jo Nesbo - Midnight Sun tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker
Hakan Nesser - The Living and the Dead in Winsford tr. Laurie Thompson, Mantle
Hakan Nesser - The Summer of Kim Novak tr. Saskia Vogel, World Editions
Harri Nykanen - Behind God's Back tr. Kristian London, Bitter Lemon Press
Kristina Ohlsson - The Chosen tr. Marlaine Delargy, Simon & Schuster
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Undesired tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton
Alexander Soderberg - The Other Son tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker
Stefan Spjut - Stallo tr. Susan Beard, Faber & Faber
Gunnar Staalesen - We Shall Inherit the Wind tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books
Anton Svensson - Made In Sweden Part I: The Father tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Sphere/Little Brown
Johan Theorin - The Voices Beyond tr. Marlaine Delargy, Doubleday
Antti Tuomainen - Dark as My Heart tr. Lola Roger,s Harvill Secker
Carl-Johan Vallgren - The Boy in the Shadows tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Quercus

Review: Bad Samaritan by Michael J Malone

Bad Samaritan by Michael J Malone, March 2016, 298 pages, Contraband, ISBN: 1910192317

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

You know the excitement you feel when a book you have been waiting for for ages finally lands on your doormat? That almost overwhelming desire to drop everything you are doing and launch yourself into your book, mixed with a tingle of worry in case you end up hating it? That was how it was in my house recently, when BAD SAMARITAN arrived. Except it didn’t disappoint at all. Far from it. This book is every bit as fantastic as Malone’s earlier offerings and leaves you feeling ragged and breathless with emotion at the end.

Without giving away any spoilers, DI Ray McBain is back. He is still damaged and haunted by his dealings with Leonard and still wracked with the guilt of knowing he helped to put the wrong man behind bars for the Stigmata killings. His policing skills are still way below par but he is back. And his colleagues are as supportive as ever.

The story starts with the body of a university student being found on the street in Glasgow. She has been hit on the head and has plenty of forensic evidence on her but McBain is slow to find the killer and frustrated at his lack of success. Things are made worse for him when he is contacted by Joseph McCall – the young man who willingly took the blame for the Stigmata killings and is currently serving time in Barlinnie Prison. Joseph tells McBain that Leonard is back to his old tricks and that Stigmata will strike again. Needless to say, McBain is now even less happy than he was before and starts to fall apart at the seams. He has a panic attack and eventually gets forced to take time off to get his head sorted. However, being McBain he can’t let things go and gets dragged further and further into his own private cesspool of misery.

Knowing that Stigmata is after him, and getting ever closer, he struggles to come to terms with everything that has happened as well as what he must do in order to stop the killings before it is too late.

It is not often I read a book that is still with me days after I finish it. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times this has happened and BAD SAMARITAN is one of those books. Malone’s writing style is first rate and his ability to transport the reader into the world he has created is beyond compare. If you like books full of characters that are so full of life you feel as if you know them, then Malone’s work is for you. If you like darker crime fiction, with damaged heroes who are doing their best to silence their ghosts and make a positive difference in the world, then you are going to love DI Ray McBain; both in this book and the others he features in. Michael J Malone is a key contributor to the Scottish crime fiction scene. I am impatient to see what he gives us next!

Extremely Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, March 2016

Things Learned This Week (2)

News from 'Social Media' this week:

It's not crime but it is Danish - I strongly recommend Love is All You Need, which is on BBC Four tonight at 10pm and stars Trine Dyrholm and Pierce Brosnan.

Luther creator, Neil Cross, is to adapt the Tom Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith for a TV series, reports Variety.

Elijah Wood signs on for the US version of Dirk Gently's Holistic Agency (though not as Dirk) - more information is at Den of Geek.

ITV confirms that Marcella, written by Hans Rosenfeldt and starring Anna Friel will start on 4 April. Further details on the ITV website.

and some sad news - the founder of Arcadia Books, Gary Pulsifer has died. (The Bookseller.

Things Learned This Week

Here are a few things I picked up on email/Twitter this week:

Ian Rankin's next Rebus will be called Rather be the Devil and will be out in November.

You can download Copenhagen Noir for free until the end of today from Akashic Books.

Ragnar Jonasson's Icelandic series is to be made into a tv series.

The Absent One based on Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen will be in UK Cinemas on 8 April according to scanoir.co.uk.

Gomorrah Season 2 will be transmitted in the UK on Sky Atlantic from 10 May.

And don't forget, if you're in the UK you can enter the (Euro Crime) competition to win a DVD of The Last Panthers.

Free & Cheap Scandi Ebooks

Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo tr. Reg Keeland is currently free on UK Kindle and UK Kobo.


(The Girl Who Played with Fire is 99p on UK Kindle.)

Jorn Lier Horst's Ordeal tr. Anne Bruce, released today, is currently £1.00 on UK Kindle.

(Dregs and Closed for Winter are currently 98p each on UK Kindle.)

Review: Cold Justice by Lee Weeks

Cold Justice by Lee Weeks, November 2015, 480 pages, Simon & Schuster UK, ISBN: 147113363X

Reviewed by Amanda Gillies.
(Read more of Amanda's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This book begins with a suicide in a hotel room and you get the distinct impression that it isn’t going to be a particularly cheery story. Things go downhill from there pretty quickly for the son of the politician who kills himself and soon there is a missing child to worry about as well. In this latest book from Lee Weeks, we see detectives Carter and Willis once again stretched to their limits as they race against the clock to find the missing boy. Things are made more difficult for them by the way people keep holding back the truth. Toby – the politician’s son, for example, went for a walk with his child on the day of the funeral and came back without him. He forgets to tell the police that the child was left unattended at various points. Forgets or has something to hide?

Willis and Carter follow a convoluted trail that takes them to a small, seaside town in Cornwall. The residents are close and draw even closer together when questioned about their connections with the dead man and his son. Some fairly chilling information leaks out but it is difficult to know for sure if it is the truth or exactly how the past connects to the present.

You, the reader, feel dragged along as many rocky cliff paths as the detectives in their desperate search for answers. As time ticks by, your own anxiety increases and you feel the chances of finding the boy alive getting slimmer and slimmer. COLD JUSTICE has a delicious way of creeping under your skin without you noticing; frustratingly you find yourself wondering how things will turn out, and if the boy is still alive, when you are going about your normal routine but can’t get back to your book for ages. If you enjoy a book that gets into your head then this one is most definitely for you. The ending is simply perfect and the final answers will leave you shocked to the very core.

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies, March 2016.

Win: The Last Panthers on DVD

Euro Crime has 3 copies of the DVD box-set of The Last Panthers to giveaway. To be in with a chance to win a copy, please enter your details in the form at the bottom of this post.

Only one entry per person please.
UK residents only.
Closing date is 24 March 2016 at 23.59.

Watch the bonus clip which also contains brief interviews with cast and crew:

All six episodes of the drama series created by Jack Thorne. Samantha Morton plays Naomi, a private British claims specialist instructed by her boss Tom (John Hurt) to recover diamonds stolen by a Serbian group calling themselves the Pink Panthers from a bank in Marseilles. Also on the hunt is French-Algerian cop Khalil (Tahar Rahim), in a chase that will take them into the murky underworld of gangsters and gangs in Eastern Europe. The series features an opening theme song from the late David Bowie.

Review: The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood

The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood, January 2016, 400 pages, Sphere, ISBN: 0751550701

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.
(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is one of those “read in a sitting books”: well plotted, believable characters and a gripping storyline. The story moves between 2004 and the present day. Sean Jackson, a wealthy builder, was fifty years old in 2004 and celebrated with his wife Claire and their twin three-year-old daughters Coco and Ruby. They had taken over a house that Sean had renovated near Poole, Dorset. Also present were: the Gavilas – Maria and Robert - she is in media communications, he is a solicitor; the Clutterbucks, Charlie and Imogen - he is a Tory MP strongly tipped for the Cabinet and Jimmy Orizio, a doctor, and his wife Linda. There are children of similar age to the Jackson twins as well as Robert’s teenage daughter.

Sean's daughters from his first marriage – teenagers India and Camilla arrive but Sean was not expecting them and there is a row. There are builders next door, the weather is hot and the noise and heat make tempers rise. Over the weekend Coco goes missing.

The story in the present day is seen through the eyes of Camilla Jackson – now wanting to be known as Mila. It is eleven years since Coco’s disappearance and no sightings have been made. Sean divorced Claire and married Linda. Linda was killed in an accident at one of the homes they were renovating. Sean then married Robert's daughter Simone who is a similar age to Mila. Sean is found dead in embarrassing circumstances in a London hotel. The funeral is planned in Devon. Mila is persuaded by Claire to collect Ruby, the surviving twin, to go to the funeral. Claire won’t go to the funeral nor will India who now lives and works in New Zealand.

What happens at Sean and Simone’s home in Devon will have devastating consequences for all concerned. The Gavilas are there as well as the Clutterbucks, though he is no longer an MP,  and the disgraced Jimmy Orisio who was struck off the Medical register for impropriety, as well as Mila and Ruby.

I have never read anything by this author before, but I intend to read both of her previous books – THE WICKED GIRLS and THE KILLER NEXT DOOR. She is a journalist and writes well and is an excellent storyteller. I can't recommend this book enough. Brilliant.

Geoff Jones, March 2016

Review: The American by Nadia Dalbuono

The American by Nadia Dalbuono, January 2016, 368 pages, Scribe Publications, ISBN: 1925228193

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

“Enlighten me then – what does it remind you of?”
Scamarcio took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit up, breathing out into the cool air and then sucking it back in. After a few seconds, he said: “God's Banker”.

Rome: Detective Leone Scamarcio is on the Ponte Sant' Angelo as the CSI team haul the dead man back over its parapet, a rope still around his neck. His expensive suit bears a “Saks 5th Avenue” label, the trouser pockets are full of rubble. Something stirs in Scamarcio's memory: Roberto Calvi of the Banco Ambrosiano, “God's Banker”, found hanging, in 1982, under Blackfriars Bridge in London. His pockets too had been full of rubble. It had been a sensational case riddled with accusations of money laundering, fraud and Mafia vengeance. There had also been rumours of Vatican and right wing Masonic involvement but the connection to today's dead body is tenuous.
At police headquarters Scamarcio sends his U.S. contacts a photo, asking for a possible identification. Shortly afterwards, his boss calls him into his office to tell him that there are rumours of a death amongst the Vatican high-ups. When two visitors are announced – dark suits, aviator glasses, military haircuts – Scamarcio decides they are secret service but not Italian and indeed they demand to speak in English and their accents are American. Refusing to name their department, they claim the dead man is a suspected fraudster who, knowing they were hot on his trail, had killed himself and that is all there is to it. But their patronising tone and vaguely threatening manner in assuring Scamarcio that there is no need to pursue the investigation further and that they will supply all the necessary paperwork to clear it with the Italian authorities, puts Scamarcio on his guard.
That evening, determined to track down the pair's identity, he contacts an American journalist friend who specialises in the American security services. In the midst of their phone conversation Scamarcio spots a TV bulletin reporting the murder of Cardinal Abbiati. A prominent figure in Opus Dei, his apartment is in the same building as the headquarters of the Vatican Bank but Scamarcio knows that the Rome police will not be allowed into this particular investigation, the Vatican is literally a foreign land. The phone rings again. This time it is Aurelia. Their conversation is stilted. She rings off before Scamarcio can smooth things over.

When the pathologist finds signs of poison in the “suicide's” corpse, the corpse disappears and later its identity is revealed to be that of an ex-CIA man – Scamarcio and his police team are hemmed in by powerful interested parties. Aurelia is drawn into the dangerous game and Scamarcio is forced to turn to his father's Mafia contacts for help.

Nadia Dalbuono's second thriller featuring Rome detective Leone Scamarcio (a third is in the pipeline) is as much a conspiracy thriller as a detective story. Having worked as a documentary director for channel Four and ITV, Dalbuono says that she now enjoys the freedom of novel writing and relishes “being able to create my own dialogue after so many years working with the thoughts of others.” But the book's blurb linking it to the work of Donna Leon, I think, does THE AMERICAN no favours. It certainly set me up with false assumptions. Dalbuono's writing style does not particularly echo that of Leon's. There is the concern for the current “state of the nation” that is echoed in much good crime fiction from Europe but on the whole the tone and dialogue is as much that of a pacey trans-Atlantic-thriller as of an Italian crime novel. No meals are lovingly described in this book.

Don't let me leave you thinking I did not enjoy this book. I did. THE AMERICAN has a narrative which moves between Scamarcio's investigations in present day Rome and the voice of Carter, the dead American, whose memories stretch back over the last thirty five years or so. It also takes Scamarcio to the United States in his determination to solve the puzzle of the hanging man. But its strength lies in Scamarcio himself and his mounting dilemma as the son of a Mafioso with one foot in the protective camp of his father's old “lieutenant” and the other in his desired ambition to be an honest Roman cop. This strand alone should be enough to get you reaching for the next title in the series.

Lynn Harvey, March 2016