2026 Petrona Award Shortlist

 

Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2026 Petrona Award

Seven impressive crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2026 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Thursday 24 September and is as follows:

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)

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

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

The winning title will be announced on 22 October 2026.

The Petrona 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.

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

There were 28 entries for the 2026 Petrona Award from six countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). This year’s shortlist sees Iceland represented with three novels, Finland with two, and Norway and Sweden with one novel each. The judges selected the shortlist from a strong pool of candidates with the seven shortlisted authors including two previous Petrona Award winners: Satu Rämö and Antti Tuomainen.

Independent publishers Corylus Books and Orenda Books both have two entries on the shortlist with Corylus’s both being translated by Quentin Bates. Amazon Crossing, Pushkin Vertigo and Zaffre have one entry apiece.

For Snæbjörn Arngrímsso, Jón Atli Jónasson and Ørjan N Karlsson, this is their first novel in English translation and for John Ajvide Lindqvist this is his first crime novel in translation.

The sub-genres of the shortlisted novels range from comedy to noir with the police procedural being particularly well represented this year.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the translators whose expertise and skill have allowed readers to access these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction.

Further information can be found on the Petrona Award website: http://www.petronaaward.co.uk.

Vikki Wakefield on How to Make a Monster

Nothing drives my imagination quite like opening up to the questions surrounding an intensely personal fear—and nothing scares me more than the thought of losing a child. When I started researching and writing After You Were Gone, I was drawn into the heart-breaking world of parents and families of missing children. To lose a child is devastating enough, but to endure a lifetime of not knowing what happened to them?

This is the terrible limbo of ambiguous loss. 

In death, there is finality; there are processes, rituals, and a gradual progression through the stages of grief. To suffer ambiguous loss is to enter a relentless cycle of unresolved grief and hopelessness, and it takes strength, support and unity to survive. Rightfully or wrongfully, a degree of judgement and suspicion comes along with being the parent of a missing child and, while tragedy is the thread that ties some families together, it can also become a wedge that pushes them apart.

After You Were Gone is a psychological suspense thriller centred around a missing child, an abduction case gone cold, and a fractured family trying to find their way back to each other. The story opens with a wedding celebration: six years after her daughter Sarah was abducted, Abbie is getting married to a man she loves, and who loves her. While her loss is as raw as the day Sarah went missing, she is determined to move forward. But, within hours, Abbie’s life changes abruptly for a second time and she is faced with a choice: destroy her new life by following the instructions of an anonymous caller offering closure or maintain her fragile peace and continue the cycle of not knowing. 

What would you do if the unthinkable happened? What would you give up? How far would you go to know the truth? 

These were the questions driving the development of Abbie’s character and those of the people surrounding her in grief. As a writer and a mother, I was compelled to strive toward knowing what happened; as a consequence, Abbie makes unhinged decisions. While some will find her to be an unlikeable protagonist, I see her as a manifestation of flawed but unwavering parental love. Her desperation to know what happened to her child is deeply human and relatable, and it takes incredible courage to wander alone into an abyss. For Abbie, there is no other choice but to let herself fall—it’s the only way to break the endless cycle of grief.

Modern literature is littered with unlikeable and unreliable narrators. Readers either love them, hate them, or love to hate them, but the real test of an unlikeable character is: do they force us to test our own morality, and can we relate? During my research, two refrains common to many suffering ambiguous loss rose above the rest. The first was that the pain never stops. Without closure, there is no clear way forward; the finality of death is withheld. The second was that the parents of missing children would do anything—anything—to know what happened, even if it meant accepting that their child was never coming home.

Here’s the thing: men have been writing unlikeable female characters for centuries. Why then did it feel dangerous to write a character like Abbie, who not only self-destructs but takes the people who love and support her down with her? In these moments of doubt, I remember this quote by Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs:

“If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities.”

After You Were Gone explores themes of responsibility and blame, guilt and atonement, and examines familial relationships under extreme circumstances. It’s a character-driven psychological thriller, as much about the connections between mothers, daughters and sisters as it is about the mystery of a missing child. Set over three timelines—Before, After and Now—the story follows Abbie’s life from pregnant teenager to grieving mother, and to the present, when she must become a monster to defeat a monster.

No one is innocent. Everyone will be judged. The clues to solving the mystery of Sarah’s disappearance are all there, shrouded in the past, but the only way for Abbie to find the answers she craves is to sacrifice her future, and herself. 

What would you do?

After You Were Gone by Vikki Wakefield, No Exit Press £8.99 Out Now 

What happens to a family when a child goes missing? In a busy street market, Abbie lets go of six-year-old Sarah's hand. She isn't a bad mother, just exhausted. But when she turns around, her daughter is gone. Six years on, Abbie is in love and getting married. But her fragile peace is constantly threatened: not knowing what happened to Sarah. Then she receives a phone call from a man claiming to know what happened, but if Abbie tells anyone she'll never find out the truth. How far would you go to find your child?

Theakston Festival Rounds Up Six Suspects On Crime Novel Award Shortlist

The shortlist for crime writing’s most wanted accolade, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, has been announced.

The shortlisted six were whittled down from a long list of 18 titles. The prize, created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction, was open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2017 to 30 April 2018.

The shortlist in full:

Mick Herron, Spook Street

Val McDermid, Insidious Intent 

Denise Mina, The Long Drop 

Abir Mukherjee, A Rising Man

Stav Sherez, The Intrusions

Susie Steiner, Persons Unknown

Val McDermid, Susie Steiner, and Mick Herron return as contenders after being shortlisted in 2017, the year Chris Brookmyre took the winning accolade.

Mick Herron’s espionage thriller, Spook Street, is the fourth in his award-winning Jackson Lamb series. His acclaimed series is based on an MI5 department of ‘rejects’ – intelligent services’ misfits and screw-ups. Herron’s writing was praised by critic Barry Forshaw for ‘the spycraft of le Carré refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.’

Val McDermid’s Insidious Intent features DCI Carol Jordan and Tony Hill, two of the most iconic characters in crime fiction. The LA Times said it was a novel that ‘shows Val McDermid deserves her Queen of Crime crown’. McDermid last received the Novel of the Year accolade in 2006.

Denise Mina could make it a hat-trick after winning the award in 2012 and 2013, she is the only author to date to have won the Novel of the Year in two consecutive years. The Long Drop has already attracted a wealth of awards; Mina was the first woman to win The McIlvanney Prize for The Long Drop.

Abir Mukherjee is the only author on the shortlist for a debut novel. A Rising Man, saw Abir Mukherjee picked as a 2016 New Blood author by Val McDermid at the Festival. She hailed it as, ‘One of the most exciting debut novels I’ve read in years.’ It too has won awards, including the CWA Historical Dagger. His sequel in the Sam Wyndham series is A Necessary Evil.

The Intrusions by Stav Sherez was a 2017 Guardian and Sunday Times book of the year, dubbed ‘A Silence of the Lambs for the internet age’ by Ian Rankin. The book was acclaimed by critics for its echoes of Emile Zola and influences from Graham Greene to Dostoyevsky.

Former Guardian journalist Susie Steiner’s first crime novel introduced Detective Manon Bradshaw in Missing, Presumed, a Sunday Times bestseller. Her follow up, Persons Unknown, a Richard and Judy book club pick, has attracted huge critical acclaim.

The 2018 Award is run in partnership with title sponsor T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Mail on Sunday. 2018 marks the 14th year of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award.

Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston, said: “The shortlisted authors are already rich in awards, but there’s only one Novel of the Year, so it will be fascinating to see which of these remarkable titles prevails - all are simply outstanding.”

The shortlist will feature in a six-week promotion in libraries and in WHSmith stores nationwide. The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 14 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

Helen Donkin, Literature Festival Manager at Harrogate International Festivals, said: “The public’s vote is incredibly important. It’s the readers that have real power when it comes to judging a book’s worth, so I’d encourage everyone to make their voice heard – it’s free and simple to vote online.”

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 19 July on the opening night of the 16th Theakston 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 Theakston Old Peculier.