Petrona Award 2025 Long list

Outstanding Crime Fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Long-listed for the 2025 Petrona Award.

Twelve crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2025 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

Dead Island by Samuel Bjørk tr. Charlotte Barslund (Norway, Bantam)

Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

The Widows by Pascal Engman tr. Neil Smith (Sweden, Legend Press)

Deliver Me by Malin Persson Giolito tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (Sweden, Simon & Schuster)

The Dancer by Óskar Guðmundsson tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

Victim by Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger tr. Megan E Turney (Norway, Orenda Books)

Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo tr. Robert Ferguson (Norway, Harvill Secker)

The Sea Cemetery by Aslak Nore tr. Deborah Dawkin (Norway, MacLehose Press)

Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books)

The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö tr. Kristian London (Finland, Zaffre)

Ghost Island by Max Seeck tr. Kristian London (Finland, Mountain Leopard Press)

Pursued by Death by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

The longlist contains a mix of newer and more established authors including previous Petrona Award winners Pascal Engman, Malin Persson Giolito, Jørn Lier Horst, and Gunnar Staalesen.

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Corylus Books having an impressive three entries. The breakdown by country is Norway (5), Iceland (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (2).

The shortlist will be announced on 18 September 2025.

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 team would like to thank their sponsor, David Hicks, for his continuing support of the Petrona Award.

 

Bringing Shrouded to life by Sólveig Pálsdóttir,

I’ll admit that I don’t push myself hard to start something new and normally take a break between books. I like to see a book find its feet before starting the next one. I’m convinced that the imagination needs nourishment so it can work, and I need to take a deep breath of what society is doing around me – because I have to have something to say and I’m not interested in repeating myself. Otherwise I don’t see the point in writing.

Shrouded, which was originally published in Iceland as Miðillinn in 2023, is the seventh in the series featuring Guðgeir, and when I sat down to write, I wasn’t even sure that this was going to be a crime story. I had a mental image of an elderly lady sitting at her kitchen table, reading a newspaper ad asking for geniuses, as she mutters to herself, polishes her glasses and sips her milky coffee.

To me this woman seemed to be a loner with an intriguing back story. I knew she lived in a house with red steel cladding in the old town in the western part of Reykjavík, that she had a disabled daughter and I saw her walking through the Hólavellir cemetery that’s close to the centre of the city. I wrote every day as the weeks passed. The story began to take shape but something seemed to be missing.

The deadline was looming for the book my publishers wanted, when I heard that the French Embassy in Iceland and the Writers’ Union of Iceland were offering the opportunity of a month-long writing residency in La Rochelle. I applied, and was chosen. In the spring I set off for France, looking forward to being able to write in peace and quiet. If I had known what was to come, I wouldn’t have gone. But now I’m thankful for what ensued, as the experience added the emotional edge that was missing from the manuscript, and I started making changes.

I stayed in a pretty little house located in a large and beautiful public park that was dark and deserted at night. Also supposed to be staying in this house was a French lady who was a playwright. To cut a long story short, I only saw the playwright when she came to collect her belongings, as she couldn’t bear to be there any longer after having spent two days and nights alone in the house. The reason was a seriously ill woman who lurked around the house, slept on the verandah and peered in through the windows during the day, chattering and calling out to people only she could see. I had only been told about this person as I arrived, with the instruction to absolutely not let her in, as a resident had done this during the winter when it had been very cold and the outcome had been a ‘BIG PROBLEM.’

I was told that this woman had many times been offered help, and always refused. She had long stopped taking her medication and had developed an obsession with the pretty little house in the park.

Despite feeling uncomfortable in this place, I wrote and wrote. I veered between fear of this sick woman and sympathy for her. I was often scared, especially at night, because the woman was angry with me for using the house’s rubbish bin – unaware that this was where she kept her things during the day, her mattress, blanket, pillow and sleeping bag. That night she was louder and angrier than usual.

I would lie awake far into the night, starkly conscious of the difference in our circusmtances. Despite the discomfort she caused me, I was in a clean bed inside, while she lay on an old mattress outside, and it was as well that the weather was fine. During the day I wanted to speak to her and understand her life, but she spoke just French, of which I only understand a few words. Every evening I shut myself in at six o’clock, locking the doors and windows as soon as the shadows began to lengthen and people stopped coming into the park, leaving me alone with this troubled woman.

During the day I wrote, and in the evenings, and through many sleepless nights. The manuscript changed a great deal. The sick woman didn’t become part of the story, but the uncanny feel of those days and nights found its way into what I was writing as Shrouded took shape.

La Rochelle is a very popular destination for tourists, so finding another place to stay wasn’t easy, but I eventually managed to find somewhere and spent the last few days in the city centre. There was a lot of noise late into the night, but I felt much more at ease here among people than alone with the sick woman in the park. The day before I travelled home to Iceland, by complete coincidence I was given a deeper insight into her life and background. This affected me deeply, but this isn’t a story to be told here...

Shrouded by Sólveig Pálsdóttir, translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus Books) £9.99 Out Now

A retired, reclusive woman is found on a bitter winter morning, clubbed to death in Reykjavik's old graveyard. Detectives Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún face one of their toughest cases yet, as they try to piece together the details of Arnhildur's austere life in her Red House in the oldest part of the city.Why was this solitary, private woman attending séances, and why was she determined to keep her severe financial difficulties so secret? Could the truth be buried deep in her past and a long history of family enmity, or could there be something more? Now a stranger keeps a watchful eye on the graveyard and Arnhildur's house. With the detectives running out of leads, could the Medium, blessed and cursed with uncanny abilities, shed any light on Arnhildur’s lonely death?

Sólveig Pálsdóttir can be found on “X” at Solveigpals. She can also be followed on Facebook.

Sólveig Pálsdóttir trained as an actor and has a background in the theatre, television and radio. In a second career she studied for degrees in literature and education, and has taught literature and linguistics, drama and public speaking, and has produced both radio programmes and managed cultural events. Her first novel appeared in Iceland in 2012 and went straight to the country’s bestseller list. Her memoir Klettaborgin was a 2020 hit in Iceland. Sólveig Pálsdóttir has written seven novels featuring Reykjavík detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún in the series called Ice and Crime. Silenced received the 2020 Drop of Blood award for the best Icelandic novel of the year and was Iceland’s nomination for the 2021 Glass key award for the best Nordic crime novel of the year. Shrouded is the series’ fourth book to appear in English. Sólveig lives in Reykjavík.

Quentin Bates has personal and professional roots in Iceland that go very deep. He is an author of series of nine crime novels and novellas featuring the Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur (Gunna) Gísladóttir. In addition to his own fiction, he has translated many works of Iceland’s coolest writers into English, including books by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Guðlaugur Arason, Einar Kárason, Óskar Guðmundsson, Sólveig Pálsdóttir, Jónína Leosdottir, Ragnar Jónasson and elusive Stella Blomkvist. Quentin was instrumental in launching Iceland Noir in 2013, the crime fiction festival in Reykjavik.

Petrona Award Longlist announced

 

OUTSTANDING CRIME FICTION FROM DENMARK, FINLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY AND SWEDEN LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 PETRONA AWARD

Twelve outstanding crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the longlist for the 2022 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

They are:

Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl tr. Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)

The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg tr. Tara Chace (Denmark, Hodder & Stoughton)

The Therapist by Helene Flood tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books Ltd)

Smoke Screen by Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger tr. Megan Turney (Norway, Orenda Books)

Everything Is Mine by Ruth Lillegraven tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

Silenced by Sólveig Pálsdóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books Ltd)

Knock Knock by Anders Roslund tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)

Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman tr. Ian Giles (Sweden, Zaffre)

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

The quality of the entries for the Petrona Award, now in its tenth year, remains consistently high, so much so that for the first time, the judges have decided to release a longlist. These twelve titles will be whittled down to a shortlist, to be announced on 16 November 2022.

The longlist contains a number of new faces as well as Petrona Award-winning authors, Jørn Lier Horst and Antti Tuomanen and the previously shortlisted Kjell Ola Dahl and Thomas Enger. 

Both large and small publishers are represented on the longlist, with Orenda Books leading with four entries, and the breakdown by country is Norway (4), Iceland (3), Sweden (3), Denmark (1) and Finland (1) with translator Quentin Bates being longlisted for all three Icelandic titles.

The Petrona Award 2022 judging panel comprises Jackie Farrant, the creator of RAVEN CRIME READS and a bookseller/Area Commercial Support for a major book chain in the UK; Miriam Owen, founder of the NORDIC NOIR blog and creator of content for communities, and Ewa Sherman, translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE. The Award administrator is Karen Meek, owner of the EURO CRIME blog and website.

Extract From Harm by Sólveig Pálsdóttir

 ‘No!’ she burst out, her hands going to her mouth. The terror that enveloped every fibre of her was so forceful that she could barely draw breath. She stared at the man in the bed, snatched at him and shook him.

‘You can’t do this to me!’ she howled, as she fought to draw long, gasping breaths. ‘Ríkharður, my love, you weren’t supposed to die.’

She let go of him, and rocked herself back and forth in confusion. Her breathing was shallow and she was close to losing control. She told herself to focus, to take deep, long breaths, to stay in control and not to give way to panic that would leave her helpless. She had to be able to think, to do what was needed.

What was she supposed to do? Call 112 and ask for an ambulance? Or a doctor? She looked in desperation at the man in the bed. There was no doubt that he was dead, and she was sure she had heard that if someone died at home, the police would always attend. Would a caravan count as well? She was certain of it. The police would come, there would be an autopsy and the drugs in Ríkharður’s bloodstream would be identified.
Everything would point to her, since he was a doctor and of course would know better than to take that mix of drugs. How could she explain that she hadn’t meant to kill him, but had simply wanted him to fall into a deep sleep while she went out during the night? Who was going to believe that? No, she’d been down that road before, telling the truth to authority. They wouldn’t believe her any more than they had believed her back then. Nobody would take any notice of a woman with a past like hers. No, society would ostracise her. Crazy Diljá would be behind bars, or else locked away in a psychiatric ward. That dreadful place! She trembled with horror at the thought, shivering as if she were standing naked on a glacier.

Being locked in was the worst thing she could imagine. Nothing could be worse. She would lose custody, and she might never get to see María Líf ever again. That couldn’t be allowed to happen. No, not again! He mind was a whirl of thoughts, none of which she could bear to follow to a conclusion. All she knew was that she had to get away from here as soon as possible – get away and give herself space to think logically. The clothes she had worn the night before were in the wardrobe and she hurried to pull them on. She wiped her face with a towel, picked up her sports bag and jammed a baseball cap on her head. She was being stifled here – she had to get away, far from this nightmare.

Harm by Sólveig Pálsdóttir (Translated by Quentin Bates) Corylus Books (Out Now)

When wealthy doctor Ríkarður Magnússon goes to sleep in his luxurious caravan and doesn’t wake up, detectives Guðgeir Fransson and Elsa Guðrún are called to the Westman Islands to investigate what looks like murder. Suspicion immediately falls on Ríkharður’s young, beautiful and deeply troubled girlfriend – but there are no easy answers in this case as they are drawn into family feuds, disgruntled friends and colleagues, and the presence of a group of fitness-obsessed over-achievers with secrets of their own. As their investigation makes progress, Guðgeir and Elsa Guðrún are forced to confront their own preconceptions and prejudices as they uncover the sinister side of Ríkharður’s past. Harm is the third novel featuring the soft-spoken Reykjavík detective Guðgeir Fransson to appear in English. Sólveig Pálsdóttir again weaves a complex web of intrigue that plays out in the Westman Islands, remote southern Iceland and Reykjavík while asking some searching questions about things society accepts at face value – and others it is not prepared to tolerate.

Petrona Award Entries 2021

 

The Petrona Award are pleased to announce that 28 of the 29 titles that were eligible for the 2021 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year have been entered by the publishers.

The winner of the Award will be announced online later this year.

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 2020.

• 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 2020 Award was Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen, translated from the Finnish by Anne David Hackson and published by Orenda Books.

The award is sponsored by David Hicks.

Entries

[10 titles are by Female authors, 17 by Male and 1 title is by a M & F pairing. There are 17 translators (10 Female (17 titles) and 7 Male (11 titles)) and 6 countries are represented (9 Sweden, 8 Norway, 6 Iceland, 3 Denmark, 1 Finland, 1 Germany).]

They have tagged these titles on Goodreads.

Jussi Adler-Olsen - Victim 2117 tr. William Frost (M, Denmark) Quercus

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir - The Creak on the Stairs tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Orenda Books

Stefan Ahnhem -X Ways to Die tr.Agnes Broomé (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus

Fredrik Backman - Anxious People tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Michael Joseph

Heine Bakkeid - Scatter Her Ashes tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Raven Books

Lina Bengtsdotter - For the Dead tr. Agnes Broomé (F, Sweden) Orion

Kjell Ola Dahl - Sister tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books

Katrine Engberg -The Tenant tr.Tara Chace (F, Denmark) Hodder Paperbacks

Thomas Enger & Jorn Lier Horst - Death Deserved tr Anne Bruce (M,Norway) Orenda Books

Anne Holt - A Necessary Death tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Corvus

Jorn Lier Horst - The Inner Darkness tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Michael Joseph

Ragnar Jonasson - Winterkill tr. David Warriner (M, Iceland) Orenda Books

Ragnar Jonasson -The Mist tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Michael Joseph

Lars Kepler -Lazarus tr. Neil Smith (M&F, Sweden) HarperCollins

Camilla Lackberg - The Gilded Cage tr. Neil Smith (F, Sweden) HarperCollins

Jo Nesbo -The Kingdom tr. Robert Ferguson (M, Norway) Harvill Secker

Hakan Nesser - The Secret Life of Mr Roos tr. Sarah Death (M, Sweden) Mantle

Mikael Niemi -To Cook a Bear tr.Deborah Bragan-Turner (M, Sweden) MacLehose Press

Sólveig Pálsdóttir -The Fox tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland) Corylus Books Ltd

Agnes Ravatn - The Seven Doors tr.Rosie Hedger (F, Norway) Orenda Books

Max Seeck - The Witch Hunter tr. Kristian London (M, Finland) Welbeck

Lilja Sigurdardottir - Betrayal tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland) Orenda Books

Yrsa Sigurdardottir - Gallows Rock tr.Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton

Gunnar Staalesen -Fallen Angels tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books

Jesper Stein - Die For Me tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Mirror Books

Viveca Sten - In the Name of Truth tr.Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) AmazonCrossing

Mats Strandberg - The Home tr. Agnes Broomé (M, Sweden) Jo Fletcher Books

Christer Tholin - Guilty? tr. Christina Lagaris (M, Germany) Christer Tholin

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[Not Entered – Helene Tursten - Snowdrift tr.Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) Soho Press]