Winner of the Petrona Award 2026 announced

The winner of the Petrona Award 2026 for the Best Scandinavian Crime

Novel of the Year is:

Into Thin Air by Ørjan Karlsson translated from the Norwegian by Ian Giles and published by Orenda Books.

Both Ørjan Karlsson and Ian Giles will receive a trophy.

The judges would like to highly commend Broken, the dark and compulsive police procedural by Jón Atli Jónasson, which is translated by Quentin Bates and published by Corylus Books.

The judges’ statement regarding Into Thin Air:

Ørjan Karlsson puts a spotlight on the stunning beauty of the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Arctic Circle while discovering devastating secrets hidden beneath the calm surface. With empathy and deep understanding he introduces a fascinating investigative duo dealing with personal challenges and explores relationships within the tight-knit community.

Told from several perspectives Into Thin Air has a contemporary feel and nuanced narration. This taut and tense thriller has a strong sense of location and utterly engaging characters, with nature as one of them. Perfect pacing and atmospheric storytelling add to the compelling story which moves seamlessly between recent European political history and dramatic local events from the past, all of them having impact on everyone in the area.

Statements from the winning author, translator and publisher: Ørjan Karlsson:

I am both delighted and honoured to be the recipient of this award. The fact that many of this year’s nominees are my own go-to authors for Scandinavian and Nordic crime makes this recognition extra special. A huge thank you to the jury and the organisers of the Petrona Award for championing Nordic crime fiction in this way; it is truly appreciated.

Publishing your novels in a foreign language is a collaborative effort. I would like to thank my agency at Gyldendal in Norway for their tireless work in opening the world of Jakob Weber to readers in other languages. I am also deeply grateful to my publisher, Karen Sullivan, and the entire ‘Team Orenda’ for believing in the series and making all of this happen.

Translating a book into another language often means reading between the lines and adapting parts of the text to ensure it stays true to the spirit of the original. I couldn't ask for a better team to achieve that than Orenda’s excellent editorial director, West Camel, and my brilliant translator, Ian Giles. Thank you.

 Ian Giles:

I knew from the moment I first read Into Thin Air in Norwegian that Ørjan had nailed the intersection in the Venn diagram of setting, characters, and great writing. Fortunately, Orenda Books grasped this too and took a chance on an author who was previously untested in English translation. While I like to think that I have the right voice to share Jakob, Noora and the rest of the gang with anglophone readers, Orenda also had the good sense to pair us with our indefatigable editor, West Camel. I’m chuffed that the Petrona judges recognise what our little trinity worked so hard to achieve with this book.

 Karen Sullivan (Orenda Books):

We are absolutely thrilled to see Ørjan Karlsson’s English debut, Into Thin Air, honoured with this prestigious award. I was transfixed by the premise of the book (and series) from the moment I heard about it. The sheer scale of Chief Investigator Jakob Webber’s job – policing Nordland, Norway’s untamed north, a landscape surrounded by glaciers, forests and lakes, with its endless, rugged coastline and thousands of islands – is utterly compelling, bringing dangers and challenges, but

the immensely believable characters (of which the landscape is definitely one), and Ørjan’s exceptional writing makes this stand-out Nordic Noir in every way. In fact, this is the quintessential modern example of Nordic Noir, ticking all the classic boxes of the genre while bringing a fresh, highly authentic energy to the traditional police

procedural. At its heart are the social issues, moral ambiguity and flawed (but never clichéd) detectives with a superb dynamic – everything we would expect from the best Nordic crime fiction. We are grateful to the judges for choosing Into Thin Air, the first in what we hope will be a long-running series.

 

 

Extract from The Hotel Manager's Guide to Murder

  ‘Who is this guy? Is he staying here?’

          Torfi had dealt with more than a few dead guests in his years of working in hotels. But this one hadn’t tumbled down a flight of stairs at the end of a raucous company annual party or quietly failed to wake up. This person looked too young to be one of the Bristol Hotel’s usual cohort of guests, a slim youth with dark hair that spread across the pillow, while his blue eyes were wide open and staring, and his clothes were scattered around the room.

          Everything about this was wrong. There was a proper procedure for this, and Sigríður definitely wasn’t following it. As well as that, dead guests tended to be found by the chambermaids, not by senior staff during the night, letting themselves into rooms with a swipe of a master pass key.

‘No,’ Sigríður said. ‘He’s not a guest.’

‘All right. We need to get an ambulance here right away. Isn’t Ásbjörn here?’

  Sigríður shook her head.

  ‘No. And, yes.’

  ‘Who’s the duty manager? They should be dealing with this. And there should be paramedics here by now.’

  Sigríður looked at him almost pityingly. 

  ‘This is down to us.’

  Torfi’s confusion was making him dizzy.

  ‘Who’s the duty manager tonight?’ he asked again, as if this wasn’t happening.

  'That’s Ásbjörn, but he’s busy right now.’ Sigríður scowled and looked him up and down, as if measuring him for a coffin. ‘He’ll be here in a few minutes.’

  ‘He has something more important than this to deal with? And if this person isn’t a guest, whose room is this?’

  Sigríður shook her head, shrugged and shivered. Her voice had a brittle quality to it when she replied. 

  ‘Torfi. This is Alberto’s room. Was Alberto’s room. Understand? It’s up to us, you and me, right now, to make this go away. Understand?’

  ‘Fuck… I…’ Torfi stuttered. ‘I don’t think I can…’

  This time Sigríður’s eyes glinted as she fixed him with a piercing gaze.

  ‘Listen. You’re in too deep already to back out of anything. So stop acting like a frightened schoolgirl and go fetch a laundry basket. One of the big ones on wheels​’

  Between them, he and Sigríður dressed the dead man, collecting his clothes from the bedroom floor before Ásbjörn arrived, his face flushed and serious. They bundled the corpse into the basket. Sigríður deftly stripped the bed and stuffed the soiled sheets on top of the body.

  The three of them accompanied the young man on his undignified journey to the basement, leaving him just inside the big delivery doors. 

  Sigríður issued terse instructions. 

  ‘Get the van from the front,’ she said in a hoarse whisper. ‘Take it round here. You know what to do. Dump our friend somewhere and come straight back here.’

  ‘Where do I go? You want me to go alone?’

  ‘Anywhere he won’t be found for a day or two, or longer,’ Sigríður told him. 

  ‘Hvalfjörður, out in Hvassahraun somewhere. Up to you. Just be discreet and don’t get stopped by the police.’ 

The Hotel Manager's Guide to Murder by Erlendur Arason (Blekverk) trans Quentin Bates Out Now

The smarter a place looks, the darker the secrets it hides… Guests at one of Reykjavík’s smartest hotels never know what happens behind the scenes –including what brings a group of the city’s homeless to the Bristol Hotel every winter night while the rest of the world sleeps. When overworked supervisor Torfi finds himself given an unexpected promotion that comes with a respectable pay rise, he takes it as a lucky break – until he’s told to make a murder victim disappear, and that he doesn’t have any choice. That’s when his life rapidly gets a lot more complicated. What isn’t he being told? Torfi doesn’t know, but when police officers Haukur and Dagný start asking awkward questions, he needs to find answers – even though he knows only half of the story. Longing desperately to go back to his old, boring life, Torfi finds himself desperately out of his depth as his family are threatened and his problems spiral far out of his control.

Lina Areklew on researching her crime novels

When friends and family start asking you about the legal system and police work, you know your research obsession has officially reached a whole new level.

When I first began writing, research was the part I found most intimidating. But also, the most exciting. I used to pore over my fellow crime writers’ books, making notes on the sections that dealt with police work, so that I could later check whether they were accurate or not. When I started writing my first novel, I realised that facts are not the most important thing in a crime novel. The average reader does not know exactly how a DNA test is carried out, or what post-mortem fluid looks like. Or perhaps they do – those who, like me, binge on true crime series and podcasts – but most people do not read crime fiction as if it were a textbook. That would drain the story of its tension.

Even so, it became something of a calling for me to try to recreate the work of police officers and forensic pathologists as accurately as possible. It helped, of course, that I already had a somewhat unhealthy fascination with emergency services long before I started writing, but taking the step of actually approaching someone and asking for an interview felt enormous. Just the thought of saying, “Hello, my name is Lina Areklew and I want to be a writer – could I interview you?” was enough to make me blush.

Through my mother, however, I was put in touch with an acquaintance of an acquaintance who worked as a police officer in Örnsköldsvik. He had been involved in the investigation of one of the most high-profile murder cases in the county’s history: a sixteen-year-old girl who disappeared after getting off the bus at the wrong stop. When she vanished, she was about the same age as I was at the time. She was later found raped and murdered in a wooded area not far from where she had disappeared. The perpetrator was convicted in the district court but acquitted on appeal. It would take more than twenty- five years before DNA technology finally caught up, allowing the case to be reopened and the man to be convicted of murder.

But I knew none of this when I walked into the police station with my dictaphone Dictaphone in hand. I had asked was expecting to be granted for half an hour to ask a few questions about what it was like to work as a murder investigator and to have a look around the station. I walked out six hours later, dizzy and overwhelmed by everything I had learned. Above all, I was more motivated than ever to write a crime novel that genuinely reflected the reality of police work.

I buried myself in research, made more contacts and kept digging. I quickly realised that many – I would say all – people who work within the justice system are immensely proud of what they do. Many want to share their experiences. With the rise of social media, communication became easier, and research evolved into new friendships.

This may sound insensitive, but one of the most memorable conversations I have ever had took place over dinner with a forensic pathologist. As we ate Carpaccio, we discussed what a person’s skin looks like after repeated stab wounds. I’m not sure the people sitting next to us in the restaurant found the conversation quite as engaging.

There have also been many occasions when research has been heavy and difficult. My main character, Fredrik Fröding, survived the horrific sinking of the MS Estonia but lost his entire family in the process. His fate is constantly present throughout my books, and it was extremely important to me to portray what happened that night – when so many people lost their lives in Sweden’s worst ferry disaster – as accurately as possible. I ordered the government accident report, devoured every book written about the catastrophe, and watched deeply disturbing dive footage from the wreck, filmed just weeks after the sinking.

I have always tried to approach that aspect of my writing with as much respect as possible. This is a wound in the Swedish collective soul, and not something one should trample on in order to create entertainment in the form of crime fiction . I believe I have succeeded in that. The inclusion of the disaster in my books has come up in discussion at many In all the appearances at writing events, and I have made where this has been discussed, no one has ever come up to me to say they felt hurt by my portrayal. Quite the opposite.

My research has taken me to some truly extraordinary places and introduced me to remarkable people. In addition to the most obvious locations – libraries and police stations – I have trudged through metre-deep snow to visit fictional murder sites, test-driven boat routes, harassed my teenage children with embarrassing questions, visited people’s homes out on island of Ulvön, toured a forensic station , gone caving, and while working on my new series, due to be released in autumn 2026, I spent a week working at a funeral home. That is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

My fascination with death has always meant that I feel no fear of it as a phenomenon, and it was deeply moving to meet people who, just like those within the justice system, showed such immense professional pride. I was allowed into a world where respect was one of the guiding principles. I saw the other side of the spectacular murders we writers so casually describe. I can honestly say that if I were not an author, funeral director would be the profession I would choose.

Over the years though, I have also learned a great deal about writing as a craft. As mentioned, it is impossible to portray everything exactly as it is in real life. That would be make some tedious reading. But I hope that through thorough research I have managed to depict the justice system in a way that makes the people who work within it feel genuine and human. That being said, no one is flawless. I have stumbled at times and have no doubt described both events and procedures in ways that have made some police officer somewhere clench their fists in their pockets .

Still, I can proudly say that the only time a reader has ever stopped me in the street wanting to have a serious conversation about my research was regarding the colour of the fence outside his house, as described in one of my books. I had written that it was white, when in fact it was green.

That, I can live with.

In The Dark by Lina Areklaw (Canelo Crime)

A four-year-old girl has disappeared from her home. And then more family members vanish. Detective Sofia Hjortn is in a race against time to find them as she and her colleagues desperately search a snow-covered rnskldsvik. Meanwhile, Sofia has other problems to deal with. Heavily pregnant and balancing work and a difficult relationship with her boyfriend, she is at breaking point. Can she make it to the light at the end of the tunnel?

2023 Petrona Award Winner Announced

The winner of the 2023 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is: 

Femicide by Pascal Engman, translated from the Swedish by Michael Gallagher and published by Legend Press.

Pascal Engman will receive a trophy, and both the author and translator will receive a cash prize.

The judges’ statement on Femicide:

This year’s Petrona Award winner is a page-turning, absorbing and uncomfortable Swedish thriller. Femicide tells of a young woman, Emilie, who is found murdered in her Stockholm apartment in the same week that her violent ex-boyfriend is released from prison. Detective Vanessa Frank is assigned the case. Meanwhile, we hear the story of young journalist Jasmina, the survivor of a recent, severe sexual assault. Author Pascal Engman dives into the world of incels through Tom, a very believable character who is part of a weaponised gender war brought about by, amongst other things, misguided hatred, feelings of being ignored by society, and sexual frustration. Femicide comes to a pinnacle as the attacks against women escalate on a huge scale.

Continuing in the tradition of fellow Swedish authors Sjöwall and Wahlöö, and Henning Mankell, Pascal Engman uses his writing to comment on societal values making Femicide an interesting, fictional take on the multifaceted topic of violence against women. The book stood out to all the Petrona judges for several reasons. The way Femicide opens the reader’s eyes to the steadily increasing threat of the incel movement and what makes these men tick was felt by all the judges. Femicide is a challenging read that broadens thinking. The writing is well informed, the book has a good sense of urban space, and it picks up pace in a satisfying manner. There is a cast of interesting, and sometimes unconventional, characters for the reader to get to know. All the judges felt this book offered something creatively original that captured the zeitgeist of the early twenty-first century and it is a deserved winner.

Pascal Engman (author):

It feels incredibly significant to win this award. Several of my major idols and heroes in this genre have been recipients of it. I consider it an honour, a great honour. Writing Femicide was a unique experience. The research on the incel movement was very challenging. I was pulled towards their darkness in many ways. Therefore, I also want to thank Linnea, my fiancée, for putting up with me then, as she does now.

Michael Gallagher (translator):

Femicide was a fantastic book to work on. Pascal Engman certainly belongs to the Nordic Noir tradition, but his writing and his characters deftly reflect the tectonic shifts underway in Sweden and the wider world. Always unsettling and compelling, he is not bound by conventions or old cliches. I am delighted that the jury has recognised his talent and that my translation seems to have done it justice!

Cari Rosen (Legend Press Commissioning Editor

We are so thrilled that Femicide has been chosen as the winner of this year's Petrona Award. The novel delves into the world of incels after a series of brutal attacks against women, and perfectly encapsulates the pace, drama and drive of Pascal's writing. The Vanessa Frank series has sold more than a million copies worldwide and everyone at Legend is delighted to be able to bring this, the first of three books, to an English-speaking audience thanks to Michael Gallagher's expert translation.

The Petrona team would like to thank David Hicks for his continuing sponsorship of the Petrona Award.

2021 Petrona Award Winner Announced

 

Winner of 2021 Petrona Award announced – a first win for historical crime

 The winner of the 2021 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is:

TO COOK A BEAR by Mikael Niemi, translated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-Turner and published by MacLehose Press.

As well as a trophy, Mikael Niemi receives a pass to and a guaranteed panel at CrimeFest 2022. Mikael Niemi and Deborah Bragan-Turner will also receive a cash prize.

 The judges’ statement on TO COOK A BEAR:

The judges adored TO COOK A BEAR, a historical crime novel set in northernmost Sweden in 1852, and were unanimous in our decision to select it as the Petrona Award winner for 2021. We were particularly impressed with the novel’s use of historical detail, its fascinating reimagining of a figure from history, the sense of location and atmosphere, the rumination on religion versus the natural world, and the depiction of early forensics. TO COOK A BEAR’s superb characterisation of the main protagonists Læstadius and Jussi, which is tinged with sadness yet hope, also allows the author to explore the issues of literacy and class with sensitivity and compassion. The beautiful translation by Deborah Bragan-Turner lets the novel shine for English-language readers around the world.

TO COOK A BEAR is the first historical crime novel to win the Petrona Award.

Comments from the winning author, translator and publisher:

 Mikael Niemi (author):

I am very proud and happy to have received the Petrona Award and would like to thank my editor, Katharina Bielenberg, my translator Deborah Bragan-Turner, and my agency, Hedlund Literary Agency, who have made it possible for this novel to reach British readers. This happy news has brightened the growing winter darkness here in the very north of Scandinavia. I am sending my warmest thanks to all my British readers.

 Deborah Bragan-Turner (translator):

I am absolutely thrilled and very honoured to receive the Petrona Award. It’s a great privilege to be in the company of such accomplished authors and translators on the shortlist. Many congratulations to you all. Thank you to MacLehose Press for your support and editorial advice, and to the panel of judges for your championing of and enthusiasm for Scandinavian fiction in translation. And of course thank you most of all, Mikael Niemi, for bringing the story of Jussi and the pastor to us in TO COOK A BEAR, an inspired novel and a joy to translate.

 MacLehose Press: "We are delighted that Mikael Niemi’s novel has been recognised with the Petrona Award. TO COOK A BEAR is immersive and transporting, historical crime fiction at its best, and it has been thrilling to watch it find its readers in English. Powerfully vivid and lush in its descriptions of Sweden’s very far north, and brilliant on literacy and the power of language, it has been beautifully and imaginatively rendered in Deborah Bragan-Turner’s translation. Congratulations to them both!"

The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his generous and continued support of the 2021 Petrona Award.

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

---

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

Dear Friends: creating Ewert Grens and Piet Hoffman by Anders Roslund

 

Honestly: sometimes I convince myself that Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens is real. And has been for two decades now. Until that long and wide and heavy and fast bus that I’ve been too busy daydreaming to notice hits the brakes and I, blushing and apologizing, return to reality. 

Grens was never supposed to be a main character – but since this disturbing and sometimes lovable man keeps coming back, stubbornly, drinking all that cop coffee in the dusty corridors of the police station in Kronoberg, sleeping most nights on a brown corduroy sofa in his office, stripes long since worn away, he of course lives and stays in the centre of my books. Initially I built him around my memories of my own father – restless, but a doer, hard to get close to but still a bit charming, and living in a world where everything painted in black slowly gets brighter, lighter, when listening to songs from days when life was longer, dancing by himself by the light of the ugly and much too strong office lamp, as my father did.

Piet Hoffmann, the unwilling infiltrator and other main character, is of course my alter ego: tall, handsome, smart, strong, adventurous. But at the same time, Ewert Grens is also my alter ego: not so tall, not so handsome, not so smart, not so strong, not so adventurous. I know them both, need them both, as my stories need them, and once Roslund & Hellström's stories needed them both. 

Writing about my beloved Ewert Grens I felt something was missing: a tool that would let me tell stories about worlds this Detective Superintendent couldn’t reach in any natural or credible way (though of course still fictitiously – no matter how alive he feels to me). I sketched out a character, inspired by of a couple of my good criminal and ex-criminal friends and gave him the working name of ’Hoffmann.’ Hoffman is also struggling with two lives, a character who was able to inhabit the widened scope of action that Ewert Grens never could. Hoffmann became Piet Hoffmann, and was soon joined by his wife Zofia and his children Hugo, Rasmus and Luiza, a fictional family of four members. Piet is caught between two worlds he longs for – the safe or the thrilling, the violent or the loving – and in his heart he knows these are impossible to combine. The fact that he can't escape any of them makes this a complex and likable character that I would love to have as a friend and hate to have to depend on.

So Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens and ex-criminal and infiltrator Piet Hoffmann represent two different arenas of crime writing: the investigating crime novel and the fast paced thriller, both of which combine to make my ideal novel. And since Ewert Grens doesn't trust anyone, and since Piet Hoffmann doesn't trust anyone, we have two characters who don't trust anyone, but who would have to trust each other. In the same way, I always have had a hard time letting people into my inner circle. I've improved over the years, letting a wife and two sons and a beloved cat in, as well as a couple of good friends, and I'm very proud to include both Grens and Hoffmann among them. I mean, what could be better than three people who don't trust anyone, but who would have to trust each other?

Knock, Knock by Anders Roslund (Vintage Publishing) Out Now.

Set over three explosive days, this is compulsive, heart-pounding storytelling that will keep you on the edge of your seat. He thought she was safe. Then the past came knocking. Seventeen years ago, Inspector Ewert Grens was called to the scene of a brutal crime. A family had been murdered, with only their five-year-old daughter left behind. The girl was moved out and placed under witness protection, but while the case went cold, Grens is still haunted by the memory. When he learns that the apartment where the crime took place is now the scene of a mysterious break-in, Grens fears that someone is intent on silencing the only witness. He must race to find her...before they do.

More information about Anders Roslund can be found on his website.

2021 Norwegian Silver Knife nominees

 

The nominees for the 2021 Norwegian Silver Knife have been announced.

The nominees are 

The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl

So It Got Cold by Frode Eie Larsen

Fate Stone by Sven Petter Næss

The winner will be announced on 16 March 2021

Winner of 2020 Petrona Award announced – a first for Finnish crime

The winner of the 2020 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is:

LITTLE SIBERIA by Antti Tuomainen, translated from the Finnish by David Hackston and published by Orenda Books.

As well as a trophy, Antti Tuomainen receives a pass to and a guaranteed panel at CrimeFest 2022. Antti Tuomainen and David Hackston will also receive a cash prize.

The judges’ statement on LITTLE SIBERIA:

Antti Tuomainen’s LITTLE SIBERIA stood out on the shortlist for all of the judges. From its arresting opening, in which a meteorite unexpectedly lands on a speeding car, to its very human depiction of a pastor grappling with private and theological crises, this is a pitch-perfect comic crime novel with considerable depth and heart

The first Finnish crime novel to receive the Petrona Award, LITTLE SIBERIA is a particularly fitting winner for 2020 – a year in which life was turned upside down. A celebration of resilience, fortitude and simply muddling through, it is a novel for our times.

David Hackston’s fine translation captures LITTLE SIBERIA’S depictions of an icy northern Finland and its darkly comic tone, skilfully showcasing the writing of one of Scandinavia’s most versatile and original crime authors. LITTLE SIBERIA is published by Orenda Books, one of the UK’s foremost independent publishers, which consistently champions international and translated crime fiction.

Comments from the winning author, translator and publisher:

Antti Tuomainen (author):

To make a long story short, I have to make it long first. A few years ago, after publishing five very dark and very noir books, I felt there was an element within me I had to bring into my writing: humour. Before my first darkly funny book The Man Who Died was published I was very nervous. Was I making a big mistake? One of those career choices you read about in artists' biographies under the chapter title 'The Fall'? Not that anyone would write about me, as I would be forgotten, found much later in a basement room, alone, perished in the middle of a last 'humorous' sentence … Happily, I was wrong, and not for the first time. Which seems to bring us to Little Siberia. It is my eighth book and now the recipient of the prestigious Petrona Award. When I set out to write a darkly comical crime novel with a priest as main character, I knew I was taking a leap – again. Alas, here we are. I want to thank David Hackston and Karen Sullivan, both incomparable and indispensable, as without them all the jury would have had was a book in Finnish with no idea who sent it. I send my warmest thank you to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Oh, and that shorter story: after fifteen years of writing and nine books, it seems I'm finally an overnight success.

David Hackston (translator):

I'm extremely honoured to receive the Petrona Award 2020, not least because of the illustrious, formidable company on the shortlist. Many congratulations to all the authors and especially to my fellow translators – my co-conspirators in bringing Nordic writing to English-speaking readers. My thanks to the panel and a huge, heartfelt thank you to Orenda Books, without whom none of this would be possible. Of course, behind every good translation is an excellent original text, and in this respect Antti Tuomainen is the gift that keeps on giving. Kiitos, Antti; thanks for the laughs thus far. Long may it continue

Karen Sullivan (Orenda Books)

We are honoured and absolutely thrilled by the news that Little Siberia has won this prestigious award – quite possibly the only designated award for Scandinavian crime fiction in English – and it feels fitting that in such a difficult year, Antti's beautifully written, funny, philosophical and exquisitely plotted thriller has been chosen. Antti has pushed the crime genre in so many exciting directions, and I applaud the judges for making such a bold and perfect choice. It can be no easy feat to translate Finnish and yet David Hackston has once again produced an elegant, pitch-perfect translation, and we are so delighted that his work has been rewarded in this way.

The judges would also like to highly commend THE SILVER ROAD by Stina Jackson, translated from the Swedish by Susan Beard and published by Corvus (Atlantic Books).

The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his generous and continued support of the 2020 Petrona Award.

 

Petrona Award Entries 2020

The Petrona Award are pleased to announce that all the 37 titles that were eligible for the 2020 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 at CrimeFest in June.

The rules for eligibility are:

The submission must be in translation and published in English in the UK during the preceding calendar year i.e. 1 January – 31 December 2019.

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 2019 Award was The Katharina Code by Jørn Lier Horst, translated from the Norwegian by Anne Bruce and published by Michael Joseph.

The award is sponsored by David Hicks.

Entries (ie published in 2019)

[13 titles are by Female authors, 24 by Male. There are 24 translators (13 Female (23 titles) and 11 Male (14 titles)) and 6 countries are represented.]

Jussi Adler-Olsen - The Washington Decree tr. Steve Schein (M, Denmark) Quercus
Stefan Ahnhem - Motive X tr. Agnes Broomé (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus
Heine Bakkeid - I Will Miss You Tomorrow tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Raven Books
Mattias Berg - The Carrier tr. George Goulding (M, Sweden) MacLehose Press
Samuel Bjork - The Boy in the Headlights tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Norway) Doubleday
Arne Dahl - Hunted tr. Neil Smith (M, Sweden) Harvill Secker
Kjell Ola Dahl - The Courier tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books
M T Edvardsson - A Nearly Normal Family tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (M, Sweden) Pan Macmillan
Thomas Enger - Inborn tr. Kari Dickson (M, Norway) Orenda Books
Agnete Friis - The Summer of Ellen tr. Sinead Quirke Kongerskov (F, Denmark)Soho Press
Camilla Grebe - After She's Gone tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (F, Sweden) Zaffre
Johana Gustawsson - Blood Song tr. David Warriner (F, France) Orenda Books
Anne Holt - A Grave for Two tr. Anne Bruce (F, Norway) Corvus
Jørn Lier Horst - The Cabin tr. Anne Bruce (M, Norway) Anne Bruce
Stina Jackson - The Silver Road tr. Susan Beard (F, Sweden) Corvus
Ragnar Jonasson - The Island tr. Victoria Cribb (M, Iceland) Penguin
David Lagercrantz - The Girl Who Lived Twice tr. George Goulding (M, Sweden) MacLehose Press
Leena Lehtolainen - Where Have All the Young Girls Gone tr. Owen F Witesman (F, Finland) AmazonCrossing
Mariette Lindstein - The Cult on Fog Island tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (F, Sweden) HQ
Stefan Malmström - Kult tr. Suzanne Martin Cheadle (M, Sweden) Silvertail Books
Niklas Natt och Dag - The Wolf and the Watchman tr. Ebba Segerberg (M, Sweden) John Murray
Jo Nesbo - Knife tr. Neil Smith (M, Norway) Harvill Secker
Mads Peder Nordbo - The Girl Without Skin tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Text Publishing
Mads Peder Nordbo - Cold Fear tr. Charlotte Barslund (M, Denmark) Text Publishing
Andreas Norman - The Silent War tr. Ian Giles (M, Sweden) riverrun
Kristina Ohlsson - The Flood tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) Simon & Schuster
Martin Osterdahl - Ten Swedes Must Die tr. Peter Sean Woltemade (M, Sweden) AmazonCrossing
Roslund & Hellstrom - Three Hours tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (M, Sweden) riverrun
Lilja Sigurdardottir - Cage tr. Quentin Bates (F, Iceland) Orenda Books
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Absolution tr. Victoria Cribb (F, Iceland) Hodder & Stoughton
Gunnar Staalesen - Wolves at the Door tr. Don Bartlett (M, Norway) Orenda Books
Viveca Sten - In the Shadow of Power tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) AmazonCrossing
Soren Sveistrup - The Chestnut Man tr. Caroline Waight (M, Denmark) Michael Joseph
Antti Tuomainen - Little Siberia tr. David Hackston (M, Finland) Orenda Books
Helene Tursten - Hunting Game tr. Paul Norlen (F, Sweden) Soho Press
Helene Tursten - Winter Grave tr. Marlaine Delargy (F, Sweden) Soho Press
Joakim Zander - The Friend tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (M, Sweden) Head of Zeus

Trolls by Stefan Spjut's

An extract from Trolls by Stefan Spjut's - 

The snowmobile track was a sharp line across the white sheet of the fens; the wolf was running below them. Appearing and vanishing like a pale ghost dog in the shrouds of snow stirred up by the rotor blades. Anders put one leg out through the cabin door and found purchase for his boot on the landing gear footstep. The wind rushed through his hair and the collar of his jacket whipped against his face when he strained his eyes not to lose sight of the blurred creature. ‘Would you look at that!’ he shouted. ‘that’s no bloody hybrid, that’s for sure!’

The helicopter had moved in so low he could see the waves rippling through its fur. Its tongue, flapping out of its long snout like a wet rag. Ears pressed at against its head. He leaned as far out as his harness allowed, pushed the butt of the stock against his shoulder, turned the ring on the scope one notch and tossed his head to push his ear protector out of the way. His index finger slid down and curled around the trigger; then he red.

With snowshoes strapped to their boots, they followed the tracks that led in among the spruce trees. Geir went first, striding through the snow as though in a race to reach the wolf first. Anders got winded and called out to him, but Geir strode on, arms pumping, seeming not to hear.

The wolf had gone into hiding under the skirt of a large spruce. It was lying on its side; when they creaked their way in under the branches, it raised its head. Its nose was spackled with snow. The spark behind its eyelids slowly dimmed. The dart with its red etch was buried like a pimpernel in the animal’s hip. Geir pulled it out and slipped it into his breast pocket. Then he pushed his hand into the fur and turned up the undercoat, which was pure white. He examined the claws on the enormous paws and noted that they were black.

With his knuckle, he pushed his foggy glasses further up the bridge of his nose and then he sat quietly, deep in thought while Anders praised the wolf’s remarkable size. He had come across wolves that weighed more than he did himself  in northern Canada, and this looked to be of the same stock. Without a doubt, it was the biggest wolf he had ever seen on Scandinavian soil.

‘ This is incredible! What a giant!’

The vet said nothing, but when he pulled out the syringe with the anaesthetic, Anders noticed his hands were trembling.

----

Trolls by Stefan Spjut's  (Faber & Faber) Published 1 August 2019

What if...? A large wolf escapes its captors. A cult leader breaks out of psychiatric care. A disillusioned woman is forced to end her self-imposed exile. 

2017 Petrona Award Shortlist

Outstanding crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2017 Petrona Award.

Six outstanding crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have made the shortlist for the 2017 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, which is announced today.

They are:

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

THE DYING DETECTIVE by Leif G.W. Persson tr. Neil Smith (Doubleday; Sweden)

THE BIRD TRIBUNAL by Agnes Ravatn tr. Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books, Norway)

WHY DID YOU LIE? by Yrsa Sigurđardóttir tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)

WHERE ROSES NEVER DIE by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books, Norway)THE WEDNESDAY CLUB by Kjell Westö tr. Neil Smith (MacLehose Press, Finland)

The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 20 May during the annual international crime fiction event CrimeFest, held in Bristol 18-21 May 2017.

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.

The Petrona team would like to thank our sponsor, David Hicks, for his generous support of the 2017 Petrona Award.

The judges’ comments on the shortlist and the shortlisted titles:

“It was difficult to choose just six crime novels for the Petrona Award shortlist this year, given the number of truly excellent submissions from around the Scandinavian world. Our 2017 Petrona Award shortlist testifies to the extremely high quality of translated Scandi crime, with authors from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden making expert use of police investigations, psychological thrillers, private eye novels and historical crime fiction both to entertain and to explore pertinent social, political and historical issues. We are extremely grateful to the translators for their skill and expertise in bringing us these outstanding examples of Scandinavian crime fiction.”

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

Finnish police detective Anna Fekete returns to the Serbian village of her birth for a holiday, but is pulled into an investigation that throws up questions about her own father’s death decades earlier. As well as exploring the complexities of Fekete’s identity as a Hungarian Serb who has made her life in Finland, this accomplished novel looks with insight and compassion at the discrimination faced by Roma people, and the lot of refugees migrating through Europe.

THE DYING DETECTIVE by Leif G.W. Persson tr. Neil Smith (Doubleday; Sweden)

Lars Martin Johansson, a retired Swedish Police Chief, suffers a stroke after a lifetime of unhealthy excess. Frustrated by his physical limitations and slow recovery, he is drawn into investigating a cold case, the murder of nine-year-old Yasmine Ermegan in 1985. Expertly plotted and highly gripping, The Dying Detective features characters from a number of other crime novels by the author, but succeeds brilliantly as a standalone in its own right.

THE BIRD TRIBUNAL by Agnes Ravatn tr. Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books, Norway)

Former TV presenter Allis takes up the post of housekeeper and gardener at a house on a remote fjord. But her employer is not the old man she was expecting, and the whereabouts of his wife are tantalisingly unclear. Isolated from other villagers, Allis and Sigurd’s relationship becomes progressively more claustrophobic and tense. A haunting psychological thriller and study in obsession that is perfectly complemented by the author’s beautiful, spare prose.

WHY DID YOU LIE? by Yrsa Sigurđardóttir tr. Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton, Iceland)

Yrsa Sigurđardóttir is as adroit a manufacturer of suspense as any writer in the Nordic Noir genre, as this standalone thriller comprehensively proves. Why Did You Lie? skilfully interweaves the stories of a policewoman whose husband has committed suicide, a work group stranded by hostile weather on a remote lighthouse, and a family whose American guests go missing. A compelling exploration of guilt and retribution, which builds to a nerve-jangling finale.

WHERE ROSES NEVER DIE by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett (Orenda Books, Norway)

Grieving private detective Varg Veum is pushed to his limits when he takes on a cold case involving the disappearance of a small girl in 1977. As the legal expiry date for the crime draws near, Veum’s investigation uncovers intriguing suburban secrets. In what may well be the most accomplished novel in a remarkable series, the author continues to work in a traditional US-style genre, but with abrasive Scandi-crime social commentary very much in evidence.

THE WEDNESDAY CLUB by Kjell Westö tr. Neil Smith (MacLehose Press, Finland)

This multilayered novel tells the story of how a crime is triggered following the chance meeting of two people in a lawyer’s office. While the narrative can be seen as a tragic individual story, it also takes on larger historical dimensions as it unfolds. Set in Helsinki in 1938, on the eve of the Second World War, The Wednesday Club offers an insightful exploration into the legacy of the Finnish Civil War, and the rise of German and Finnish fascism in the present.

The judges are:

Barry Forshaw – Writer and journalist specialising in crime fiction and film; author of multiple books covering Scandinavian crime fiction, including NORDIC NOIR, DEATH IN A COLD CLIMATE, EURO NOIR, DETECTIVE: CRIME UNCOVERED and the first biography of Stieg Larsson.

Dr. Kat Hall – Editor of CRIME FICTION IN GERMAN: DER KRIMI for University of Wales Press; Honorary Research Associate at Swansea University; international crime fiction reviewer/blogger at MRS. PEABODY INVESTIGATES.

Sarah Ward – Crime novelist, author of IN BITTER CHILL and A DEADLY THAW (Faber and Faber), and crime fiction reviewer at CRIMEPIECES.

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