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.

 

Tove Alsterdal on Researching for You Will Never Be Found.

Until recently, far up north in Sweden there was a mining town called Malmberget. It was one of those places with a huge sense of pride; in the hard work in the iron ore mines, the ice hockey team, the sports hall, and the musicians who became famous. 

What it also had was a high rate of suicides among young men in the 1980's. By then the town had started to fall into the ground, literary. The main iron ledge passes beneath and bit by bit, houses were torn down and childhood memories fell into the expanding hole that split the society in two parts.

When I went back there to do research for my latest novel, You Will Never Be Found, Malmberget was almost abandoned. The whole town is now being demolished, apart from some houses of historical value that have been moved to new locations. 

The novel begins with a crime in one of those houses. When police investigator Eira Sjödin hears of it and draws parallels to a murder in her own region many miles south of Malmberget, the crime scene is already gone. It has been moved to a clearing in the forest, eight kilometers away.

Researching a place is so much more than walking the streets, it goes far beyond what my eyes can see. Even more important when I write about a place is to find the memories and stories of the landscape.

My main character Eira Sjödin was born and raised in a small town in an area called Ådalen (River Valley), by the High Coast in northern Sweden. This used to be the artery of the wood industry in Sweden for more than 200 years, now the remains of the era are scattered and overgrown in the forests, hidden on the bottom of the river, and fading in the memories of people. Luckily, I could give Eira the long memory of small towners. In her blood runs the stories her parents and grandparents told her, and their grandparents before them, so from her perspective every tree or bump in the road can hide a story from long before she was born.

In the research I of course read a lot; history, facts about birds and gunshot wounds and timber rafting, poetry, anything I can find about a place, but the best details might not yet have been written. So much only exist in the memories of people. When I hear those stories, it's like finding hidden treasures, they take me beneath and beyond the common clichés of the place.

I named my heroine after a victim of a shooting in Ådalen in 1931 - an event that shook Sweden and changed our modern history. Workers in the paper mills went on strike and scabs were brought in, the confrontations led to the death of five workers, shot by military forces. One of them was a 20-year-old girl, Eira. This is a well-known story in Sweden and the monument commemorating the event is now a tourist spot. A number of books, even PhD’s, have been written about it, but I recently came across an untold detail. Not far from the monument there is an overgrown stone. One of the victims were carried into a house nearby where he died on the sofa. The next day the mother of the house scraped the blood from the floor and buried it on the spot where the man had been shot. She told no one but their closest relatives, and one of her children told me and suddenly a story that had been told a million times over came to life again.

In the next book in the series that I’m working on now, The Deeper You Go, some divers will find an old body on the bottom of the deep river, among the hundreds of forgotten wrecks that remain there. I have taken a course in diving, dug deep into the heritage beneath the water surface and lots more, but when it comes to the time when the victim was alive there's no such source as those who remember. Where did they dance and fall in love, what music was played when it happened?

Even if the stories are fictional, they are closely linked to reality. I want to write about real places, places that have remain unsung. I want readers who live there to recognise themselves and those who don't, feel like they do for a moment.

But in the end, it's a novel. In You Will Never Be Found a man is found dead in the basement of an abandoned house in the forest. He was locked up and tried everything imaginable to survive. During autopsy an earthworm is still alive in his stomach.

"Would that be possible?" I asked the coroner.

"Well," she said, "the earthworm needs a damp environment so maybe it would feel like home. I can't say I'm sure, but on the other hand: Who would check?"

You Will Never Be Found by Tove Alsterdal (Faber & Faber) Out Now.

He was locked inside an abandoned house. But he's not the only one . . . When a dead man is found locked in the basement of an abandoned house, deep in the woods, there is no evidence of what happened beyond his name - scratched into the wall before he died. The regional police can't find anyone who knew him. But no-one knows the locals like tough, smart, and determined Detective Eira Sjoedin. When her expert knowledge of her home town is again called in, she knows one of them must have seen something. Then, a shock: before she can uncover the truth, someone close to her disappears. Has he fallen victim to the same criminal they've been chasing? And can Eira put the pieces together in time to save him? 

Petrona Shortlist Announced

 

Exceptional crime fiction from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden shortlisted for the 2022 Petrona Award.

Six exceptional crime novels from Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have been shortlisted for the 2022 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The shortlist is announced today, Wednesday 16 November and is as follows:

FATAL ISLES by Maria Adolfsson tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

THE THERAPIST by Helene Flood tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

EVERYTHING IS MINE by Ruth Lillegraven tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

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

COLD AS HELL by Lilja Sigurðardóttir tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

THE RABBIT FACTOR by Antti Tuomainen tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

The winning title will be announced on Thursday 8 December 2022. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize.

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

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:

There were 31 entries for the 2022 Petrona Award from five countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The novels were translated by 23 translators and submitted by 14 publishers/imprints. There were 16 female, 14 male and one male/male pair of authors.

This year’s Petrona Award shortlist sees Norway represented with two novels; Sweden with two and Finland and Iceland with one each. The judges selected the shortlist from a particularly strong pool of candidates with the shortlisted titles ranging from police procedural and domestic noir to the darkly comic.

As ever, we are extremely grateful to the six 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. The significantly increasing number of female writers being translated is also to be commended.

The judges’ comments on each of the shortlisted titles:

 Maria Adolfsson - FATAL ISLES tr. Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)

Maria Adolfsson’s gripping debut, FATAL ISLES, set in Doggerland - a group of islands in the North Sea between Denmark and the United Kingdom – paints a vivid picture of a northern island community with traditions, rich and poor families, and a stormy climate. Doggerland comes alive on the pages so much that you would never guess it is totally fictional. DI Karen Eiken Hornby is tasked with investigating the murder of her boss’s ex-wife. Does the motive have any connection to a secretive commune that existed on the island in the past? FATAL ISLES is a high tension, character driven, atmospheric police procedural.

 Helene Flood - THE THERAPIST tr. Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)

A man goes missing under mysterious circumstances. Police detective Gundersen is officially working the case whilst therapist Sara tries to understand where her husband is. Set in the leafy Oslo outskirts, THE THERAPIST is a tense read that keeps us intrigued with unsettling twists and turns. Sara is constantly analysing herself and the people around her as her whole life is turned upside down. At the same time, she fears for her own safety and tries to remain professional with her clients. Author Helene Flood is a trained psychologist who has used her experience to inform the characters and the narrative in this page-turning debut thriller.

 Ruth Lillegraven - EVERYTHING IS MINE tr. Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)

EVERYTHING IS MINE is the story of two happily married professionals, Clara an ambitious child rights activist at the Ministry of Justice, and Henrik, a compassionate paediatrician. Dedication to their twin sons and their respective causes begins to crack when they are faced with cases of murder and abuse and an unravelling of a tangled web of emotional secrets follows. A powerful narration and detailed observations show a stark contrast between social standing and geographical differences in Norwegian life, and leave the readers with questions of how, and if, individuals can deal with unfairness and pain. EVERYTHING IS MINE combines important issues, thrilling action and a smart intricate plot, with a strong focus on social injustice and complex family relations.

 Anders Roslund - KNOCK KNOCK tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)

Anders Roslund has published nine novels to date as part of the successful writing duos of Roslund & Hellström and Roslund & Thunberg, as Anton Svensson, and has been the recipient of numerous, prestigious international awards. Since the death of Börge Hellström, Roslund has continued their Ewert Grens series and KNOCK KNOCK is his first solo venture. Set over the course of three days, KNOCK KNOCK is another fine example of Roslund's talent for seamlessly blending together a solid police procedural with a high-octane thriller, leading to a gritty and fast-paced read set against his astute observations on the societal and political issues of contemporary Sweden.

Lilja Sigurðardóttir - COLD AS HELL tr. Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)

COLD AS HELL, the first novel in a new slick series, introduces Áróra who returns from UK to her homeland Iceland following the disappearance of her estranged sister Ísafold. She uncovers a corrupted world of dark secrets but needs help from her policeman uncle to navigate an Icelandic society with which she is now unfamiliar. The author creates a chilling and tense atmosphere where the midnight sun hides crimes, and all relations are tested. The richness and intensity of the writing makes the investigative accountant Áróra, who will stop at nothing to understand and trace her sibling, a thoroughly modern and captivating protagonist in a league of her own.  

 Antti Tuomainen - THE RABBIT FACTOR tr. David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

Antti Tuomainen was shortlisted for the Petrona Award twice before winning it in 2020 with, LITTLE SIBERIA. THE RABBIT FACTOR, which was also shortlisted for this year’s CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation, superbly demonstrates Tuomainen's singular gift for dark, absurd crime fiction undercut with poignancy. THE RABBIT FACTOR puts at its heart an ordinary man drawing on his previously undiscovered and extraordinary resolve, to carve out and keep his place in a hostile world, with often darkly funny results.

 The judges

Jackie Farrant - 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

Ewa Sherman - translator and writer, and blogger at NORDIC LIGHTHOUSE.

Award administrator

Karen Meek – owner of the EURO CRIME website and blog.

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

Femicide author PASCAL ENGMAN on being published in the UK for the first time

My first novel, The Patriots, came out in Sweden in 2017. Since then, I feel very fortunate to have published five further titles and had my books translated into over 20 languages. Each new translation feels special in its own way, but it’s been a long-standing ambition of mine to be published in English, so I was delighted when Legend Press wanted to publish my Vanessa Frank series here. Femicide came out in late September and its publication has given me the opportunity to experience some wonderful things about the UK crime fiction scene. 

One of the first things I noticed was how incredibly supportive members of the crime writing community are of one another. As a newcomer to the UK crime fiction scene, I really valued fellow writers who supported Femicide and who understood the importance of raising awareness of the social problem which it highlights. 

Femicide explores the pressing issue of misogyny in today’s social landscape, specifically focusing on the online extremist ‘incel’ or involuntary celibate community. The story investigates the seemingly separate murders of three women and follows Detective Vanessa Frank as she links them together to the incel movement. Best-selling crime author Peter James generously gave me my first endorsement from a UK crime writer, and his kind words appear on the front cover of the UK edition of Femicide. Having the support of such a successful writer in the UK crime fiction scene made me feel instantly welcome. I also received support from Chris Merritt, a talented crime writer and psychologist who has also written a novel about the incel movement. Chris hosted a Q&A with me at the launch event for Femicide, and his experience made the conversation such an interesting one. 

I wanted to write about incels and draw attention to the issue because I’ve seen how it’s a particular problem in Sweden, and how it’s becoming a more widespread threat online. Journalists and commissioning editors in the UK have really understood this mission and I was grateful to have the opportunity to write about this in detail for Sunday Times Crime Club, Metro and LadBible. I found it extremely humbling when Mark Sanderson at Sunday Times Crime Club made Femicide the ‘Star pick’, and I always appreciate when I have the chance to talk about my work – so a special thank you to Shots for inviting me to write this piece! I was so pleased that I had the chance to write about the issue of incels not only in my fictional work, but in a more journalistic manner; these articles allowed me to share my findings from the time I spent studying incel forums online to learn more about how they operate. I think fiction is an incredibly powerful tool in communicating the emotional impact of such intense topics, but I was thrilled that I could share the facts to a wide UK audience to make people aware of the danger that this extreme misogyny poses to all of us. 

I was also delighted to have the chance to write about my literacy initiative for The Bookseller, and to have the opportunity to chat to the National Literacy Trust while learning about some of the amazing work that they do here in the UK. I officially launched my charitable foundation in 2021 with the goal of working to promote reading among children and young people in Sweden, so I really appreciated the opportunity to promote a cause that’s so important to me. 

Another brilliant thing about the UK crime fiction scene is the incredible amount of enthusiasm that British crime fiction fans have. The passion of the team behind the UK Crime Book Club on Facebook, for example, was phenomenal. They are so brilliant and I loved talking to them about Femicide.

This is only the beginning of my journey in the UK – Legend will be publishing more of my Vanessa Frank novels in the coming years, and I'm so excited for what's to come. In particular I'm really hoping to come back for some of the crime festivals, which you have such an amazing array of in the UK – from Capital Crime to CRIMEFEST and Harrogate to Bloody Scotland – and to have the opportunity to meet more UK crime fans face-to-face.

Femicide by Pascale Engman (Legend Press) Out Now

When 25-year-old Emelie is found murdered in her Stockholm apartment the same week her ex-partner is released from prison, it feels like an open and shut case for Detective Vanessa Frank. Who else would launch such a frenzied attack on the young woman? But Frank suspects there is something they're missing. Could the killing be linked to the rising online movement of men who want to punish women, the so-called 'incels'? When a survivor of brutal sexual assault comes forward, Frank uncovers more about this shadowy group who, in their own words, have weaponised the gender war and will stop at nothing to make themselves heard. Desperate to stop any further attacks, Frank escalates the investigation when a music festival intended to be a safe space for women becomes a potential target.

More information about the author can be found on his website.

You can also find him on Facebook. He can aslo follow him on Twitter @pascalengman

MacLehose Press unveils New Dragon Tattoo Title, The Girl in the Eagles Talons

 

Maclehose Press have announced that the English-language title for the much-anticipated 7^th novel in the Millennium series by Swedish author Karin Smirnoff will be The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons. It will be translated by Sarah Death, the award-winning translator of Selma Lagerlöf and Tove Jansson. Total sales figures for all six Millennium books, by Stieg Larsson and David Lagercrantz, have hit over 100 million copies worldwide across all editions and languages.

In a huge global event, The Girl in the Eagle’s Talon will be published simultaneously on 29 August 2023 by MacLehose Press and in Hachette UK’s international territories, and by Knopf PRH in the US and Penguin Random House in Canada.

The Swedish hardback edition was published as Havsörnens Skrik on 4 November to huge fanfare and rave reviews. Karin Smirnoff was interviewed on live TV and radio and the novel immediately hit the coveted no.1 slots on Sweden’s major online bookselling platforms, including Ad Libris and Bokustoppen. In the first five sales days, Swedish bookshops have sold over 7000 copies of the book (in a country of 10 million). In an innovative move by Swedish publisher Polaris, the e-book and audio releases of the Swedish editions will take place a month after hardback release, on 1 December 2022.

Karin Smirnoff’s take on the Lisbeth Salander story moves the plot from Stockholm to northern Sweden, an area vast and beautiful, but also dealing with economic and social problems and the effects of climate change and environmental exploitation. Karin Smirnoff and Stieg Larsson were both born in the northern county of Västerbotten, and both writers were shaped by the stark and empty landscapes of their birthplace.

The first Swedish press reviews for Havsörnens Skrik (The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons) have poured in and are extremely positive:

Svenska Dagbladet said: “We more than approve of Smirnoff's debut as a crime novelist … what impresses is the thrilling plot, the environmental depiction, and above all the unexpected and poignant relationship between Lisbeth and [her young protégé] Svala. Something tells me that the dark tale of Millennium will continue for a long time.”

Skånska Dagbladet, one of the largest daily newspapers in Sweden, emphasised the strong feminist angle to Karin Smirnoff’s new take on the Millennium series: “A really, really good crime novel. It is also a serious and successful attempt to keep Stieg Larsson’s commitment alive and let commercial literature speak serious truths about our time.”

Nya Tidning said that “letting Karin Smirnoff take over the baton from David Lagercrantz is a stroke of genius. It is hard to believe anyone could have done it better than Smirnoff. Apart from Stieg Larsson himself”.

Västerbottenskuriren said “The connections to Smirnoff's previous books become clear. This is as it should be, as there is the feminist anger, the fundamental connection that unites her with Stieg Larsson. A connection that is, quite literally, carried through smoke and shell fire by Lisbeth and Svala together.”

Maclehose Press Thrilled For The Return of Nordic Noir Stalwart Åsa Larsson

Credit - Orlando Boström

Katharina Bielenberg, Publisher at MacLehose Press, has acquired World English Language rights to the sixth and final instalment in Åsa Larsson’s hugely popular Rebecka Martinsson series. The Sins of our Fathers will be published on 30 March 2023 in hardback and e-book, in a translation by Frank Perry.

Katharina Bielenberg says, “Her many readers worldwide have waited long for Åsa Larsson’s next instalment, and without doubt it is her best yet. Gripping and vivid, with layer upon layer of human interest – I was thrilled and profoundly moved by The Sins of Our Fathers, a knock-out finale to a ground-breaking series.”

Åsa Larsson’s literary agent, Astri von Arbin Ahlander at the Ahlander Agency says, “The Sins of Our Fathers wraps up a milestone crime series, nearly two decades in the making. With the books about Rebecka Martinsson, Åsa Larsson has not only written beloved novels, she has fundamentally changed the expectations of what suspense literature can be. I am so incredibly honoured and humbled to have had the opportunity to witness a piece of literary history being made.”

Åsa Larsson says, “Saying farewell to Rebecka Martinsson contains a multitude of emotions. I am of course incredibly grateful. My fate – if she had not stepped in – would have been to make a living as a tax lawyer. Thanks to her, I was able to provide for myself and my children through my writing. I have friends that I would have never even met if it wasn’t for her. She has given me a life and a context that I, growing up in the mining town of Kiruna 200 kilometers north of the arctic circle, never could have dreamed about.”

The Sins of our Fathers has been published widely in Europe, reaching top 5 spots on bestseller lists in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and achieving rave reviews. It was voted Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year 2021, and won the major Storytel Award for Best Suspense Novel 2021 and the Adlibris Award for Best Suspense Novel 2021. It is currently shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel. 

MacLehose Press is planning to bring Åsa Larsson to the UK next year to celebrate – and mourn – the final instalment in the Rebecka Martinsson series.

The Sins of Our Fathers by Åsa Larsson (Published by Maclehose Press) Out 30 March 2023

Forensic pathologist Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live when he asks Rebecka Martinsson to investigate a murder that has long since passed the statute of limitations. A body found in a freezer at the home of the deceased alcoholic, Henry Pekkari, has been identified as a man who disappeared without a trace in 1962: the father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion Boerje Stroem. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case - she has enough to worry about. But how can she ignore a dying man's wish?When the post-mortem confirms that Pekkari, too, was murdered, Rebecka has a red-hot investigation on her hands. But what does it have to do with the body kept in his freezer for decades? Meanwhile, the city of Kiruna is being torn down and moved a few kilometres east, to make way for the mine that has been devouring the city from below. With the city in flux, the tentacles of organized crime are slowly taking over . . .

The Return of Lisbeth Salander

LISBETH SALANDER AND THE ‘DRAGON TATTOO’ SERIES GIVEN NEW LIFE BY ONE OF SWEDEN’S MOST SUCCESSFUL NOVELISTS

Karin Smirnoff lives on a farm in northern Sweden, just a short car journey away from Stieg Larsson’s birth place. She is a bestselling author whose novels have sold over 700,000 copies in her home country, has a black belt in karate, and enjoys spending time with her mother and kids. But now, her life is due to change completely as she is about to become one of the world’s most famous novelists after taking on the Stieg Larsson mantel to write about one of Sweden’s most iconic women, Lisbeth Salander. With approval of the Stieg Larsson estate, Karin Smirnoff has taken on the monumental task of writing the next three books in the ‘Dragon Tattoo’ series. The first novel (number 7 in the series) is due to be published in the UK on 31 August 2023. 

Karin was born in Umeå in the north of Sweden, grew up in Stockholm, and left school at 17 to travel. Now, she has returned to her birthplace and lives on a farm which has been in her family for many decades. Karin has hinted in interviews that the main storyline for Millennium 7 (as the as-yet-untitled novel is called) will move from Stockholm and the south to the wild expanses of northern Sweden that are so familiar to her. She read the Millennium novels when the first three books came out and is familiar with the universe created by Larsson and continued by fellow Swede David Lagercrantz.

With Karin Smirnoff as the new writer of the series, and its acquisition by Katharina Bielenberg of the MacLehose Press, an imprint of Quercus Books, the series – which has sold over 100 million copies worldwide – will have a female author and publisher, with a female translator also being lined up. 

Karin Smirnoff says, “It feels almost solemn to write the sequel to Millennium. I said yes to the project without hesitation, even though it postpones my own ideas for new novels. It’s an exciting opportunity to independently create and make something new based on a unique fictional universe that is known worldwide. The Millennium books are classics in their genre, where the combination of unforgettable characters and the strong political and societal engagement still fascinates readers. I will continue to build on Stieg Larsson's core themes, such as violence, abuse of power, and contemporary political currents.” 

Katharina Bielenberg says, “The Millennium series has been a constant at MacLehose Press and
Quercus since Christopher MacLehose acquired Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo back in 2008. Everything we know about Karin Smirnoff and her work tells us she has the perfect sensibility not only to continue on from David Lagercrantz’s trilogy with great drive and imagination, but also to make the series her own. And it feels just right that Lisbeth Salander’s universe should now be brought to life by a woman. We are absolutely thrilled to be working with Karin on these next instalments.”

Jon Butler, MD at Quercus Books, says, “The Millennium series – ‘the Dragon Tattoo books’ to most people in the English-speaking world – of course constitute one of the biggest publishing stories of the last twenty years, selling over 100 million copies worldwide. Stieg Larsson’s iconic creation, and the brilliant sequels written by David Lagercrantz, reached people who rarely buy books, which is the holy grail for any publisher. So, we couldn’t be more excited to announce a new trilogy; except that I probably am more excited. Karin Smirnoff is a literary talent of the highest order, and a huge bestseller in her native Sweden. We can’t wait to launch her creation to the widest possible English-language readership next year.”

The trailer for the Millennium 7 can be watched below.

For further information, please contact Corinna Zifko, corinna.zifko@quercusbooks.co.uk / 07917 158 986. 

The Importance of Place by Torquil MacLeod

 

To the Romans, the spirit of place was so important that it was revered as a deity – the Genius Loci. In contemporary use, it refers to the distinctive atmosphere of a particular location. In fictional literature, it often takes on its own persona, as it becomes as vital to the story as any of the characters. Many well-known authors have their own distinctive genius loci: Barchester for Trollope, Middle Earth for Tolkein, London for Conan Doyle. Some create their own world; others use the world we know.

In my Malmö Mysteries, I opted for the world we know. Malmö, in the Skåne region of the south of Sweden, is a city I have come to know and love. I first made its acquaintance just before Christmas in 2000 when I went to visit my elder son. It was not the most propitious introduction to a country that was to play such an important part in my life. After a storm-tossed ferry crossing from Newcastle to Gothenburg, my wife and I took a cold, very slow train down the coast and ended up, at midnight, in a desolate, draughty Malmö Central Station. It was like a scene out of The Third Man. Our son then drove us to the small coastal town of Simrishamn. We eventually crawled into bed in the early hours, wondering if our previously exotic perception of Sweden had been wrong. 

The next morning, we awoke to a magical place. Crisp and frosty. Beautiful countryside dotted with apple orchards; atmospheric, single-story, stone farmhouses; long sandy beaches. We had a fantastic welcome, and our love affair with Sweden began. So did the ideas for stories. We befriended a real-life Swedish detective, and Anita Sundström, or someone very like her, began to take shape. At first, I had film scripts in mind. We started to visit Malmö on a regular basis. It’s a wonderfully cosmopolitan city, becoming particularly so after the opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000, connecting it to Copenhagen across the Sound (many of you will know it well from the Swedish/Danish television thriller, The Bridge). Our son then moved to the city, so our trips always included many hours wandering around and taking in its sights and sounds. When I turned one of the film treatments into a book, Malmö was a natural place to set it. 

Now Malmö is a central character in the stories. Like many places in Sweden, it is at its best in the summer: the many parks are in bloom, the cafés and restaurants move outside, and the streets bustle with life. During Malmö Festivalen in August, the place vibrates with music, art and theatre from diverse cultures, all performed or exhibited outside in the streets or in marquees – and all free! The food is great, too.

Anita’s apartment is situated near one of the parks; the main one – Pildammsparken. Whenever possible, I try to use real locations. In some ways this is easier than creating my own imaginary locations. However, it does have its challenges. You have to go there, be there, and keep up with the ever-evolving genius. In the last twenty years, parts of the city centre have changed beyond recognition. The draughty station of my first visit has now been transformed into a modern, airport-style concourse; and the trains from Copenhagen, which used to wind around the suburbs, have been redirected underground through two new, architecturally eye-catching stations. And the view from the university of the Turning Torso, Malmö’s iconic twisting skyscraper, as described in Menace in Malmö, no longer exists, blocked by yet another wave of construction. Some authors manage to write about places they have never or rarely visited. The aforementioned Conan Doyle didn’t know London well and used street atlases and the London Post Office Directory to move Sherlock Holmes around the capital. He made all sorts of mistakes. And HRH Keating didn’t visit India until ten years after he started writing his Bombay-based, Inspector Ghote novels. Of course, nowadays Google Earth makes the whole process so much simpler. I have to confess, I’ve resorted to it myself during the Covid pandemic, as plans for our next Swedish visit have had to be put on hold several times.

Of course, Anita doesn’t stay in Malmö all the time. Her investigations often take her into the Scanian countryside, and even further afield. The tendency of some writers and filmmakers to portray the Swedish landscape as permanently gloomy, snowbound and unforgiving is vexing and, as far as Skåne is concerned, inaccurate. Southern Sweden doesn’t get the harsh winters often experienced by the rest of the country. So the compulsion that every Swedish drama should be situated with a dark and brooding backdrop is spurious and misleading (the monochrome scenery in the British Wallander adaptations springs to mind). On a similar theme, the producers of The Bridge, to a certain extent damaged Malmö’s image by purposefully not showing any of the city’s best buildings and most distinctive areas pre-1940.

Another important factor with regard to visiting the locations where I want to set scenes is that the places actually help stimulate ideas and motivate the thought process; even create characters I hadn’t thought about. Or they send the story off in a different direction. So, as my eighth Malmö Mystery novel makes an appearance and I plan the next, I’m flexible enough to acknowledge that my next visit to southern Sweden may well turn an existing idea on its head. But that’s all part of the fun of writing crime fiction!

Mammon in Malmö by By Torquil MacLeod (Published by McNidder & Grace (Out Now)

With a new Skane County Police commissioner wanting to make his mark in Malmoe, the Criminal Investigation Squad is under pressure when they are called in to solve the killing of a private investigator. The nature of the victim's work throws up some obvious suspects, yet not all is what it seems. When another murder takes place, there seems to be a politically sensitive connection. Anita Sundstroem, out of the force for a year after her resignation, is approached by a dying woman to track down a collection of paintings stolen from her family. The paintings were looted by the Nazis in Budapest in 1944. But needing the money, Anita takes on this seemingly impossible task. As she heads off to Hungary, she has no idea of the dangers ahead.

More information about Torquil MacLeod and his books can be found on his website

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

In The Spotlight - Will Dean

Name:-  Will Dean

Job:- Author

Website:-  https://oneworld-publications.com/will-dean.html

Twitter:- @willrdean

Introduction

Will Dean is the author of currently two books in the Dark Pines series which have been optioned for a television series.  His debut novel Dark Pines was selected by Val McDermid for her New Blood Panel at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Dark Pines was also shortlisted for Not The Booker Prize and was the Daily Telegraph Book of the Year.  Dark Pines was also selected by Selected for ITV's Zoe Ball Book Club. The next book in the Dark Pines series is Snake River that is due to be published in January 2020.

Current Book

I read Mystic River by Dennis Lehane the week before starting draft 1 of Tuva Moodyson book 4. It was a big mistake. I wouldn’t recommend reading anything that brilliant immediately before writing something new. It’s not great for your confidence.  I have a copy of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite on my desk for when I finish this damn draft.

Favourite Book

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I re-read it every year. A masterpiece.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Merricat Blackwood (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) and Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of The Lambs). I’d like to watch them eat. Listen to them talk. Observe them.

How do you relax?

Reading and chopping wood.

What book do you wish you’d written and why?

The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark. Because it’s so bloody good. So unsettling.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer?

Be patient. Read even more than you already do. Read more diverse books. Don’t eat the lounge food at Gothenburg Airport in February 2018.

How would you describe your series character?

Tuva Moodyson is young, deaf, ambitious, city-loving, acidic, complex, fiercely loyal, and terrified of the great outdoors. 

----

Red Snowby Will Dean (Published by Point Blank)

Two bodies. One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who's really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?  Two coins. Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man's eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.  Two weeks. Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who's to say the Ferryman will let her go?

-----

Snake River by Will Dean (Published by Point Blank, January 2020)

Snake River is the third thriller in the Tuva Moodyson series, featuring deaf reporter Tuva Moodyson. After living clean in southern Sweden for several months, Tuva receives a life-changing phone call – her best friend Tammy has gone missing and police fear she’s been kidnapped – and Tuva must return to her home town to help the investigation.

 Information about 2019 St Hilda's College Crime Fiction Weekend and how to book tickets can be found here.

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz - Final Millennium Novel

"What will you do now?"

"I shall be the hunter and not the hunted"

The girl with the dragon tattoo is finally ready to confront her nemesis, the only woman who is evidently and in many ways her match. Salander will not wait to be hunted. When she strikes it will be a double blow: vengeance for recent atrocities, and the settling of lifelong scores.

For months now Salander has been closing in on her target. She has moved from Stockholm, her hair is newly styled, her piercings are gone. She could pass for any other businesswoman. But not all businesswomen have a Beretta Cheetah beneath their jacket. They do not wield the lethal power of a hacker’s genius. They do not carry scars and tattoos to remind them that they have survived the unsurvivable.

The new episode in David Lagercrantz’s acclaimed, internationally bestselling continuation of Stieg Larsson’s Dragon Tattoo series is a thrilling ride that scales the heights of Everest and plunges the depths of Russian troll factories. It begins with the discovery of Mikael Blomkvist’s number at Millennium magazine in the pocket of an unidentified homeless man who died with the name of a government minister on his lips.

Blomkvist, at extreme risk to himself, tracks down his old friend and will protect her as far as he can. But he is powerless to crush her enemies on his own.

And for Lisbeth Salander, the personal is always political - and deadly.

The Girl Who Lived Twice will be published on 22 August 2019

Outstanding crime fiction from Denmark, Finland and Sweden shortlisted for the 2018 Petrona Award

Six outstanding crime novels from Denmark, Finland and Sweden have made the shortlist for the 2018 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, which is announced today.

What My Body Remembers by Agnete Friis, tr. Lindy Falk van Rooyen (Soho Press; Denmark)

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

After The Fire by Henning Mankell, tr. Marlaine Delargy (Vintage/Harvill Secker; Sweden)

The Darkest Day by Håkan Nesser, tr. Sarah Death (Pan Macmillan/Mantle; Sweden)

The White City by Karolina Ramqvist, tr. Saskia Vogel (Atlantic Books/Grove Press; Sweden)

The Man Who Died by Antti Tuomainen, tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland)

The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 19 May during the annual international crime fiction convention CrimeFest, held in Bristol on 17-20 May 2018. The winning author and the translator of the winning title will both receive a cash prize, and the winning author will receive a full pass to and a guaranteed panel at CrimeFest 2019.

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

The judges’ comments on the shortlist:
There were 61 entries for the 2018 Petrona Award from six countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, Sweden). The novels were translated by 33 translators and submitted by 31 publishers/imprints. There were 27 female and 33 male authors, and one brother-sister writing duo.

This year’s Petrona Award shortlist sees Sweden strongly represented with four novels; Denmark and Finland each have one. The crime genres represented include a police procedural, a courtroom drama, a comic crime novel and three crime novels/thrillers with a strong psychological dimension.

As ever, the Petrona Award judges faced a difficult but enjoyable decision-making process when they met to draw up the shortlist. The six novels selected by the judges stand out for the quality of their writing, their characterisation and their plotting. They are original and inventive, and shine a light on highly complex subjects such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, school shootings, and life on the margins of society. A key theme that emerged across all of the shortlisted works was that of family: the physical and psychological challenges of parenting; the pressures exerted by family traditions or expectations; sibling rivalries; inter­generational tensions and bonds; family loyalty… and betrayal.

We are extremely grateful to the translators whose expertise and skill allows readers to access these gems of Scandinavian crime fiction, and to the publishers who continue to champion and support translated fiction.

The judges’ comments on each of the shortlisted titles:


WHAT MY BODY REMEMBERS by Agnete Friis, tr. Lindy Falk van Rooyen (Soho Press; Denmark)
Her ‘Nina Borg’ novels, co-written with Lene Kaaberbøl, have a dedicated following, but this first solo outing by Danish author Agnete Friis is a singular achievement in every sense. Ella Nygaard was a child when her mother was killed by her father. Did the seven-year-old witness the crime? She can’t remember, but her body does, manifesting physical symptoms that may double as clues. Ella’s complex character is superbly realised – traumatised yet tough, she struggles to keep her son Alex out of care while dealing with the fallout from her past.

QUICKSAND by Malin Persson Giolito, tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles (Simon & Schuster; Sweden)
In this compelling and timely novel, eighteen-year-old Maja Norberg is on trial for her part in a school shooting which saw her boyfriend, best friend, teacher and other classmates killed. We follow the events leading up to the murders and the trial through Maja’s eyes, including her reaction to her legal team’s defence. Lawyer-turned-writer Malin Persson Giolito successfully pulls the reader into the story, but provides no easy answers to the motives behind the killings. Gripping and thought-provoking, the novel offers an insightful analysis of family and class dynamics.

AFTER THE FIRE by Henning Mankell, tr. Marlaine Delargy (Vintage/Harvill Secker; Sweden)
Henning Mankell’s final novel sees the return of Fredrik Welin from 2010's Italian Shoes. Living in splendid isolation on an island in a Swedish archipelago, Welin wakes up one night to find his house on fire and soon finds himself suspected of arson by the authorities. While there’s a crime at the heart of this novel, the story also addresses universal themes of loss, fragile family ties, difficult friendships, ageing and mortality. The occasionally bleak outlook is tempered by an acceptance of the vulnerability of human relationships and by the natural beauty of the novel’s coastal setting.

THE DARKEST DAY by Håkan Nesser, tr. Sarah Death (Pan Macmillan/Mantle; Sweden)
Many readers are familiar with the ‘Van Veeteren’ detective stories of Håkan Nesser, but his second series, featuring Swedish-Italian Detective Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti, is only now beginning to be translated. An engaging figure who navigates his post-divorce mid-life crisis by opening a witty dialogue with God, Barbarotti is asked to investigate the disappearance of two members of the Hermansson family following a birthday celebration. The novel’s multiple narrative perspectives and unhurried exploration of family dynamics make for a highly satisfying read.

THE WHITE CITY by Karolina Ramqvist, tr. Saskia Vogel (Atlantic Books/Grove Press; Sweden)
Karolina Ramqvist’s novella focuses on an often marginalised figure: the wife left stranded by her gangster husband when things go wrong. Karin’s wealthy, high-flying life is over. All that’s left are a once grand house, financial difficulties, government agencies closing in, and a baby she never wanted to have. This raw and compelling portrait of a woman at rock bottom uses the sometimes brutal physical realities of motherhood to depict a life out of control, and persuasively communicates Karin’s despair and her faltering attempts to reclaim her life.

THE MAN WHO DIED by Antti Tuomainen, tr. David Hackston (Orenda Books; Finland)
The grim starting point of Antti Tuomainen’s novel – a man finding out that he has been systematically poisoned and his death is just a matter of time – develops into an assured crime caper brimming with wry black humour. Finnish mushroom exporter Jaakko Kaunismaa quickly discovers that there’s a worryingly long list of suspects, and sets about investigating his own murder with admirable pluck and determination. The novel’s heroes and anti-heroes are engagingly imperfect, and Jaakko’s first-person narration is stylishly pulled off.


The judges are:

Barry Forshaw – Writer and journalist specialising in crime fiction and film; author of multiple books including HISTORICAL NOIR, 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; translator and editor; Honorary Research Associate at Swansea University; international crime fiction reviewer/blogger at MRS. PEABODY INVESTIGATES.

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

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