The days are getting shorter – that must be why they give these crime fiction awards at night!

PETRONA AWARD

The winner of the 2024 Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year is: 

• Dead Men Dancing by Jógvan Isaksen, translated from the Faroese by Marita Thomsen (Norvik Press) 

Jógvan Isaksen will receive a trophy, and both the author and translator will receive a cash prize. 

CRIME FICTION LOVER AWARDS 2024 SHORTLISTS

The shortlists for the fourth annual Crime Fiction Lover Awards winners were announced on November 11, as voted by Crime Fiction Lover readers.

BEST CRIME NOVEL

• Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin 
• The Mercy Chair by MW Craven 
• Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
• The Examiner by Janice Hallett 
• The Death Watcher by Chris Carter 
• All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

BEST CRIME DEBUT

• Helle and Death by Oskar Jensen 
• The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey 
• Knife Skills for Beginners by Orlando Murrin
• Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney 
• Crow Moon by Suzy Aspley 
• A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman 

BEST CRIME NOVEL IN TRANSLATION

• Black Wolf by Juan Gómez-Jurado, translated by Nicolas Caistor
• The Snow Angel by Anki Edvinsson, translated by Paul Norlen
• The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini, translated by Gregory Dowling
• Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jonasson, translated by Victoria Cribb
• The Kitchen by Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward
• The Night of Baba Yaga by Akira Otani, translated by Sam Bett

BEST INDIE CRIME NOVEL

• The Corpse with the Pearly Smile by Cathy Ace
• A Killer of Influence by JD Kirk 
• Bronco Buster by AJ Devlin 
• Westerwick by George Paterson 
• Namaste Mart Confidential by Andrew Miller 
• Dying For Crystal by Katherine Black 

BEST CRIME SHOW

• Bad Monkey 
• Ludwig 
• Slow Horses S4
• Nordic Murders S5
• Rebus 
• True Detective S4

BEST CRIME AUTHOR

• Tana French
• Ian Rankin 
• Attica Locke 
• Ace Atkins 
• Janice Hallett
• Abir Mukherjee 

Cora Buhlert sent along a note about a translation issue: “I found that one of the finalists in the TV category is a German show billed as The Nordic Murders here. However, the actual title is Der Usedom Krimi (The Usedom Mysteries), because the show is set and filmed on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea. For some reason, it acquired the title The Nordic Murders in the English-speaking world, probably because Scandinavian crime dramas are popular.”

AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS

The shortlists have been announced for the An Post Irish Book Awards. Here are the finalists in the crime fiction category:

2024 IRISH INDEPENDENT CRIME FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST

• A Stranger in the Family, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
• Where They Lie, by Claire Coughlan (Simon & Schuster)
• Someone in the Attic, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• Somebody Knows, by Michelle McDonagh (Hachette Ireland)
• When We Were Silent, by Fiona McPhillips (Bantam)

Winners will be announced on November 27.