Crime Fiction News for November 2022

Here are several updates about crime fiction awards.

THE PETRONA AWARD

The Petrona Award 2022 Longlist has been announced. Twelve outstanding crime novels from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden will vie for recognition as the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

  • Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson. Translated by Agnes Broomé (Sweden, Zaffre)
  • The Assistant by Kjell Ola Dahl. Translated by Don Bartlett (Norway, Orenda Books)
  • The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg. Translated by Tara Chace (Denmark, Hodder & Stoughton)
  • The Therapist by Helene Flood. Translated by Alison McCullough (Norway, MacLehose Press)
  • The Commandments by Óskar Guðmundsson. Translated by Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books Ltd)
  • Smoke Screen by Jørn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger. Translated by Megan Turney (Norway, Orenda Books)
  • Everything Is Mine by Ruth Lillegraven. Translated by  Diane Oatley (Norway, AmazonCrossing)
  • Silenced by Sólveig Pálsdóttir. Translated by Quentin Bates (Iceland, Corylus Books Ltd)
  • Knock Knock by Anders Roslund. Translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sweden, Harvill Secker)
  • Cold as Hell by Lilja Sigurðardóttir. Translated by Quentin Bates (Iceland, Orenda Books)
  • Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman. Translated by Ian Giles (Sweden, Zaffre)
  • The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen. Translated by David Hackston (Finland, Orenda Books)

These twelve titles will be reduced to a shortlist that will be announced on November 16.

SISTERS IN CRIME PRIDE AWARD FOR EMERGING LGBTQ+ WRITERS

Sisters in Crime have announced the winner of their 2022 Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQ+ Writers, Sarah St. Asaph (she/hers) of London, England.

Her winning novel-in-progress is a contemporary medical-legal crime mystery where a young lawyer is given the chance to re-examine the evidence against a former hospital doctor that has been convicted as Britain’s worst ever female serial killer. The novel explores how women are treated within the criminal justice system and plays with the prejudices and preconceptions they face as perpetrators of crimes.

Asaph will receive a $2,000 grant intended for a beginning crime writer to support activities related to career development.

Five runners-up will also be paired with an established Sisters in Crime member author to receive a manuscript critique. They are: C. Jean Downer of White Rock, British Columbia (paired with Cheryl Head), Diane Carmony of La Quinta, CA (Jeffrey Marks), Roy Udeh-Ubaka of Gainesville, FL (Anne Laughlin), Marle Redfern of New England (John Copenhaver) and Elaine Westnott-O’Brien of Tramore, Co. Waterford, Ireland (Catherine Maiorisi).

BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE

The winner of the 2022 British Academy Book Prize has been announced and it’s a non-fiction crime book: 

  • When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold by Alia Trabucco Zerán. Translated by Sophie Hughes. (And Other Stories)

The Chilean author will receive a £25,000 purse (US$29,074).

Publishing Perspectives adds:

Zerán and Hughes’ work becomes the 10th recipient of the prize which, of course, began its life as the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. Zerán’s debut novel, The Remainder, was shortlisted in 2019 for the International Booker Prize. The author is trained as an attorney and, according to the prize regime’s organizers, “expertly blends true-crime writing with the art of the critical essay and investigative memoir” in When Women Kill.”

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert and Todd Mason for these stories.]