In Pursuit of the Petrona

Half a dozen works of fiction make up the newly announced shortlist of contenders for the 2019 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. This commendation—established back in 2013—takes its name from the blog operated by Maxine Clarke, a British editor and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction,” who had died the year before that. Here are the latest Petrona candidates:

• The Ice Swimmer, by Kjell Ola Dahl,
translated by Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway)
• The Whisperer, by Karin Fossum,
translated by Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway)
• The Katharina Code, by Jørn Lier Horst,
translated by Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph; Norway)
• The Darkness, by Ragnar Jónasson,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Penguin Random House; Iceland)
• Resin, by Ane Riel,
translated by Charlotte Barslund (Doubleday; Denmark)
• Big Sister, by Gunnar Staalesen,
translated by Don Bartlett (Orenda Books; Norway)

As Sarah Ward explains in her blog, “The winning title will be announced at the Gala Dinner on 11 May during the annual international crime fiction convention CrimeFest, held in Bristol on 9-12 May 2019. 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 2020.”