THE DUNCAN LAWRIE INTERNATIONAL DAGGER ?

Perhaps this award should be renamed 'The beat Fred Vargas if you can' Award, because once again the quirky French writer is nominated.

The short list is:

Andrea Camilleri- The Patience of the Spider translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli.

Stieg Larsson- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.

Dominique Manotti- Lorraine Connection translated from the French by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz.

Martin Suter- A Deal with the Devil translated from the German by Peter Millar.

Freed Vargas- This Night's Foul Work translated from the French by Sian Reynolds.

My review of The Patience of the Spider can be seen here. 

In my opinion it is not the best of the Montalbano series but then any Camilleri can be considered a contender, some more reviews here and here.

My review of This Night's Foul Work is here, and some more reviews here and here.

This is definitely a book that could bring Fred Vargas and Sian Reynolds a hat trick of wins. 

The Martin Suter, Dominique Manotti and the Stieg Larsson sit on my shelf unread as yet, and I must remedy that situation in the next few weeks.

My impression from reading other blogs and websites is that the winner this year will be Stieg Larsson.