WHO WILL WIN THE INTERNATIONAL DAGGER?

There are some interesting polls at Mysteries from Paradise on how many of the six International Dagger nominated books you have read [now closed], and two polls running till 14 July at Euro Crime one about who you think will win and one about who you want to win.

I have now read all of the six nominated books and you can read my reviews if you follow the appropriate links:

Echoes From The Dead: Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy

Arctic Chill: Arnaldur Indridason, translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb

The Chalk Circle Man: Fred Vargas, translated by Sian Reynolds

The Girl Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson, translated by Reg Keeland

The Redeemer: Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett

Shadow: Karin Alvtegen, translated by McKinley Burnett

How will the judges decide between such an outstanding collection of novels?

I would not like to have to make such a difficult choice but I would start by eliminating the weakest book or books from consideration.

This process is helped by the fact that first Adamsberg novel by Fred Vargas , The Chalk Circle Man [translated out of order], is not up to the standard of her later books. Fred Vargas of course won the International Dagger in 2006 with The Three Evangelists and in 2007 with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, a later Adamsberg novel.

I would then eliminate Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason, which might seem a bit harsh because this is a very good straightforward police procedural, but it lacks the twists and turns that would make it stand out. It simply is not as good a story as his previous novels, The Draining Lake, or Voices.

Now with four brilliant Scandinavian books to choose from the elimination process gets even more difficult.

[To be continued]