Johan Theorin and Martine McCutcheon
The Crime Thriller Awards, 9pm, 27th October, ITV3
London, Wednesday, 21st October, 2009: JOHAN THEORIN has won the 2009 CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. He was presented with his Dagger and a cheque for £1000 by Martine McCutcheon, at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2009, a prestigious event hosted by comedian Alan Davies at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, which will be televised at 9pm on Tuesday 27 October, on ITV3.
In accepting his award, he said: “It's surreal to be standing here - it's like having a Swede win Wimbledon! ... Britain is home to most of the greatest mystery writers in the world, from Conan Doyle, Christie and Creasey and up to all the fine writers who are still alive and active today - and as a Swede I couldn’t dream of competing with them. But to my big surprise and honour, I guess I have.”
The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger is awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers. The prize is sponsored by Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead. Louise Penny is author of the award-winning Armand Gamache series, and a previous recipient of the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. Her web site is www.louisepenny.com.
Johan Theorin was born in 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and has spent every summer of his life on northern Öland. His mother’s family – sailors, fishermen and farmers – have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s rich legacy of strange tales and folklore. He is a journalist and scriptwriter. His second novel, The Darkest Room, (in Swedish Nattfåk) was voted the Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2008 and won the Glass Key award in 2009. The books form the first half of a loose quartet of novels set on the island of Öland. Echoes From The Dead was also shortlisted for this year's CWA International Dagger.
His website (in Swedish) is www.johantheorin.com
Marlaine Delargy works as a translator and adult learning support tutor. She has translated novels by Åsa Larsson and Johan Theorin, among others, and serves on the editorial board of the Swedish Book Review. She lives in Shropshire, England.
The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement. The judges said: ‘This year’s shortlisted books all had one thing in common – very strongly drawn characters, both major and minor. It was good to see novels which avoided clichéd stereotypes. Settings also were unusually interesting and integral to strong plots.’. The other shortlisted books (described in more detail on the shortlist page) were:
David Fuller Sweetsmoke (Abacus)
James Green Bad Catholics (Luath Press)
Rod Madocks No Way To Say Goodbye (Five Leaves)
Robert Rotenberg Old City Hall (John Murray)
Dan Waddell The Blood Detective (Penguin)
Judges’ comments: ‘A Swedish mystery in which the island where the action takes place is as much a player in the drama as the people are. Julia’s young son goes missing and 20 years later, his sandal is sent to her father Gerlof. Julia’s still fresh anguish, and the old man’s patient piecing together of fragments of the history of the island bad boy, Nils Kant, create a powerful and moving drama with a stunning denouement. The island, misty and deserted, lonely and creepy, is the backdrop which contributes so much atmosphere to a finely written intrigue.’
Synopsis: Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Öland. No trace of him has ever been found.
Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls?
It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia’s search for the truth. And that he’s much, much closer than she thinks ...
Marion Arnott (chair): - a teacher and short story writer living in Scotland . She has had a collection of short stories published by Elastic press and is a winner of a short story dagger.
Danuta Reah: crime fiction and short story writer
Chris Simmons: bookseller for Waterstone’s bookshops