Wednesday 21 January 2009

German Crime Writing Prize

They announced the winners of the German Crime Writing Prize the other day. In the German category, the winners are:

1. Linus Reichlin, Die Sehnsucht der Atome (allegedly the spring's most original crime novel in German)
2. Bernhard Jaumann, Die Augen der Medusa (the third in a series)
3. Heinrich Steinfest, Mariaschwarz (which Denis Scheck also recommended at the Helen & Kurt Wolff Symposium in the USA)

And the international winners are:

1. Richard Stark, Ask the Parrot
2. Jerome Charyn, Citizen Sidel
3. Deon Meyer, Onsigbaar/Blood Safari.

The winners don't get anything at all and there is no awards ceremony. But the people who choose the top crime novels are a very impressive collection of critics and booksellers, so I assume one can trust their judgement to some extent.

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