2008 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger

The Crime Writers Association has announced the winner of this year's Duncan Lawrie International Dagger.

The winner is Dominique Manotti's Lorraine Connection (EuroCrime), translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz.

The CWA's Dagger Awards celebrate the best crime writing, one of which - the International Dagger - is awarded to the best translated crime, thriller, suspense or spy novel that has been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication.

£5,000 is awarded to the author and £1,000 to the translator. The sponsor is Duncan Lawrie Private Bank.

Shortlist

Andrea Camilleri The Patience of the Spider (Picador), translated from Italian by Stephen Sartarelli

Judges’ comments: ‘The judges were impressed by the evocation of a complete local world, by the skill with which the characters are distinguished, and, of course, by the creation of a believable Sicilian dialect.’

Stieg Larsson The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (MacLehose Press), translated from Swedish by Reg Keeland

Judges’ comments: ‘It is rare for a novelist to be able to combine a range of odd characters; social breadth; and the detail of financial markets, especially in what bankers call ‘a point of compromise’. Larsson’s death robs us of a new, yet mature, voice in fiction.’

Dominique Manotti Lorraine Connection (EuroCrime), translated from Italian by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz

Judges’ comments: ‘Manotti seamlessly integrates a fine crime story with French provincial and national politics within the EU, then matches it with an equally convincing grip on the characters of her northern landscape.’

Martin Suter A Deal with the Devil (EuroCrime), translated from Spanish by Peter Millar

Judges’ comments: ‘Friedrich Glauser was a pioneering Swiss writer of crime fiction, and the national award bears his name. In this novel Suter pays literary homage which modernises Glauser’s plot and setting, while extending it into an original conception of his own.’

Fred Vargas This Night's Foul Work (Harvill Secker), translated from French by Sîan Reynolds

Judges’ comments: ‘No one writes like Fred Vargas, and her invention is unflagging. This novel takes Adamsberg and his team into the wilds of upper Normandy, and deep into the medieval past of relics and alchemy.’

The judging panel comprises:

Adrian Muller (non-voting Chair) - organiser of CrimeFest, a new international crime fiction convention being held in Bristol this June. (www.crimefest.com )

Peter Guttridge - crime writer and the crime fiction reviewer for the Observer

Ruth Morse - has written about post-colonial crime fiction, and is a reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement.

Susanna Yager - the crime fiction reviewer for the Sunday Telegraph