Prize Mystère de la critique
The Prix Mystère de la critique ( German : "Riddle Prize of Criticism" ) is a French literary prize that was launched in 1972 by the literary critic Georges Rieben . The reason for the introduction of the award, which annually honors the best French detective novel and the best foreign detective novel in French translation, was, among other things, the low number of literary prizes for detective novels and the falling sales of Mystère Magazine . The Opta publishing house , which publishes the French branch of the US Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine , had entrusted Rieben with the management of the crime magazine together with the journalist and later film director Bernard Rapp . In contrast to the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres , however, the price is not tied to a publishing house. The Parisian Bibliothèque des Littératures policières has been responsible for awarding the prizes for several years .
Similar to the more renowned Grand prix de littérature policière, the winners are determined by a jury consisting of literary critics who review crime novels. They each put their ten favorite new publications that appeared in the previous year up for discussion. Well-known names such as Eric Ambler , Didier Daeninckx , James Ellroy , Thomas Harris , Robert Ludlum , Henning Mankell and Fred Vargas are among the honored authors of the past decades .
While the circle of voting members on the jury was around ten in the initial phase (including well-known crime writers such as the author duo Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac , Michel Lebrun or later Maurice-Bernard Endrèbe , founder of the Grand prix de littérature policière), it is now around twenty grown to thirty a year.
Award winners
National
The winners in the National category , which is reserved for the best French-language detective novel published last year. The most successful in this category were the French Alain Demouzon (1979 and 2001), Pascal Dessaint (1997 and 2008), Thierry Jonquet (1994 and 1999), Dominique Manotti (2002 and 2007), Jean-Hugues Oppel (1995 and 2006) and Fred Vargas (1996 and 2000) and Hervé Le Corre (2005 and 2010), who each won the award twice. Vargas is also the first female crime writer to receive the award.
| year | Award winners | Novel title | German title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Albert Simonin | Hotu soit qui mal y pense | |
| 1973 | Fred Kassak | Nocturne pour un assassin | |
| 1974 |
Pierre Boileau Thomas Narcejac |
Le Secret d'Eunerville | The secret of Eunerville |
| 1975 | Raf Vallet | Goodbye chicken | Goodbye, cop |
| 1976 | Louis C. Thomas | La place du mort | Four victims and no murderer |
| 1977 | ADG | L'Otage est sans pitié | |
| Georges-Jean Arnaud | Enfantasme | ||
| 1978 | Michel Grisolia | L'Inspecteur de la Mer | |
| 1979 | Alain Demouzon | Mes crimes imparfaits | |
| 1980 | Jean Vautrin | Bloody Mary | Bloody Mary |
| 1981 | Jean-François Coatmeur | La Bavure | Just no scandal! |
| 1982 | Brice Pelman | Attention, les fauves | |
| 1983 | René Réouven | Elémentaire mon cher Holmes | |
| 1984 | Tito Topin | 55 de fièvre | Casablanca in a fever |
| 1985 | Pierre Magnan | La maison assassinée | The murdered house |
| 1986 | Jean Amila | Au balcon d'Hiroshima | |
| 1987 | Didier Daeninckx | Playback | The voice of Bianca B. |
| 1988 | Daniel Pennac | La Fée carabine | When old ladies shoot |
| 1989 | Patrick Raynal | Fenêtre sur femmes | |
| 1990 | Joseph Bialot | Un Violon pour Mozart | A murderous tightrope opera |
| 1991 | Jacques Syreigeol | Une mort dans le Djebel | |
| 1992 | Tonino Benacquista | La Commedia des ratés | Itaker blues |
| 1993 | Jean-Bernard Pouy | La Belle de Fontenay | The beauty of Fontenay |
| 1994 | Thierry Jonquet | Les Orpailleurs | The gold diggers |
| 1995 | Jean-Hugues Oppel | Brocéliande sur Marne | |
| 1996 | Fred Vargas | Debout les morts | The beautiful diva of Saint-Jacques |
| 1997 | Pascal Dessaint | Bouche d'ombre | |
| 1998 | Hugues Pagan | Dernière station avant l'autoroute | |
| 1999 | Thierry Jonquet | Moloch | |
| 2000 | Fred Vargas | L'Homme à l'envers | When night falls |
| 2001 | Alain Demouzon | La Promesse de Melchior | The unsolved murder |
| 2002 | Dominique Manotti | Nos fantastiques années fric | |
| 2003 | Claude Amoz | Bois-Brûlé | |
| 2004 | Michèle Rozenfarb | L'Homme ensorcelé | |
| 2005 | Hervé Le Corre | L'Homme aux lèvres de sapphire | |
| 2006 | Jean-Hugues Oppel | French tabloids | |
| 2007 | Dominique Manotti | Lorraine connexion | Last shift |
| 2008 | Pascal Dessaint | Cruelles natures | |
| 2009 | Caryl Férey | Zulu | Zulu |
| 2010 | Hervé Le Corre | Les Coeurs déchiquetés | |
| 2011 | Marin Ledun | La Guerre des vanités | |
| 2012 | Marcus Malte | Les Harmoniques | |
| 2013 | Olivier Truc | Le Dernier lapon | |
| 2014 | Romain Slocombe | Première station avant l'abattoir | |
| 2015 | Nicolas Mathieu | Aux animaux la guerre | |
| 2016 | DOA | Pukhtu: Primo | |
| 2017 | Cloé Mehdi | Rien ne se perd | Nothing is lost |
| 2018 | Franz Bartelt | Hotel du Grand Cerf | |
| 2019 | Patrick Pécherot | Hével |
International
The winners in the International category , which is reserved for the best foreign crime novel published in French in the previous year. The most successful in this category were the Americans Donald E. Westlake (1972 and 2001), Robin Cook (1984 and 1995), William Bayer (1986 and 2005) and James Lee Burke (1992 and 2009), who each won twice could win. While a crime writer has not won a victory so far, Horst Bosetzky was the only German-speaking crime writer to be successful. In 1988 he triumphed with his under the pseudonym -ky written novel No townhouse for Robin Hood , who the year before under the title Robin des bois est mort in Bordeaux the publisher Le Mascaret had appeared.
| year | Award winners | Novel title (original title) | German title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Donald E. Westlake | Pierre qui brûle (The hot rock) |
Stay away from the hot ice |
| 1973- 1975 |
Prize not awarded | ||
| 1976 | Andrew Garve | Le Scandale Lester (The File on Lester) |
The Lester dossier |
| 1977- 1978 |
Prize not awarded | ||
| 1979 | Eric Ambler | Les Trafiquants d'armes (Passage of arms) |
Arms smuggling |
| 1980 | Jack Vance | Méchant garçon (Bad Ronald) |
|
| 1981 | Malcolm Braly | La Rue devient folle (The Protector) |
|
| 1982 | Robert Ludlum | La Mémoire dans la peau (The Bourne identity) |
The Borowski Fraud / The Bourne Identity |
| 1983 | James MacLendon | La Cavale d'Eddie Macon (Eddie Macon's run) |
The bloodhound |
| 1984 | Robin Cook | On ne meurt que deux fois (He died with his eyes open) |
|
| 1985 | William P. McGivern | La Nuit de l'égorgeur (Night of the juggler) |
Dark nights |
| 1986 | William Bayer | Une Tête pour une autre (Switch) |
Deadly swap |
| 1987 | Tom Topor | L'Orchestre des ombres (Coda) |
|
| 1988 | Horst Bosetzky | Robin des bois est mort (Not a row house for Robin Hood) |
Not a row house for Robin Hood |
| 1989 | James Crumley | Fausse Piste (The wrong case) |
Beautiful women don't lie |
| 1990 | James Ellroy | Le Grand zero part (The Big Nowhere) |
Blood shadow |
| 1991 | Thomas Harris | Le Silence des agneaux (The silence of the lambs) |
The silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | James Lee Burke | Black cherry blues (Black cherry blues) |
Black cherry blues |
| 1993 | Francisco González Ledesma | La dame de Cachemire (La dama de Cachemira) |
|
| 1994 | Philip Kerr | L'été de cristal (March violets) |
Fire in Berlin |
| 1995 | Robin Cook | Quand se lève le brouillard rouge (Not till the red fog rises) |
Red fog |
| 1996 | Caleb Carr | L'Aliéniste (The alienist) |
The encirclement |
| 1997 | Robert Harris | Enigma (Enigma) |
Enigma |
| 1998 | Michael Connelly | Le Poète (The Poet) |
The poet |
| 1999 | Andrea Camilleri | La Forme de l'eau (La forma dell'acqua) |
The shape of the water |
| 2000 | Henning Mankell | Le Guerrier Solitaire (Villospår) |
The wrong track |
| 2001 | Donald E. Westlake | Le Contrat (The hook) |
|
| 2002 | Boris Akunin | Azazel (Азазель / Asasel) |
Fandorin |
| 2003 | Dennis Lehane | Mystic River (Mystic River) |
Trail of the Wolves / Mystic River |
| 2004 | Deon Meyer | Les soldiers de l'aube (Orion) |
Death before dawn |
| 2005 | William Bayer | Le Rêve des chevaux brisés (The dream of the broken horses) |
|
| 2006 | Arnaldur Indriðason | La Cité des jarres (Mýrin) |
Nordermoor |
| 2007 | Francisco González Ledesma | Cinq femmes et demie (Cinco mujeres y media) |
|
| 2008 | Daniel Woodrell | Un hiver de glace (Winter's bone) |
Winters bones |
| 2009 | James Lee Burke | Dernier tramway pour les Champs-Elysées (Last car to Elysian Fields) |
|
| 2010 | Jack O'Connell | Dans les limbes (The Resurrectionist) |
|
| 2011 | William Gay | La Mort au crépuscule (Twilight) |
Night incidents |
| 2012 | Stuart Neville | Les Fantômes de Belfast (The ghosts of Belfast) |
The shadows of Belfast |
| 2013 | Donald Ray Pollock | Le Diable tout le temps (The devil all the time) |
The devil's craft |
| 2014 | Emily St. John Almond | On ne joue pas avec la mort (The Singer's Gun) |
|
| 2015 | Shannon Burke | 911 (Black Flies) |
|
| 2016 | Jake Hinkson | L'Enfer de Church Street (Hell on Church Street) |
|
| 2017 | Don Winslow | Cartel (The Cartel) |
The cartel |
| 2018 | Colin O'Sullivan | Killarney Blues (Killarney Blues) |
|
| 2019 | Gabriel Tallent | My Absolute Darling (My Absolute Darling) |
my everything |
See also
Web links
- Interview with the award founder Georges Rieben at leslecturesdelonclepaul.over-blog.com, July 23, 2013 (French).
- List of award winners at k-libre.fr (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Prix Mystère de la critique at polars.org ( Memento of the original from May 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French)
