Occupation Novelist Role Novelist | Name Craig Russell Awards Dagger in the Library | |
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Genre Fiction: Thriller, Crime, historical Books Blood Eagle, The Carnival Master, The Valkyrie Song, A Fear of Dark Water, Brother Grimm | ||
Craig Russell, also known as Christopher Galt, is a British-born novelist and short story writer. His Hamburg-set thriller series featuring detective Jan Fabel has been translated into 23 languages. Russell speaks fluent German and has a special interest in post-war German history. His books, particularly the Fabel series, tend to include historical or mythological themes.
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In February 2007, Russell was awarded the Polizeistern (Police Star) by the Hamburg Police, the only non-German ever to have received this accolade. In June 2007, Russell was shortlisted for the £20,000 CWA Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger, the world's largest literary prize for crime fiction. He was the winner of the 2008 CWA Dagger in the Library. Russell was a finalist for the 2013 Ellis Peters Historical Dagger for Dead Men and Broken Hearts. In 2015, his novel The Ghosts of Altona won the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year at the Bloody Scotland Festival.
In 2014, he wrote the book Biblical under the pseudonym 'Christopher Galt'. In April 2015, The Third Testament was released under the same name.
Novels
The novels Craig Russell has written include:
Jan Fabel series
Jan Fabel is a fictional contemporary German detective. Fabel, whose rank is that of Erster Kriminalhauptkommissar (Principal Chief Commissar), is the head of the Mordkommission (Murder Squad) of the Hamburg Police. Fabel is half-Scottish, half-German and trained as a historian before becoming a policeman. The cases he investigates tend to involve a strong historical or mythological element.
Lennox series
Christopher Galt
Filmography
Three of Craig Russell's novels in the Fabel series have been produced by Tivoli Film for German public broadcaster ARD: Brother Grimm (aka Wolfsfahrte, directed by Urs Egger, premiere date 30 October 2013); Blood Eagle (aka Blutadler, directed by Nils Willbrandt, premiere date 3 November 2012); and Eternal (aka Brandmal, directed by Nicolai Rohde, premiere date 19 September 2015). In all three films, the lead title of Jan Fabel has been played by Peter Lohmeyer.