Rennie Airth
Birth date1935
Death dateSeptember, 2025
Death placeJohannesburg, South Africa
NationalitySouth African

Rennie Airth (1935 — September 2025)[1] was a South African novelist who resided in Italy most of his life.[2] Airth also worked as foreign correspondent for the Reuters news service.[2]

Airth died in September 2025[3]

Novels

His works include Snatch! (1969), Once A Spy (1981), and a series of murder mysteries set in England between 1921 and 1949 featuring Detective Inspector John Madden of Scotland Yard (later retired). The first of these, River of Darkness (1999), won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for best international crime novel in 2000 and was nominated for Edgar, Anthony, and Macavity awards in the States.[4] Airth found inspiration for that tale in a scrapbook about his uncle, a soldier killed in World War I.[5] A sequel, The Blood-Dimmed Tide, was published in 2003, and a third book, The Dead of Winter, in 2009.[6] Although Airth initially intended to write a trilogy about Madden,[7] in 2014 he produced a fourth entry in the series, The Reckoning, and followed that with The Death of Kings (2017).

Awards

Awards for Airth's writing
YearTitleAwardResultRef.
2000River of DarknessAnthony Award for Best NovelFinalist[8]
Barry Award for Best British Crime NovelFinalist[8]
Dilys AwardFinalist[8]
Edgar Award for Best NovelFinalist[8][1]
Grand Prix de Littérature PolicièreWinner[4][1]
Historical Dagger AwardFinalist[8]
Macavity Award for Best Mystery NovelFinalist[8]
2006The Blood-Dimmed TideBarry Award for Best British Crime NovelFinalist[8]
2009The Dead of WinterHistorical Dagger AwardFinalist[8]

Publications

References

  1. ^ "Airth, Rennie 1935–". Encyclopedia.com. Archived 3 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  2. ^ "Rennie Airth". PanMacmillan.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  3. ^ "Reading the Detectives - Buddy reads: The Blood-Dimmed Tide (#2 John Madden) by Rennie Airth (Nov/Dec 25) Showing 1-13 of 13". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2026-04-26.
  4. ^ "Rennie Airth". Fantastic Fiction. Archived 9 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  5. ^ "Rennie Airth – Penguin Group (USA) Authors". Penguin Group (USA). Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  6. ^ "Rennie Airth". PanMacmillan.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  7. ^ "CrimeSquad". Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Rennie Airth". Stop, You're Killing Me!. Archived 23 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-05-09.