The shortlist for the 2020 Theakston old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year was unveiled today. The prize was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback during the eligibility period.
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books)
Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald (Orenda Books)
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)
Joe Country by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
The winner is ordinarily announced at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, hosted in Harrogate each July, however, the 2020 event has been cancelled because of he COVID-19 epidemic. This year, the winner will be revealed at a virtual awards ceremony on July 31, and receive £3,000, and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.
The prize was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback during the eligibility period.
The administrators received a record number of submissions, and the longlist of 18 titles includes 10 by women, four former winners (Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre, Tony Hill, and Lee Child), and a Booker Prize contender (Oyinkan Braithwaite).
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books)
Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Abacus)
Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver (Orenda Books)
Cruel Acts by Jane Casey (HarperCollins, Harper Fiction)
Blue Moon by Lee Child (Transworld, Bantam)
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan, Macmillan/Pan)
Red Snow by Will Dean (Oneworld, Point Blank)
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty (Faber & Faber)
Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald (Orenda Books)
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)
Joe Country by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)
Conviction by Denise Mina (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
The Whisper Man by Alex North (Penguin Random House, Michael Joseph)
Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Headline Publishing Group, Wildfire)
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (Pan Macmillan, Mantle/Pan)
The winner is ordinarily announced at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, hosted in Harrogate each July, however, the 2020 event has been cancelled because of he COVID-19 epidemic. This year, the winner will be revealed at a virtual awards ceremony on July 31, and receive £3,000, and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.
The prize celebrates the very best in crime fiction — UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019 were eligible.
Thirteen, a
legal thriller,is scheduled for release in the U.S. in August by Flatiron
Books.
It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.
The award was presented
at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, an event co-founded
in 2003 by Val McDermid, agent Jane Gregory, and arts charity Harrogate
International Festivals.
The prize was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction
and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in
paperback from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019. The
winner is announced at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival,
hosted in Harrogate each July.
ITW THRILLER AWARDS. The finalists for the 2019 International
Thriller Writers Awards have been announced. The award
is given by the International
Thriller Writers, whose board of directors boasts such famous
members as Lee Child and R.L. Stine. ITW will announce
the winners at ThrillerFest XIV on July 13, 2019 at the Grand
Hyatt, New York City.
BEST HARDCOVER NOVEL
Lou Berney — NOVEMBER ROAD (William Morrow)
Julia Heaberlin — PAPER GHOSTS (Ballantine Books)
Jennifer Hillier — JAR OF HEARTS (Minotaur Books)
Karin Slaughter — PIECES OF HER (William Morrow)
Paul Tremblay — THE CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD (William Morrow)
BEST FIRST NOVEL
Jack Carr — THE TERMINAL LIST (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
Karen Cleveland — NEED TO KNOW (Ballantine Books)
Ellison Cooper — CAGED (Minotaur Books)
Catherine Steadman — SOMETHING IN THE WATER (Ballantine Books)
C. J. Tudor — THE CHALK MAN (Crown)
BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL NOVEL
Jane Harper — THE LOST MAN (Pan Macmillan Australia)
John Marrs — THE GOOD SAMARITAN (Thomas & Mercer)
Andrew Mayne — THE NATURALIST (Thomas & Mercer)
Kirk Russell — GONE DARK (Thomas & Mercer)
Carter Wilson — MISTER TENDER’S GIRL (Sourcebooks Landmark)
BEST SHORT STORY
Jeffery Deaver — “The Victims’ Club” (Amazon Original Stories)
Emily Devenport — “10,432 Serial Killers (In Hell)” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
Scott Loring Sanders — “Window to the Soul” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Helen Smith — “Nana” in KILLER WOMEN: CRIME CLUB ANTHOLOGY #2 (Killer Women Ltd.)
Duane Swierczynski — “Tough Guy Ballet” in FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME: STORIES INSPIRED BY THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CANON (Pegasus Books)
BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Teri Bailey Black — GIRL AT THE GRAVE (Tor Teen)
Gillian French — THE LIES THEY TELL (HarperTeen)
Marie Lu — WARCROSS (Penguin Young Readers/G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
Dana Mele — PEOPLE LIKE US (Penguin Young Readers/G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
Peter Stone — THE PERFECT CANDIDATE (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
BEST E-BOOK ORIGINAL NOVEL
Clare Chase — MURDER ON THE MARSHES (Bookouture)
Gary Grossman — EXECUTIVE FORCE (Diversion Books)
Samantha Hayes — THE REUNION (Bookouture)
T.S. Nichols — THE MEMORY DETECTIVE (Alibi)
Alan Orloff — PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT (Kindle Press)
The Arthur Ellis Awards are not
named after a writer, but after the official pseudonym of Canada’s hangman and
the trophy is a jumping jack type wood figure on a gallows. Cora
Buhlert says “It’s the only award with a creepier trophy than the old World
Fantasy Award.”
BEST
CRIME NOVEL
Though
the Heavens Fall,
by Anne Emery (ECW Press)
BEST
FIRST CRIME NOVEL
(Sponsored by Rakuten Kobo)
Cobra
Clutch, by A.J. Devlin (NeWest Press)
BEST
CRIME NOVELLA –
The Lou Allin Memorial Award
Murder
Among the Pines,
by John Lawrence Reynolds (Orca Book Publishers)
BEST
CRIME SHORT STORY
(Sponsored by Mystery Weekly Magazine)
“Terminal
City,” by Linda L. Richards (Vancouver Noir, Akashic Books)
BEST
CRIME BOOK IN FRENCH
Adolphus
– Une enquête de Joseph Laflamme, by Hervé Gagnon (Libre Expression)
BEST
JUVENILE/YOUNG ADULT CRIME BOOK
Escape, by Linwood Barclay (Puffin
Canada)
BEST
NONFICTION CRIME BOOK
The
Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the
World,
by Sarah Weinman (Alfred A. Knopf Canada)
BEST
UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT –
aka The Unhanged Arthur (Sponsored by Dundurn Press)
James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (Translated by Þórdís Bachmann)
Keigo Higashino: The Devotion of Suspect X (Translated by Ásta S. Guðbjartsdóttir)
Shari Lapena: A Stranger in the House (Translated by Ingunn Snædal)
Pierre Lemaitre: Three Days and a Life (Translated by Friðrik Rafnsson)
Henning Mankell: After the Fire (Translated by Hilmar Hilmarsson)
The jury for the award is composed of Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Prime
Minister of Iceland, Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir journalist and literary critic, and
Ragnar Jónasson, crime writer.
The prize was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction
and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in
paperback from May 1, 2018 to April 30, 2019.
The Longlist in Full:
Snap by Belinda Bauer – Transworld
Our
House by
Louise Candlish – Simon & Schuster UK
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh –
Hachette
Wild
Fire by
Ann Cleeves – Pan Macmillan
This
Is How It Ends by
Eva Dolan – Bloomsbury Publishing
Take
Me In
by Sabine Durrant – Hodder & Stoughton
The
Dark Angel by
Elly Griffiths – Quercus
London
Rules by
Mick Herron – John Murray Press
Broken
Ground by
Val McDermid – Little, Brown Book Group
The
Quaker by
Liam McIlvanney – HarperCollins
The
Way of All Flesh by
Ambrose Parry – Canongate Books
East
of Hounslow by
Khurrum Rahman – HarperCollins
Hell
Bay by
Kate Rhodes – Simon & Schuster UK
Salt
Lane by
William Shaw – Quercus
The
Chalk Man by
C. J. Tudor – Penguin Random House
The
Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton – Bloomsbury Publishing
Anatomy
of a Scandal by
Sarah Vaughan – Simon & Schuster UK
Changeling by Matt
Wesolowski – Orenda Books
The winner is announced at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime
Writing Festival, hosted in Harrogate each July. The festival was co-founded in
2003 by Val McDermid, agent Jane Gregory, and arts charity Harrogate
International Festivals.