Longlist for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 Revealed

 

Harrogate International Festivals announced the 18 titles long-listed for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award now in its twentieth year.

The longlist, voted for by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, features stories that transport readers from the burning heat of the Chihuahuan Desert to the chill of nineties Berlin, from down-at-heel Blackpool to the splendour of Georgian London. Crime fiction fans are now invited to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted Award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18 July.

Six former winners are vying for top honours, including 2023 champion MW Craven, who is longlisted for his high-octane US-set thriller Fearless, alongside Queen of Crime Val McDermid for cold case mystery Past Lying, and Mick Herron, the author behind Apple TV’s smash-hit series ‘Slow Horses,’ for his elegant stand-alone spy novel The Secret Hours. Also nominated are Chris Brookmyre’s edgy thriller about a murderous hen party on a remote Scottish island, The Cliff House, two times winner Mark Billingham’s The Last Dance, the first novel in his captivating new Blackpool-set detective series and Clare Mackintosh’s reality TV set thriller A Game of Lies. Ann Cleeves, who was awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award in 2023 adds to this illustrious list, nominated for her atmospheric detective novel The Raging Storm.  

Among the five hugely talented rising stars longlisted for the first time are Jo Callaghan, nominated for her stunningly original debut In the Blink of An Eye, which introduces intriguing detective duo DCS Kat Frank and her AI colleague Lock, and William Hussey for serial-killer thriller Killing Jericho featuring crime fiction’s first Traveller detective. They are up against Jack Jordan’s addictive legal thriller Conviction, missing persons investigation The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver, and Oxford-set detective novel The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason.

Showcasing the range of crime fiction subgenres, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s atmospheric Georgian-set historical crime novel The Square of Sevens, Lisa Jewell’s tantalising domestic noir None of This is True, propulsive thriller You Can Run by New Blood 2020 alumni Trevor Wood and The Last Remains, Elly Griffiths’ final Dr Ruth Gallow mystery, join the 2024 longlist.

Completing the line-up are two phenomenally talented Irish crime writers: Jane Casey for her gripping DS Maeve Kerrigan novel The Close and four-times Irish Book Award winner Liz Nugent for her unnerving thriller Strange Sally Diamond.

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is: -

• The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus; Little, Brown Book Group)

• In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)

• The Close by Jane Casey (Harper Fiction; Harper Collins)

• The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)

• Fearless by M W Craven (Constable; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

• The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Baskerville; John Murray Press)

• Killing Jericho by William Hussey (Zaffre, Bonnier)

• None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (Century; Cornerstone)

• Conviction by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster)

• A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason (riverrun; Quercus)

• Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (Sandycove; Penguin Ireland)

• The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan)

• The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph; Penguin Random House)

• You Can Run by Trevor Wood (Quercus)

Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said:

“We are delighted to announce the 2024 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, which truly showcases the depth and breadth of the UK and Ireland’s best crime fiction novels from the past year. The Award is an exciting part of the Festival, and with so many talented writers nominated – both new and established – we’re excited to find out who the public vote for this year.”

The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 25 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

Voting closes on Thursday 16 May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 13 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

10 new additions to the Penguin Green Crime Classics.

Penguin have announced 10 new additions to their Penguin Green Classics. The books are due to be published on 6 June 2024. Two specific new additions in particular have been out of print in the UK for quite some time. These are - 

The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik

An intricate, puzzle-like murder mystery set in Imperial China, featuring the indefatigable Judge Dee. A fantastically enjoyable tale by the master of the Tang dynasty mystery! Judge Dee is about to step into the shoes of a dead man…Most people would refuse the job of Magistrate at the lonely port town of Peng-lai – especially as the last occupant of the post has been found poisoned in his library, his papers missing. But Judge Dee is not most men. He arrives ready to get to the truth, only to find his life complicated even further by a missing bride, a vanished artisan, a man-eating tiger and an evil conspiracy. 

Robert Van Gulik was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat, musician, and writer, best known for the Judge Dee historical mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.

I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich

 A wild and wildly compelling noir novel about a train crash and a case of a mistaken identity. What if you woke up to discover everyone thought you were somebody else? Pregnant and abandoned, all Helen Georgesson has is five dollars and a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Then she is involved in a train crash, and regains consciousness only to discover that she has given birth – and, in a bizarre twist of fate, has been mistaken for somebody else. Helen decides to claim this opportunity to make a new life for herself and her son. But eventually her past will catch up with her, in terrible ways…

Cornell Woolrich (1903-68) was one of the most admired and influential of all 20th century American crime writers. His work inspired many films, including most famously The Leopard Man, Phantom Lady, Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and Union City. He led a strange and often very unhappy life, latterly as a recluse in a Manhattan hotel.

The list of ten new titles is as follows for the new Penguin Green Crime Classics 

The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming

I Married a Dead Man By Cornell Woolrich

The Labyrinth Makers by Anthony Price

The Gold Mask by Edogawa Rampo

The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald

We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Night Manager by John Le Carre

Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon

The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik

They say, ‘Write about what you know’… and so I do - By Tina Payne

Until recent years, I never really thought about being a crime fiction author, even though my head has been full of stories since I was a child. When I left school, I applied to join the police force but didn’t get accepted due to an inaccurate colour-blind test result (I’m over it now, by the way.) So, I went to work in a shop and quickly realised that I had a bit of a sixth sense. I could smell a shoplifter at a thousand paces and so I trained to become a store detective. I loved the excitement of the job, but looking back, I was young and stupid and didn’t think about the dangers, even when I was thrown into a canal after trying to apprehend a lad who had nicked a saucepan and some pencils. I remember thinking it was a strange combination of things to steal, as his gang of friends swung me back and forth by my arms and legs before launching me into the water.

By the late 1990s, I was working as a Prisoner Custody Officer in the cells and court rooms of London’s Magistrates and Crown Courts. When you’re standing in the dock at the Old Bailey, right beside someone on trial for murder, you watch them as closely as you watch the jury filing back in to deliver their verdict. After years of studying jurors’ body language, I generally knew what the verdict would be, before the foreman/forewoman said ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’. It was a job that I loved, but again, it came at a cost. Having been assaulted more times than you can shake a stick at, I still suffer wrist pain from the time a six-foot Thai boxer, who I was handcuffed to, decided to drag me to the floor. All the ‘how to restrain a prisoner’ techniques that I’d been taught, went out of the window. Luckily for me however, as we both fell, he ended up underneath me. So, I decided to sit on him and that’s where I stubbornly remained, until my colleagues arrived to help. When they asked me what had happened, I simply replied, ‘He was kicking off, so I dropped him.’ They thought I was cool. Did I ever admit to them what had really happened? Of course I did. Eventually.

Then there was the defendant who started to catch butterflies, while I stood next to him in the dock at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court. Just to clarify, there were no butterflies in the court room, just this guy hallucinating, or pretending to. The Magistrate remanded him in custody for psychiatric reports, but this fella refused to leave the dock. The Magistrate was furious and I may have panicked. Not wanting to cause a scene, I did the only thing I could think of. I picked him up and carried him out of the court room. (The defendant, not the Magistrate. Although that would have been fun.)

This reminds me of another prisoner who was six foot five and about thirty stone (and I’m not exaggerating). I was alone with him, and he was refusing to go into his cell. He could have flicked me away like a bug and I knew it. And so did he. I had two choices. Choice one was to single-handedly try to drag him into the cell, which was probably going to hurt (me, not him). Choice two was to offer him a cup of tea and a cigarette if he complied. There was only one problem with these two choices. I was stubborn and refused to ever let a prisoner intimidate me. And I NEVER backed down. So, I went for the only other choice that I could think of, humour. I put my hands on my hips and smiling broadly, I looked up at him and said, ‘You can either walk into your cell like a man, or I will drop you right here on the floor and drag you in there, screaming like a baby.’ From his lofty height, he frowned down at me. Then, he placed an enormous hand on my shoulder, burst out laughing and replied. ‘Well, you’re either really brave or really crazy.’ And he was still laughing as he turned, walked into his cell, and sat down.

Then there was a prisoner who was brought in for rape. Multiple rapes. His whole demeanour had me fooled for a while. The first time he arrived in court, I actually turned to my colleague and said, ‘Do you think the police might have the wrong guy?’ Don’t get me wrong, I had dealt with thousands of prisoners, watched them, talked to them, learned their tricks, listened to their lies. I was no fool, but this guy was hauntingly deceptive. In court, he carried himself with such a compelling and frightening ‘air of innocence’, that I wondered just how many other people in the court room that day, thought the same as me. That this guy could be innocent. He came back a week later and everything about him had completely changed. He literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. They hadn’t got the wrong guy. He was a monster, a monster who’d been caught. Eventually convicted and sentenced to life, he is deemed to be one of the worst sexual predators this country has ever seen. He had fooled me, just as he had fooled his victims.

Having left the courts of London, I went on to spend 14 years with Norfolk Police, working as a Case Investigator in the Domestic Violence Unit. Far too many stories of the abuse that the victims I dealt with, still echo in my ears today. I will never forget how I felt every day, arriving at work, hoping and praying that the victims I had been dealing with, had not been murdered overnight. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of age, sex, or social standing. I have dealt with far too many victims, from all walks of life. Even serving police officers.

So, when I write, I write about what I know. I will never use actual cases in my novels, but I will use my experience in life and the Criminal Justice system, to bring stories of crime to the reader. Stories with an echo of the raw truth of real life. My characters will never be directly based on anyone that I know or have met. But maybe part of them pours out of me and onto the pages that I write.

When I finished my debut crime fiction novel, Long Time Dead, with DI Sheridan Holler at the heart of it, I knew that it had to be a series because I could never let her go. She is a detective with a strong moral compass and isn’t afraid to push the boundaries in order to get justice. Long Time Dead is out now, set in Liverpool and the Wirral and published by Thomas and Mercer. The second in the series, This Ends Now, is out in October 2024 and the third will be published in April 2025.

Long Time Dead is by Tina Payne (Thomas & Mercer) Out April 2024

A cold case that is no longer cold. A suspect who's been murdered. A silenced witness. DI Sheridan Holler is used to solving crimes on Liverpool’s streets, but after a decayed corpse turns up in a cemetery, she finds herself reopening not one but two cold cases. Seven years earlier, two women were gunned down and the only suspect, small-time drug dealer John Lively, was never seen again. Case closed. Until the body in the cemetery is identified as his. Holler needs to work out if Lively was killed out of revenge, or was just a victim of the criminal world he inhabited. When shocking evidence is revealed about the murder weapon, Holler’s cold case starts to look hopeless once more. But defeat is not an option. Driven by the unsolved and traumatic murder of her brother when they were children, DI Holler’s pursuit of justice is relentless. As old wounds are reopened, the police close in on the killer, but the threat of them striking again is all too real. Can DI Holler put the pieces of the puzzle together before anyone else winds up dead?

You can find T M Payne on X @Tinap66payne

CWA Dagger Awards Longlists Announced

 

The 2024 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced [8pm, April 20 at the CWA annual conference, Brighton].

Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

Past winners of the prestigious Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, include Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill, and Ruth Rendell.

Authors in contention for the Gold Dagger this year include the debut novel Black River from Nilanjana Roy. She is up against stalwarts of the genre Mick Herron, Chris Hammer, and Dennis Lehane.

Also in the category are historical crime writer Alis Hawkins, the journalist turned international bestseller, Julia Haeberlin, and the bestselling children’s author Maz Evans with her first adult debut novel, Over My Dead Body. 

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.

The longlist for 2024 includes James Wolff, who was a British intelligence officer for over ten years before leaving to write espionage novels, with The Man in the Corduroy Suit.

He’s joined by giants of the genre Linwood Barclay, David Baldacci, and Karin Slaughter alongside relative newcomers such as Jordan Harper, whose second thriller, Everybody Knows, makes the longlist. 

Also in contention are TJ Newman, the former flight attendant who became a Hollywood sensation with her latest thriller, Drowning, and Japanese author Isaka Kotaro for The Mantis; Kotaro is best-known for Bullet Train, which was adapted into a Brad Pitt movie.

Vaseem Khan, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: "As ever, the announcement of the CWA Daggers longlist is greeted with immense excitement in the crime and thriller writing world. Once again, our independent panels of expert judges have mulled, cogitated, debated, and, when all else has failed, challenged each other to duels, in their sterling efforts to pick longlists from the incredible array of books submitted to each Dagger. The Daggers are the gold standard of awards in the genre, and Dagger recognition has often served as a stepping stone for careers. More importantly, a Dagger longlisting means that genre readers can be assured of quality. Buy these books. You will not be disappointed."

The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels.

Among the rising stars of 2024 is Jo Callaghan with her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, The Blink of an Eye; the sensational fiery debut featuring a crime-solving queer punk nun, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy, and the Victorian gothic, The Tumbling Girl from Bridget Walsh.

Booker Prize winner John Banville is a heavyweight contender on the Historical Dagger longlist. The prizewinning novelist and literary polymath is in the running foriThe Lock-Up. Banville is up against established names including Ambrose Parry, S.G. MacLean, Alis Hawkins, and James Lee Burke with Flags on the Bayou.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger includes international hits such as The Prey from the Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s, translated by Victoria Cribb.

Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, which was a sensation in France, likened to Patricia Highsmith and Gone Girl. And the Spanish writer Javier Castillo behind the international phenomenon, The Snow Girl, which was adapted to screen by Netflix, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, the true story of the world’s most prolific art thief who accumulated a collection worth over $1.4 billion, and No Comment by Jess McDonald, who quit her job as a Met detective to tell all about her work on rape and domestic violence cases that left her with PTSD and a determination to speak out.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story.

This year sees the bestselling juggernaut Lee Child with his story Safe Enough. He’s up against Robert Scragg with Revenge is Best Served Hot, Sanjida Kay’s The Divide, and Rachel Amphlett with Three Ways to Die.

The Dagger in the Library nominees are voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year sees firm favourites from the genre including MW Craven, Anthony Horowitz, Vaseem Khan, and LJ Ross.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits big publishing houses including Harper Fiction Headline and Simon & Schuster against independent publishers Joffe Books, Bitter Lemon Press and Canelo. 

The Debut Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists.

The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. The winner will gain the attention of leading agents and top editors; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2024 it was jointly awarded to Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke.

The CWA Dagger shortlists will be announced on 10 May at the UK’s largest crime fiction convention, CrimeFest, hosted in Bristol.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 4 July 2024 

The Longlists in Full:

GOLD DAGGER

Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, (Headline)

Dead Man’s Creek by Chris Hammer, (Wildfire Books)

A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins, (Canelo)

Night Will Find You by Julia Haeberlin, (Penguin, Michael Joseph)

The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville, John Murray)

The White Lie by J G Kelly (Hodder & Stoughton)

 Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (Abacus, Little Brown)

Tell me What I Am, by Una Mannion (Faber & Faber)

 Homecoming by Kate Morton, (Mantle, Pan Macmillan)

Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo)

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto (HQ ,Harper Collins)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

 Simply Lies, by David Baldacci (Macmillan Pan Macmillan)

 The Lie Maker, by Linwood Barclay (HQ HarperCollins)

All the Sinners Bleed, by S A Cosby (Headline, Hachette)

Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor  (Headline Hachette)

The House Hunt by C M Ewan  (Macmillan, Pan Macmillan)

Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber & Faber)

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka, (Harvill Secker, Penguin Random House) 

Gaslight by Femi Kayode (Raven Books, Bloomsbury)

 77 North by D L Marshall, (Canelo)

Drowning, by T J Newman (Simon & Schuster)

After that Night, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

The Man in the Corduroy Suit, by James Wolff (Bitter Lemon Press

ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

A Most Unusual Demise by Kathryn Black  (Bloodhound Books)

In The Blink of An Eye, by Jo Callaghan  (Simon & Schuster UK)

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua, (Corvus, Atlantic Books)

Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Pushkin Vertigo)

Murder By Natural Causes, by Helen Erichsen (Muswell Press)

The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle Pan Macmillan)

The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell (Penguin)

West Heart Kill, by Dann McDorman (Raven Books)

Obsessed, by Liza North (Constable)

Go Seek by Michelle Teahan (Headline)

The Other Half, by Charlotte Vassell (Faber & Faber)

The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh, (Gallic Books)

HISTORICAL DAGGER

Clara & Olivia, by Lucy Ashe (Magpie, Oneworld Publications)

The Lock-Up by John Banville  Faber & Faber

Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke  Orion Fiction (Hachette)

Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison (Boldwood Books)

Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare  (HQ, HarperCollins)

A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)

Viper's Dream by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)

The Winter List by S.G. MacLean (Quercus Fiction, Quercus)

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead (Aries Head of Zeus)

Scarlet Town by Leonora Nattrass (Viper, Profile Books)

Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry (Canongate Books)

Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler (Raven Books, Bloomsbury)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

The Snow Girl by Javier Castillo (translated by Isabelle Kaufeler), Penguin Books

Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, (translated by Nick Caistor,) Macmillan

The Girl By The Bridge by Arnaldur Indridason (translated by Philip Roughton,) Vintage

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka, (translated by Sam Malissa,) Vintage

The Sins Of Our Fathers by translated by Frank Perry), Maclehose Press

Thirty Days Of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen (translated by Megan E.Turney), Orenda Books

Nothing Is Lost, by Cloé Mehdi (translated by Howard Curtis), Europa Editions UK

He Murder Of Anton Livius, by Schneider Hansjörg (translated by Astrid Freuler), Bitter Lemon Press

The Consultant, by Im Seong-sun (translated by An Seong Jae,) Raven Books

Not Russian by Mikhail Shevelev (translated by Brian James Baer & Ellen Vayner), Europa Editions UK

The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (translated by Victoria Cribb), Hodder & Stoughton

My Husband by Maud Ventura (translated by Emma Ramadan,) Hutchinson Heinemann

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 

The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel (Simon & Schuster)

G-Man, by Beverly Gage (Simon & Schuster)

The Many Lives of Mama Love, by Lara Love Hardin (Endeavour)

No Ordinary Day by Matt Johnson with John Murray  (Ad Lib Publishers)

Chasing Shadows by Miles Johnson, (The Bridge Street Press)

The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador)

Devil’s Coin by Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson  (Ad Lib Publishers Ltd)

No Comment by Jess McDonald (Raven Books)

Seventy Times Seven by Alex Mar (Bedford Square Publishers)

How Many More Women? By Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida  (Endeavour)

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare, (Vintage)

Murder at Home, by David Wilson (Sphere)

SHORT STORY DAGGER

Three Ways to Die by Rachel Amphlett from No W.W.M.  - Thrill Ride #3, edited by M. L. "Matt" Buchman, (Buchman Bookworks, Inc)

Safe Enough by Lee Child from An Unnecessary Assassin, edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

The Last Best Thing by Mia Dalia from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction, edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

Slap Happy by Andrew Humphrey from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

The Also-Rans by Benedict J Jones from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

The Divide by Sanjida Kay from The Book of Bristol edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks, (Comma Press)

The Spendthrift and the Swallow, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate Books)

 Drive Bye by DG Penny from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

Best Served Cold by FD Quinn from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

Revenge is Best Served Hot  by Robert Scragg from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Louise Candlish 

MW Craven

Lucy Foley

Cara Hunter

Anthony Horowitz

Vaseem Khan

Angela Marsons

Kate Rhodes

LJ Ross 

Diane Saxon

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Bitter Lemon Press

Canelo

Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)

Harvill Secker (PenguinRandomHouse)

Headline (Hachette)

Joffe Books

Michael Joseph (PenguinRandomHouse)

Pushkin Press

Raven (Bloomsbury)

Simon & Schuster

DEBUT DAGGER (Sponsored by ProWritingAid)

Burnt Ranch by Katherine Ahlert,

Unnatural Predators by Caroline Arnoul

Vilomah by Matt Coot

Good Criminals by Judy Hock

Vigilante Love Song by JR Holland

Bluebirds by Alan Jackson

Makoto Murders by Richard Jerram

Long Way Home by Lynn McCall, 

Not a Good Mother by Karabi Mitra

The Last Days of Forever by Jeremy Tinker

A Politician’s Guide to Murder by James Tobin 

The Blond by Megan Toogood

CrimeFest Awards Short Lists Announced

CrimeFest, one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the shortlists for its annual awards.

The awards began 16 years ago when CrimeFest launched in 2008; they honour the best crime books released in the UK in the last year, and feature the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award which offers a £1,000 cash prize.

Authors in contention for the £1k prize include the Times Radio presenter and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Stig Abell, for his fiction debut, Death Under a Little Sky. Jo Callaghan is nominated for her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, In the Blink of An Eye, a daring, original debut featuring an AI detective. Jo Callaghan works as a senior strategist researching the future impact of AI and geonomics. 

Also, up for the debut award are Megan Davis described by Waterstones as an ‘eclectic, cut throat new voice in thriller writing’ with The Messenger; Jenny Lund Madsen with her darkly funny Thirty Days of Darkness, the critically acclaimed historical crime debut Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow; and the pitch-black Death of a Bookseller, by Alice Slater.

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CrimeFest, said: “The Specsavers Debut Novel Award has become one of the most highly anticipated awards of the genre, and we’d like to thank Specsavers for their on-going support in celebrating new talent.”

The shortlist for the CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book includes explorations of icons of the genre including Steven Powell for Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy; Nicholas Shakespeare for Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, and Adam Sisman for The Secret Life of John Le Carré. 

CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel sees bestselling authors in contention, including Mark Billingham for The Last Laugh; Mick Herron with The Secret Hours; and Elly Griffiths for The Great Deceiver. They’re joined by authors Mike Ripley, Jesse Sutanto and Antti Tuomianen.

Nominated for the best crime fiction e-book published in 2023 for the E-Dunnit Award are Rachel Abbott’s Don't Look Away; Jane Casey for The Close; Marin Edwards’ Sepulchre Street; Christina Koning for Murder at Bletchley Park; Laura Lippman’s Prom Mom; and The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell.

This nominees for the CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (aged 12-16) include Jennifer Lynn Barnes for her TikTok sensation, The Brothers Hawthorne, which combines puzzles, plot twists, and romance. 

She’s up against the bestselling author Ravena Guron, the ‘trailblazing’ blockbuster Promise Boys by Nick Brooks; the international bestseller Karen M. McManus for One of Us is Back; and Elizabeth Wein’s 1937 murder mystery featuring solo female pilot Stella North, Stateless. 

Adrian Muller said: “We are proud to be one of the few genre awards that recognise and celebrate children, and young adult crime fiction. This category has really boomed in recent years. The top-selling female author of crime fiction in the UK last year was Holly Jackson, and we’re thrilled to host Holly and fellow author, Robin Stevens, at talks for state schools in Bristol this May. The genre is a fantastic gateway into reading.”

Robin Stevens is also shortlisted for the CrimeFest Award for Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12) for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz, published by Puffin, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the bestselling series that has sold 2 million copies in the UK to date. 

She’s up against a strong shortlist that includes J.T. Williams, Lis Jardine, Beth Lincoln, and the footballer Marcus Rashford for The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School, co-written by Alex Falase-Koya.

Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest judging panels.

The winners of the 2024 CrimeFest Awards will be announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on Saturday 11 May at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel.

Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is the biggest crime fiction convention in the UK, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days, from 9-12 May.

This year also features the CrimeFest Best Adapted TV Crime Drama Award, which celebrate dramas based on a book screened in 2023. 

Shortlisted shows include Amazon’s Reacher, based on books by Lee Child; the BBC’s Shetland, and ITV’s Vera, based on the books by Ann Cleeves; Apple TV’s Slow Horses, adapted from Mick Herron’s series; The Serial Killer’s Wife on Paramount by Alice Hunter; and Dalgliesh, based on the books by P.D. James.

The convention will feature a panel that pays homage to P.D. James with author Frances Fyfield, the Sunday Times chief fiction critic Peter Kemp, playwright and crime author, Simon Brett, and PD James’ granddaughter, Dr Beatrice Groves. 

Featured Guests for 2024 are author of the international hit Murdle - G.T. Karber - who will host a live Murdle event in a rare UK appearance; Diamond Dagger winners James Lee Burke and Lynda La Plante, the acclaimed American author Laura Lippman; and the seminal Scottish author, Denise Mina. 

The line up also features Ajay Chowdhury, Cathy Ace, Janice Hallett, Abir Mukherjee, Vaseem Khan, Holly Jackson, Kate Ellis, Ruth Dudley Edwards, and Martin Edwards.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. Established in 2008, it follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

All category winners will receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

The 2024 CrimeFest Award Shortlists in full:

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

In association with headline sponsor, the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award is for debut authors first published in the United Kingdom in 2023. The winning author receives a £1,000 prize. 

Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)

In The Blink Of An Eye  by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)

The Messenger by Megan Davis  (Zaffre)

Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen translated by Megan Turney (Orenda Books)

Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow (Baskerville)

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater  (Hodder & Stoughton)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the United Kingdom in 2023. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction.

Contemporary European Crime Fiction: Representing History and Politics by M, J, F & A Dall'Asta, Migozzi, Pagello & Pepper (Palgrave)

Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction by Lisa Hopkins (Palgrave)

 How To Survive a Classic Crime Novel  by Kate Jackson (British Library Publishing)

Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Academic)

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harvill Secker)

The Secret Life of John Le Carré by Adam Sisman (Profile Books)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere)

The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron  (Baskerville)

Mr Campion's Memory by Mike Ripley (Severn House)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto (HQ)

The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomianen  (Orenda Books)

eDUNNIT AWARD 

For the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the United Kingdom in 2023.

Don't Look Away  by Rachel Abbott (Wildfire)

The Close by -Jane Casey (HarperCollins)

Sepulchre Street by Martin Edwards(Head of Zeus)

Murder at Bletchley Park by Christina Koning (Allison & Busby)

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber)

The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell (Constable)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR CHILDREN

This award is for the best crime novel for children (aged 8-12) first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

Mysteries At Sea: Peril On The Atlantic by A.M. Howell  (Usborne Publishing)

The Detention Detectives by Lis Jardine  (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

The Swifts by Beth Lincoln (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

 The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School by Marcus Rashford (with Alex Falase-Koya) (Macmillan Children's Books)

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz by Robin Stevens (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison by J.T. Williams (illustrated by Simone Douglas) (Farshore)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS

This award is for the best crime novel for young adults (aged 12-16) first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes  (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Promise Boys by Nick Brooks (Macmillan Children's Books)

This Book Kills by Ravena Guron (Usborne Publishing)

Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron (Usborne Publishing)

One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Stateless by Elizabeth Wein (Bloomsbury YA)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

This award is for the best television crime drama based on a book, and first screened in the UK in 2023. 

Dalgliesh (series 2), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books by P.D. James (Channel 5)

Reacher (series 2), based on the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child (Amazon Prime)

Shetland (series 8), based on the Shetland books by Ann Cleeves (BBC)

Slow Horses (series 3), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple)

The Serial Killer's Wife, based on the Serial Killer books by Alice Hunter (Paramount+)

Vera (series 12), based on the Vera Stanhope books by Ann Cleeves (ITV)