Celebrating its tenth year, the Awards feature six titles
whittled down from a longlist of 18 crime novels published by British and Irish
authors over the last year.
Denise Mina could make it a hat-trick, after winning the
title in 2012 and 2013. Her novel, The Red Road, is amongst the six shortlisted
novels. The Red Road features DI Alex Morrow investigating a network of power
and corruption that reaches back to Glasgow on the night Princess Diana died.
Fellow Scot Malcolm Mackay’s debut novel, The Necessary
Death of Lewis Winter, is also in the running. The first in a trilogy, MacKay
has been praised for introducing a remarkable new voice in crime fiction with an
original thriller that shines a light on Glasgow's criminal underworld.
Another Scottish crime author, the TV screenwriter and
bestselling novelist Peter May, is nominated for The Chessmen. Featuring
ex-detective inspector, Fin MacLeod, the Isle of Lewis series has been praised
for its visceral descriptions of the Hebrides. The Chessmen is the concluding
novel in his accomplished trilogy.
The CWA 2010 Gold Dagger Award-winning author, Belinda Bauer,
is also in the line-up. Bauer received glowing reviews for Rubbernecker
featuring Patrick Fort, a medical student with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Elly Griffiths’ intriguing crime story, Dying
Fall, is the fifth novel in her Ruth Galloway series starring the forensic
archaeologist. It effortlessly brings together neo-Nazis, New Age hippies in
Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the archaeology of early Britain.
Stav Sherez launched his new police procedural featuring DI
Jack Carrigan and DS Geneva Miller with A Dark Redemption, which made the 2013
shortlist. He’s back on the 2014 shortlist with the second in the series, Eleven
Days. Set eleven days before Christmas with eleven victims, it spans four
decades and two continents in a race against time.
The 2014 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston
Ltd, WHSmith, and Radio Times.
The winner will be decided by a panel of Judges: Executive
Director of T&R Theakston
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Ltd. and title sponsor Simon Theakston, Festival
Chair Steve Mosby, Radio Times' TV Editor Alison Graham, and Head of
Fiction at WHSmith, Dave Swillman, as well as the public vote.
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The public vote opens on 3 July and closes 15
July. Votes can be registered at www.theakstons.co.uk
Broadcaster and Festival regular Mark Lawson hosts the Awards
on the opening night of the 12th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing
Festival in Harrogate on 17 July. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize,
as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old
Peculier.
Also on the night, Lynda La Plante will receive the
Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Ruth
Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.
La Plante’s new standalone novel, Twisted continues La
Plante’s run of internationally acclaimed best sellers.
Executive Director of T&R Theakston and Judge, Simon
Theakston, said: “The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was
created a decade ago to celebrate the very best in the genre, as this
remarkable shortlist shows. It’s also a great honour to be recognising the
extraordinary achievements of Lynda La Plante.”
--Ends--
For further information please contact Ann
Chadwick at Cause UK 07534892715
About the judging process
The shortlist was selected by an academy of crime writing
authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival
Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and
WHSmith.
1. KEY AWARD DATES
22nd May – 18 longlist titles were featured in a 4-week
campaign in 600 WHSmith stores nationwide
1st July– shortlist of 6 announced
3rd July - 6 shortlist titles feature in a 4-week campaign
in 600 WHSmith stores nationwide
3rd July – online voting opens to the public at www.theakstons.co.uk
15th July - public voting closes for the shortlist
17th July: winner announced at Award ceremony on Opening
Night of Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate (8pm, Thu 17
July)
2. PREVIOUS WINNERS
2005 – Lazy Bones by Mark Billingham
2006 – The Torment of Others by Val McDermid
2007 – Two Way Split by Allan Guthrie
2008 – The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
2009 – Death Message by Mark Billingham
2010 - A Simple Act of Violence by RJ Ellory
2011 – 61 Hours by Lee Child
2012 – The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina
2013 – Beasts and Gods, by Denise Mina
3. ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is
Europe’s largest event dedicated to the celebration of crime fiction. Taking
place annually over four days each July (this year: 17-20 July), the Festival
programmes over 80 best-selling UK and international crime authors and over 20
events. It is organised and promoted by the north of England’s leading arts
festival organisation, Harrogate International Festivals. Ranked in the top
three literary festivals in the UK by The Guardian, it is also featured in the
Independent ‘50 Best Festivals’.
4. ABOUT THEAKSTONS
Title sponsor of the Festival since 2005, Theakstons Old
Peculier ale is produced by T & R Theakston Ltd. It is one of the country’s
most famous and highly regarded traditional ale brewers. Theakstons was
established in Masham, North Yorkshire in 1827 by Robert Theakston. After a
brief period in the 1980s when the company was acquired by Scottish &
Newcastle plc, the company has been back under family ownership since autumn
2003. It now operates as an independent brewer producing five permanent
brands in the Theakstons range including the iconic Old Peculier – its
best-known beer with a rich, dark flavour, celebrated by ale enthusiasts all
over Britain and around the world. Theakstons Old Peculier is now available in
the United States again thanks to an agreement between the brewer and Latis
Imports of Connecticut.
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