Inaugural Dead Good Reader Awards shortlists announced.

In April Dead Good Books launched the Dead Good Reader Awards, six bespoke awards, nominated and voted for by readers, which will be presented in Harrogate this July at the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival.

Each award was created in collaboration with the Dead Good Facebook community and celebrates a unique element in crime writing. The full shortlist (below) features such bastions of crime writing as Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs and Peter James with debut authors such as Paula Hawkins, Steve Cavanagh and Clare Mackintosh making an appearance.

The awards will now be open to a public vote. The winners will be selected online and physically at the festival itself. Votes made at the festival will be weighted to make up 50% of the total votes.

The awards will culminate at a special festival event on Friday 17^th July with well-known crime authors including Lee Child and Val McDermid presenting the awards. The awards are as follows:

                     

The Lee Child Award for Best Loner or Detective

The Val McDermid Award for Fiendish Forensics

The Reichenbach Falls Award for Most Epic Ending

The Dr Lecter Award for Scariest Villain

The Patricia Highsmith Award for Most Exotic Location

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book

Each winner will receive a specially designed magnifying glass trophy.

To vote for your winner visit the Dead Good website.

For more information on Val McDermid and her books please visit: http://www.valmcdermid.com/

For more information on Lee Child and his books please visit: http://leechild.com/

For more information please contact: Lynsey Dalladay, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Penguin Random House. LDalladay@RandomHouse.co.uk or 02082316793

The Dead Good Recommends Award for Most Recommended Book

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Transworld)                                                

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes  (Transworld)                                                                             

The Defence by Steve Cavanagh  (Orion)                                                                                    

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)

The Lie by C L Taylor (Avon)                                                                                            

No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary (Headline)                                                               

The Lee Child Award for Best Loner or Detective

Cormoran Strike, Robert Galbraith (Little Brown)                                                                

John Rebus, Ian Rankin (Orion)                                                                                                    Harry Hole, Jo Nesbo  (Vintage)                                                                                        

Lacey Flint, Sharon Bolton  (Transworld)                                                                                

David Raker, Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph)                                                                                 Vera Stanhope, Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)                                                                           

The Val McDermid Award for Fiendish Forensic 

Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs   (Cornerstone)                                                            

Die Again by Tess Gerritsen (Transworld)                                                                            

The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths  (Quercus)                                                                                      Flesh and Blood by Patricia Cornwell  (Harper)                                                   

Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer  (Transworld)                                                                                 Time of Death by Mark Billingham (Sphere)                                                                

The Reichenbach Falls Award for Most Epic Ending

The Defence by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)                                                                                         

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Transworld)                                                        

The Nightmare Place by Steve Mosby (Orion)                                                        

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)                                                                 

Personal by Lee Child  (Transworld)                                                                                             

The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid (Sphere)                                                             

The Dr Lecter Award for Scariest Villain

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes   (Harper)                                                             

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (Myriad)                                         

An Evil Mind by Chris Carter (Simon and Schuster)                                                                        The Stand by Stephen King (Hodder)                                                                                 

You are Dead by Peter James (Macmillan)                                                                           

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Quercus)                                                

The Patricia Highsmith Award for Most Exotic Location

Amsterdam, The Girl who wouldn’t Die by Marnie Riches (Maze)                              

Bardsey Island, The Bones Beneath by Mark Billingham (Sphere)               

Boston, The Kind Worth Killing, Peter Swanson (Faber)                                                     

Greece, The Long Fall, Julia Crouch (Headline)                                                            

Nepal, The Lie, C L Taylor (Avon)                                                                                       

Oslo, Police, Jo Nesbo (Vintage)