The
shortlist for crime writing’s most wanted accolade, the Theakstons Old Peculier
Crime Novel of the Year, has been announced.
Celebrating
its eleventh 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.
The
2015 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and Radio
Times.
Three
of the shortlist are debut crime novels. Antonia Hodgson’s debut, The Devil in the Marshalsea, makes the
list with her Georgian period murder mystery. The fast paced historical
thriller set in the Marshalsea prison in 1727, was hailed as a “scorcher of a
debut novel”. TV and film scriptwriter Ray Celestin’s The Axeman's Jazz, is a stunning atmospheric crime thriller set in
1919 New Orleans, inspired by a real life serial killer. Sarah Hilary’s
compelling first thriller, Someone
Else's Skin, is also shortlisted. Hilary’s novel received critical acclaim
for being superbly disturbing, twisty and tricksy.
Last
year’s winner Belinda Bauer is also back amongst the finalists with The Facts of Life and Death, a chilling
story where lone women are terrorised in a game where only one player knows the
rules.
Peter
May’s Entry Island, competes
with a tale of dark island passions, which starts in the past in the Hebrides
and moves to the French-Canadian Magdalen islands with a murder on Entry
Island.
The
highly atmospheric The Outcast Dead by
Elly Griffiths is the sixth in the series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth
Galloway.
The
overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, which this year
comprises of Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd. and title sponsor
Simon Theakston, Festival Chair Ann Cleeves, Radio Times’ TV Editor Alison
Graham, Head of Fiction at WHSmith, Sandra Bradley, and Producer of the Radio 2
Book Club, Joe Haddow, as well as members of the public. The public vote opens
on 1 July and closes 13 July at www.theakstons.co.uk
Broadcaster
and Festival regular Mark Lawson hosts the Awards on the opening night of the
13th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on 16
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, one of America’s greatest award-winning crime writers, Sara
Paretsky, will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award,
joining past winners Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and
Reginald Hill.
Paretsky
challenged a genre in which women typically were either vamps or victims when
she introduced V I Warshawski in Indemnity
Only, creating a believable investigator with the grit to tackle
problems on the mean streets.
Executive
Director of T&R Theakston and Judge, Simon Theakston, said: “The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of
the Year Award was created over 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 Sara Paretsky. Sara’s remarkable
legacy has helped perceptions of women in crime fiction, and is truly one of
the great crime writers today.”
The
shortlist in full:
The Facts Of Life And Death, Belinda
Bauer, Transworld
The Axeman's Jazz, Ray Celestin, Mantle/
Pan Macmillan
The Outcast Dead, Elly Griffiths,
Quercus
Someone Else's Skin, Sarah Hilary,
Headline
The Devil in the Marshalsea, Antonia
Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton
Entry Island, Peter May, Quercus
Previous
winners of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award include
Belinda Bauer, Denise Mina, Lee Child, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham.
For further information please contact Ann Chadwick at Cause
UK 07534892715 Ann@causeuk.com
NOTES
TO EDITORS
1.
KEY AWARD DATES
21st May
– 18 longlist titles feature in a 4-week campaign in 600 WHSmith stores
nationwide
 |
| Copyright Fenris Oswin |
15th June
– shortlist of 6 announced
18th June
- 6 shortlist titles feature in a 6-week campaign in 600 WHSmith stores
nationwide
1st July
– online voting opens to the public at www.theakstons.co.uk
13th
July - public voting closes for the shortlist
16th
July: winner announced at Award ceremony on Opening Night of Theakstons Old
Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate (8pm, Thu 16 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
2014
– Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
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: 16-19 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’.
2015
Special Guests include Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Lisa Gardner, Sally
Wainwright, Mark Billingham, Eddie Izzard, MC Beaton, Arnaldur Indridason, Lee
Child and Sara Paretsky.
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.
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