A Night of Espionage

 Join Vassem Khan, Ava Glass, Tony Kent, C J Merritt and James Wolff for A Night of Espionage at Waterstones Putney.

Date:-1 July 2026

Time:- 7:00pm

More information and how to buy tickets can be found here.

The Haunting of Minnie Ward by Bridget Walsh

Since the publication of my third novel, I’ve been asked a few times whether or not I believe in ghosts. Once you know the plot of that novel, the question won’t come as that much of a surprise. ‘The Spirit Guide’ is the third in the Variety Palace Mysteries, following on from ‘The Tumbling Girl’ and ‘The Innocents’. The novel opens in London, 1879, where my crime-detecting duo, Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook, areinvestigating two mysterious deaths. The trail leads Minnie to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of a spiritualist group. Once there, she finds herself isolated from everyone she loves and is confronted by some decidedly unsettling events that defy rational explanation. Mysterious visitations in the night, unexplained odours, screams in the darkness. Your classic ghost story fodder.

So, back to the question of whether or not I believe in ghosts. The short answer is ‘no’, simply because I’ve never seen any evidence to support their existence. But, strangely, I’ve lived in a house that other, perhaps more receptive, friends insisted was haunted. And I taught for several years in a school that was apparently inhabited by a spectral ‘Grey Lady’, a nun who broke her vows for a romantic relationship. In both instances, if I was living or working alongside supernatural beings, they were decidedly uninterested in me and never made their presence known.

But whilst I have no personal investment in spiritualism, the same can’t be said of the Victorians. The second half of the nineteenth century in particular saw intense interest in the paranormal, the strange, the unexplainable. The Victorians were fascinated by the idea of communicating with the dead, perhaps as a result of high infant mortality rates, perhaps as a reaction to the attacks on more conventional religious belief triggered by Darwinian thinking. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was famously a firm believer in the ability to communicate with the dead. Harry Houdini thought it was all a load of hokum. Houdini’s theatrical background might have been what triggered his scepticism. Victorian seances had a distinctly performative air about them, with a series of set pieces and a high level of trickery and illusion, something Minnie is quick to spot when she attends one with Albert.

My focus in ‘The Spirit Guide’, though, was not so much on whether or not ghosts existed, but more on why people would want to believe they do. Having lost both my parents, and other loved ones, I would give a great deal to have just one more day with them. An hour, even. So, I understand why people want to believe in the possibility of talking to the dead.

That desire for communion is, however, ripe for exploitation. In ‘The Spirit Guide’ Minnie insinuates herself into The Spirit Sisterhood, a spiritualist group targetting wealthy young women. The Sisterhood is a cult in all but name, a group of young women who believe themselves specially chosen, but who are actually being hideously manipulated. As someone once said ‘no-one sets out to join a cult’, and yet so many people find themselves part of one, often when it’s too late to extract themselves without great personal cost. Cults, initially at least, often offer something profoundly attractive to those they are targeting. The Spirit Sisterhood positions itself as a kind of proto-feminist organisation, empowering young women to abandon their corsets in favour of what was termed Rational Dress, to spend their money as they see fit, and lead a life not dictated by the expectation of marriage and motherhood. 

And Minnie can see the appeal. Despite having her head firmly screwed onto her shoulders, a street-wise young women who grew up in one of the poorest districts of London and learned to survive — indeed, flourish — within a society aimed at suppressing working-class women, even Minnie isn’t immune to the initial allure of the Sisterhood. Although the delights of a bucolic existence in the wilds of Suffolk are entirely lost on her. She’s decidedly uncomfortable outside of London, distrusting the existence of cows and finding the quiet and immersive darkness as oppressive as the noise and bustle of London might be to others. 

While undercover within the Sisterhood, Minnie is forced to confront events from her past, most notably the murder of Rose Watkins. Rose was Minnie’s best friend, whose murder in ‘The Tumbling Girl’ was the catalyst for Minnie’s alternative career as a private investigator. In the intervening years, Minnie has never fully come to terms with this loss. It’s in ‘The Spirit Guide’ that she finally reaches a resolution which enables her to move forward. And that resolution is only reached by coming face-to-face with her own particular ghosts and laying them to rest.

 The Spirit Guide by Bridget Walsh (Pushkin Press) Out Now

Tragedy strikes Minnie Ward's beloved Variety Palace Theatre when a man is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Along with private detective Albert Easterbrook, she investigates. The trail leads them from the streets of London to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of the shadowy Spirit Sisterhood, who promise their clients an audience with the deceased. Minnie isn't buying it. She goes undercover within the Sisterhood and enters an eerie world of seances and mediums. But unravelling their secrets will bring Minnie face-to-face with ghosts from her own past. Can she get to the truth before the murderer kills again?

More information about Bridget Walsh and her books can be found on her website.

Photo © Trevor Watson

A River Red With Blood: John Connolly talks to John Parker

Few contemporary crime writers have blended noir, horror and literary fiction as successfully as John Connolly. Born in Dublin in 1968, Connolly first worked as a journalist for The Irish Times before turning to fiction, and he quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in modern crime writing. His debut novel, Every Dead Thing, introduced readers to private investigator Charlie Parker. It became an international success and earned Connolly the distinction of becoming the first non-American writer to win the prestigious Shamus Award. From there everything has been on an upward curve.

We at Shots have been following his trajectory for many years and we are always thrilled to receive answers to questions that we pose to him. He is a man who is constantly travelling (he has recently been in Northern Ireland, for example and is off to Madrid, Spain in due course) but he took a little time off to talk to us about his own future and that of Charlie Parker, “scourge of evil, last hope of the lost¨.

I reviewed his latest work A River Red With Blood, which opens with

17-year-old Scott Theriault, a “problem child” who was consigned to the Spero School (a behavioural-facility) is found dead in the river Kennebec, drowned but with a broken right leg, suggesting a bad fall. Private investigator, Charlie Parker is asked to look into it as the boy’s father, Ward Vose, himself incarcerated in Maine State Prison, does not believe it was an accident.

Read the Shots Magazine’s full review HERE

John Parker: Congratulations on the publication of another Parker novel. I really enjoyed it.   

John Connolly: That’s much appreciated, thank you.

J Parker: The Spero School was probably inspired by the infamous Élan School in Poland, Maine where Moxie Castin passed part of his youth. Was that a story you knew about and had been saving for later or did you learn of it relatively recently?  Did you visit the actual site?

J Connolly: No, the story preceded any research I did for it. I just knew that I wanted to begin with an imprisoned father trying to find out how his son died, and I’d follow the story from there. But as usual, no matter how odd an idea I come up with, someone in Maine has often done something odder, and the existence of the Élan schools gave a certain historical resonance to the book. I didn’t visit any of the original sites because they didn’t really have anything to do with the story. Mostly, I was trying to capture a sense of a very particular time of year in Maine, namely that limbo period between fall and winter in the Kennebec valley.

 J Parker: The “nocturnal raids” to bring the boys to Spero conjure up a picture of the ICE raids that we have been observing in recent months. I imagine that was no coincidence? 

J Connolly: Actually, it may be. The book does reference the crackdowns in the state, but I think the idea of kids being snatched from their beds in the dead of night with parental consent is horrible enough without having to link it to immigration agents.

J Parker: There definitely seems to be a progression towards a conclusion to the Parker stories. Do you have it all planned out now? Or is it too early?  At the beginning of the denouement in Part VI , you quote 15:10 of The Book of Enoch and, having dipped into said book, I am pretty convinced I know where it is going. Of course, you are not going to tell me or (almost) anyone but am I on the right track?

J Connolly: I think Parker’s story deserves a conclusion. I know the destination, including the title of the last book in the sequence and the elements of the final chapters, but not the route that will take me there. For the next few years, I think Parker novels will appear biennially, but that may change. I have no shortage of ideas, but it may be that the series has assumed a momentum of its own. 

J Parker: Ok, the “almost anyone” I refer to is the TV company that are interested in the Parker property. In a recent interview for an Irish newspaper, you said that they wanted to know how it all ends before committing to anything. It’s only been a week or two but is there any more news?    

J Connolly :….…At the moment I can reveal that Blumhouse TV is the Production Company, and Amazon the streaming service. At the moment, the producers are looking for a showrunner, and that person will be responsible for scripting a pilot episode and an outline of the first season, with a more general overview of the seasons that might follow. Should all that meet with the approval of Blumhouse and Amazon, everything would then proceed to casting. But, you know, I’m not counting my chickens. If it happens, that would be lovely, and if it doesn’t, I’ve had some interesting conversations with some smart, decent TV people.

J Parker: In the same interview, you were very disparaging about social media and the virtual cesspool it has largely become (Twitter/X, in particular). Also mobile phones as “addiction machines”.  What is your feeling about A.I.? Is there anything positive to say about it? Would you use it for anything? 

J Connolly: I don’t think most readers will want to read AI-generated novels, though there will be “writers”, and I use the term very advisedly, who will see an opportunity to generate content without any effort in the hope of making some easy money. In reality, they’ll just add to the background noise. We may, I think, soon reach a point where mainstream publishers include a note on the covers of books advising that it has been written by a person, not generated by AI. Some interesting hybrids may emerge, but in general, as a reader, I would prefer to read a book, watch a film, or listen to music that has been created by another human being; and I think the effort and labour that we put into creating art is part of the pleasure of it. But I accept that I may be proved wrong.

J Parker: Platforms like Prime Video, Netflix and the amazing Filmin in Spain (a quick plug for my favourite) seem to be ever-expanding? Do you indulge and do you have any recommendations of things that you have liked? 

J Connolly: I seem to have reached an age where I’m filling in the gaps in my knowledge, so a lot of what I watch, read, and listen to is older material. (I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the new.) Even my radio show has both feet in the past…

 J Parker: What can you tell us about your next publication, The Castle? And will the next Parker be out in 2028? 

J Connolly: The Castle is set in Connecticut, against the backdrop of the Watergate hearings, and concerns a gated community that begins to suspect it is under attack, but why, and by whom, no one seems to know. On one level, it’s about what happens when people lose faith in the system, but it’s mostly about family secrets. I haven’t started the new Parker yet. At the moment, I’m writing a historical novel, and last year I finished a short novel set in England before the outbreak of the First World War. That’s a mystery novel. But I’m not quite sure how either of those will fit into the publishing schedule, if they ever do. 

J Parker: The question I always ask you; what are you reading these days? 

J Connolly: I’m about to start a Bernard Cornwell ‘Sharpe’ novel as a comfort read. I have a couple of proofs waiting to be read, mostly first novels, but generally I seem to be wading through research books for the historical novel. I have a hankering to try to finish Middlemarch at last. I’ve tried and failed twice before. Third time may be the charm…

Shots Magazine would like to thank Laura Sherlock and Hodder and Stoughton Publishing for organising this interview and to John Parker of our Spanish Office.

More information available HERE

And previous reviews and interviews are archived HERE

A Spanish Language introduction to the Charlie Parker Series HERE

The 2026 Barry Award Nominations

 

The Barry Awards are nominated by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine. Congratulations to all. The winners of the 2026 Barry Awards will be announced at the Opening Ceremonies of Bouchercon (Calgary, Canada) on October 22, 2026.

Best Mystery
The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly)

Crooks by Lou Berney (William Morrow)

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

The White Crow by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

Presumed Guilty by Scott Turow (Grand Central)

Best First Mystery
Leverage by Amran Gowani (Atria Books)

All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (Putnam)

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Bantam)

The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin (Berkley)

Still Water by Tanya Scott (Atlantic Monthly)

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (Atria Books)

Best Paperback Original Mystery
Crimson Thaw by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River)

Splintered Justice by Kim Hays (Seventh Street Books)

Making a Killing by Cara Hunter (William Morrow)

If Two Are Dead by Rick Mofina (MIRA)

Wolf Six by Alex Shaw (Boldwood Books)

The Dentist by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)

Best Thriller
Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria Books)

The Oligarch's Daughter by Joseph Finder (Harper)

Midnight Black by Mark Greaney (Berkley)

Clown Town by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

Head Cases by John McMahon (Minotaur Books)

The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)

Callum McSorley on Lockdown and leg work – finishing the trilogy

In 2020 I was living in Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, in lockdown with my wife – who as a paediatrician continued to work through the pandemic – and my then one-year-old son. To get him to nap I would roll him about in his pram in the garden then get a little writing done while he was parked up snoozing.

On our one allowed trip outside, I would take him around the neighbourhood, often down to the flood plain – an expanse of untamed grass and wildflowers by the River Urie – where there was a nice walk.

This part of the Urie isn’t particularly wide or deep, more a burn than a river, so it was a laugh to spot a group of young lads trying to row down it in a dinghy one day. Lockdown was getting to us all by then, I guess.

Not the only mad thing people were getting up to. I read a story online about drug dealers using their allotted exercise hour to meet customers in parks, dressed in jogging gear as cover. With plenty of people on furlough, business was good.

This stuck in my head. I even pitched a story to my agent inspired by it, but this was in 2021 and she rightly pointed out how uncertain the future still was. It would be hard to see the end of the book when we didn’t really know what was coming just weeks and months ahead of us. So it went into the kitchen drawer in my brain like the one where you keep all the random cables, bits of twine, corn on the cob holders, (flat?) batteries, tea towels printed with pictures of Cliff Richard… The usual shite.

And as with the ideas which became my previous two books – Squeaky Clean (2023), about a car wash worker who ends up cleaning more than just cars when gangsters take over the business, and Paperboy (2025), about a confidential waste technician selling secrets to cover his gambling debts – it took a few years for me to get back to it.

Jump forward to 2024. My debut Squeaky Clean had come out the year before and won the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year and so I’d begun working on a trilogy starring Squeaky’s star copper, Alison ‘Ally’ McCoist (“Glasgow’s least popular detective”), who bungles and scraps her way through investigations causing plenty of mess and mayhem along the way. The middle part, Paperboy, was finished and with my publisher, coming out in March the next year, and it was time to bring the whole thing home.

But what to write about? Squeaky Clean was inspired by things I’d squirrelled away from the years I worked in a car wash as a student, Paperboy by nuggets of information smuggled from my pal who worked in confidential waste disposal. And this was when the idea churned back up to the top of my head: lockdown, parks, drug dealers.

Stars aligned – I was awarded the Loch Long Crime Writing Residency at the incredible artists’ retreat Cove Park in Argyll, so in the autumn of 2024 I drove to its idyllic surrounds, put myself in lockdown again and began writing what became Rat Race, my third book and the final part of the McCoist trilogy:

Fran Forbes is sixteen and leaving school. He’s a quick lad, a sharp-minded entrepreneur. Some people might call him a drug dealer. Whatever, he’s just secured a couple of kilos of top-quality nose hair dandruff and is about to take a big step up the career ladder. BUT (there’s always a but) it’s March 2020. Lockdown. He’s holding jailtime amounts, he owes big returns.

Not stymied for long, he reasons “the market’s still there – it’s distribution that’s the problem” and has a good idea: he’ll use his government sanctioned outdoors time to meet customers in parks. Fran runs all over Glasgow, covering miles and miles. He gets a taste for it, the running. More than that, he’s good at it. Competitive good. Before long he’s doing marathons, winning sponsorships and leaves the crooks of Glasgow behind.

BUT (see?), the dream doesn’t last for long. Where chapter one picks up, it’s 2026 and Fran’s knees are, according to the doctor, “fukt”. He wants to travel to the US for an operation by a specialist and that is going to cost a whole lot of readies.

Again, Fran won’t be stymied for long and he has another good idea: he goes back to his former boss and agrees to one last job in exchange for enough money to sort out his injured gams.

If you want to find out how that works out for him (probably well, you might guess), Rat Race is out now.

Rat Race by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Press) Out Now

DCI Alison McCoist is up to the oxters in Glasgow's shadiest police unit, with a list of guilty secrets growing longer by the day. Fran Forbes has just bolted from the scene of a gangland massacre with only a shite-stained tracksuit and a memory stick full of cryptocurrency to his name. Ally is tasked with looking into this latest underworld rammy and ends up working with some bampots even dodgier than her polis pals. Can she keep Fran from being turned into mince by a Russian OCG and finally free herself from the fankle of police corruption she's caught in? An enemy from Ally's past is determined her story won't have such a happy ending...

More information about Callum McSorley can be found on his website. Callum McSorley can also be found on Instagram at @callumrmcsorely on Facebook @callummcsorleyauthor

International Thriller Writers Award

 

The International Thriller Writers announced 

the 2026 Thriller Awards at ThrillerFest. 

Best Standalone Novel: 

Cross My Heart, by Megan Collins (Atria)

Best Series Novel: 

The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Best First Novel: 

Party of Liars, by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)

Best Audiobook: 

The White Crow, by Michael Robotham; narrated by Katy Sobey (Simon & Schuster)

Best Young Adult Novel: 

The Silenced, by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Delacorte Press)

Best Short Story:

 “The Violent Season,” by Jessica Van Dessel (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2025)

There were also Special Recognitions announced during the ThrillerFest Awards Banquet:

2026 ThrillerMaster, Lisa Scottoline
2026 ThrillerMaster, Harlan Coben
2026 Silver Bullet Award, Douglas Preston
2026 Spotlight Guest, Rachel Howzell Hall
2026 Spotlight Guest, Luis Alberto Urrea
2026 Thriller Legend, Barbara Peters
2026 ThrillerFan, Jordon Moblo
2026 Thriller Volunteer of the Year, James L'Etoile

Anthony Award Nominations

The Anthony Award nominations have been announced.

Best Hardcover Novel

Crooks by Lou Berney 

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby 

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny 

Death of an Ex by Delia Pitts 

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan 

Best First Novel

Whiskey Business by Adrian Andover 

Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove 

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs 

Voices of the Elysian Fields by Michael Rigg 

History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook 

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang 

Best Paperback Novel

Tricks of Fortune by Lina Chern 

Edge by Tracy Clark 

Crimson Thaw by Bruce Robert Coffin 

River of Lies by James L'Etoile 

This Violent Heart by Heather Levy 

Best Children’s/YA Novel

Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History by Chris Chan 

Miles in Time by Lee Matthew Goldberg 

The Scammer by Tiffany D. Jackson 

Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala 

Risky Pursuit by Nancy G. West 

Best Critical/nonfiction

Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England by Dawn M. Barclay 

L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood by Anne Soon Choi 

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser 

The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy 

Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida by Gilbert King 

Best Anthology/Collection

Whatever Kills the Pain by C.W. Blackwell 

Blood On the Bayou: Case Closed edited by Don Bruns 

Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons edited by John Copenhaver & Salem West 

On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology edited by Curtis Ippolito Hollywood Kills edited by Adam Meyer & Alan Orloff 

Best Short Story

"Six-Armed Robbery" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier 

"AITA for Using My Husband's Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson" by Mindy Carlson 

"Hollywood Prometheus" by Christa Faust 

"Brotherly Love" by Cheryl A. Head 

"Finding Jimmy Baldwin" by Cheryl A. Head 

"The Skies Are Red" by Richie Narvaez

Congratulations to the Anthony Award nominees! 

Voting will take place at Bouchercon in Calgary. Winners will be announced on 24 October 2026.

The Zaffre Crime & Thriller Showcase 2026

 

Mike Stotter and I were looking forward to seeing what Bonnier Books Crime and Thriller Imprint ‘Zaffre’ had in store for 2006/7 – as well as catching up with the Shots Magazine Blogger Ayo Onatade, and our fellow London-based book reviewers.

But first, a digression.

I met up with Mike Stotter for lunch at a Pizzeria in Fitzrovia, followed by Coffee and Dates at a nearby Middle Eastern café. As ever, our conversation centred upon our lives within literature; particularly my excessive reading and Mike’s excessive workload at Piccadilly Publishing. I was heartened to hear that Mike’s publishing house had acquired the western novels of the renowned thriller writer Brian Garfield and had also published The Legend of Hereward a historical novel by the prolific Mike Ripley. I had enjoyed Ripley’s latest novel Played to Death, which I reviewed last month, noting especially - its observational humour and affectionate deconstruction of the golden age crime novel - “Rarely have I enjoyed myself as much as I have reading through this piece of narrative metafiction. Though you have to work for your money, because despite its concise size, the novel has significant heft in provoking thought – which it does with a smile. Though the novel is much darker than it appears from the surface, much like life.” Read my full review HERE

After adjourning to The Bricklayer’s Arms we enjoyed small glasses of Stout. I was delighted to learn that my very dear friend had started writing again. I had been urging him to return to penning his own work, after many years of promoting and publishing the work of others. I have been growing concerned at his relentless workload at Piccadilly Publishing, and [perhaps selfishly] missed becoming lost in tales torn from Mike Stotter’s fevered imagination [Click Here for more information]; work that even Elmore Leonard had commented on “I’ve now seen it all, a Limey writing Westerns” Dutch had laughed when he last visited London and talked with Mike [as they coincidentally had both published stories in the same western collection].

Anyway, it was soon time to venture to the private room [above The Black Horse] that would be hosting the Zaffre Crime & Thriller Showcase.

We were welcomed by the Zaffre team, who treated us to an eclectic array of cocktails and food which was generously provided by Bonnier Books. The display of the upcoming publications reinforced what publisher Ben Willis told us in his welcoming speech “Zaffre’s list can only be described as diverse, spanning all the myriad subgenres that make up crime, mystery and thriller fiction”.

Many of the Zaffre Authors were in attendance, including Vaseem Khan, Felix Francis, T.M. Logan, Robert Peston, Jo Spain among many others. I was on the lookout for Susie Dent as my very dear friend [and one of the hardest working editors in Crime and Thriller], Journalist and the Editor of The Rap Sheet Jeff Pierce had enjoyed her debut thriller Guilty by Definition. But it was a busy gathering and I didn’t manage to find her – I did however snag an advance proof of her sophomore work Death Writ Large which is released this August.

I am also intrigued by an upcoming 2027 novel White Smoke by [the pseudonymous] Nick Brucker, as I had enjoyed his Techno-SF thriller Ascension which he penned under his real name Nicolas Binge. White Smoke was the subject of a publishing bidding war that Zaffre Publisher Ben Willis won. It should be noted that A24 has acquired film rights for White Smoke. 

Benedict Cumberbatch has signed on to star and produce the proposed TV Series. Though proofs were not available at the party, we were provided with a short extract and information, which we are pleased to share with our readers [click on image below enlarge & download]

Joining Ayo Onatade, Mike Stotter and I [from Shots Magazine] at the party were our friends and reviewing colleagues Deidre O’Brien, Jake Kerridge, Maxim Jakubowski and Barry Forshaw as well bloggers and members of the press, booksellers, fellow bibliophiles and the team from the Zaffre imprint of Bonnier.

We present a few photographs of the party, and of our mingling - as we talked books and catching up on our lives as well the absurdity of the reality we share.

Shots Magazine would like to thank Alice Dovey, Ben Willis and the Zaffre Team at Bonnier Books for generously hosting an excellent evening that wonderfully showcased their 2026 publications as well as providing an opportunity to talk about books.  

Many of the books from Zaffre / Bonnier are available to order currently or for pre-order.  

More information available HERE

https://www.bonnierbooks.co.uk/imprints/zaffre

 

The 2026 Fingerprint Shortlist

 

Capital Crime today announced the shortlists for its annual Fingerprint Awards, which champion the very best in crime writing from across the globe, as voted for by readers.

Authors both new and established are represented across the categories, which are Crime Novel of the Year, True Crime Book of the Year, Thriller of the Year, Historical Crime Novel of the Year, Debut Novel of the Year, Audiobook of the Year and Genre-Busting Book of the Year.

The shortlists of five have been selected by the festival’s board members, from a longlist carefully curated by the Tastemakers Committee - a panel of leading independent bloggers and reviewers - who have championed their standout titles across each category. Each selected book had to be first published in English between 1 January and 31 December 2025 to qualify. No fees were charged for selection.

Readers can vote for their preferred winners in each category on the Capital Crime website by Saturday 30th May. The winners will be revealed at the Fingerprint Awards on the evening of Thursday 18th June as part of the Capital Crime festival in London at the Royal Leonardo Hotel, in the shadow of St Paul’s. This year’s Fingerprint Awards ceremony, attended by Capital Crime ticket holders, authors, nominees and leading figures from the publishing industry will be hosted by acclaimed radio and TV broadcaster, and host of The Bookshelf Podcast, Ryan Tubridy.

Leading the overall Crime Book of the Year shortlist are two 2025 Fingerprint winners, M.W. Craven, for The Final Vow, and Vaseem Khan, for Quantum of Menace, featuring the famous Quartermaster from the Bond series. Sunday Times bestseller Sarah Pinborough is shortlisted for We Live Here Now; and they are joined by Liam McIlvanney and Tariq Ashkanani, authors of The Good Father and The Midnight King respectively.

For the Thriller Book of the Year, Lisa Jewell’s Sunday Times bestselling Don’t Let Him In and Virdee creator A.A. Dhand’s The Chemist are up against Human Remains by Jo Callaghan, The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North and Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins.

Tackling topics as diverse as Lord Byron, the final days of the British Raj, and the Canadian Gold Rush, the shortlist for Historical Crime Book of the Year sees Anthony Horowitz’s Marble Hall Murders, the latest in his bestselling, BBC adapted Magpie Murders series, up against CWA Dagger-winner Abir Mukherjee, for his latest Wyndham and Banerjee mystery The Burning Grounds. Also shortlisted is The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson; The Rush by Beth Lewis and Dangerous by Essie Fox.

Broadcasters Chris Chibnall and Steph McGovern are both shortlisted for the Debut Crime Novel of the Year, for Death at the White Hart and Deadline, respectively; and are up against Oscar nominated Icelandic screenwriter Jón Atli Jónasson for Broken; Nina Bhadreshwar for The Day of the Roaring and Kelly Mullen for This is Not a Game.

The Genre-Busting Book of the Year shortlist, set up to recognise a book that defies traditional boundaries of crime fiction, and may feature elements of sci-fi, romance or other genres of fiction, sees Kill Them With Kindness by Will Carver and Little Red Death by A.K. Benedict up against Blood Like Ours by Stuart Neville, Small Fires by Ronnie Turner and Manhattan Down by Michael Cordy.

The True Crime Book of the Year shortlist features several books exploring the states of nations through crime, as well as writing intended to recentre the focus on the victims rather than the killers,  including Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a memoir by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim; and A Flower Travelled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland, chronicling the harrowing events of Argentina’s Dirty War, which saw hundreds of pregnant women kidnapped and disappeared. They are up against Story of a Murder by prize-winning social historian Hallie Rubenhold, focusing on Cora Crippen, the murdered wife of the infamous Doctor Crippen, and the women who brought him to justice; Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser, which explores whether lead exposure was connected to the explosion of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest in the 1970s and 1980s; and A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders by Professor David Wilson, the UK’s leading criminologist.

The Audiobook of the Year sees second nominations for both Lisa Jewell and Sarah Pinborough for, respectively, Don’t Let Him In, narrated by Richard Armitage and Joanne Frogatt, and We Live Here Now, narrated by Helen Baxendale and Jamie Glover. They are up against S. A. Cosby’s King of Ashes, narrated by Adam Lazarre-White; Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney, narrated by Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton; and Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver, narrated by Steven Pacey.

In addition, two further categories will be selected solely by the Capital Crime Advisory Board; the Industry Award of the Year – recognising the best marketing campaign, editorial work, or publishing strategy; and the Thalia Proctor Lifetime Achievement Award – marking an outstanding contribution to the crime writing industry.

The shortlist is as follows - 

Audiobook of the Year

 Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell 

King of Ashes by  S A Cosby

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough 

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver

True Crime Book of the Year

Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold 

Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts-Guiffre 

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser 

A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders by Prof. David Wilson 

A Flower Travelled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland 

Debut Crime Book

Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson

Deadline by  Steph McGovern 

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall

The Day of the Roaring by Nina Bhadreshwar

This is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen

Genre-Busting Book

Kill Them with Kindness by Will Carver 

Little Red Death by A. K. Benedict Book

Blood Like Ours by Stuart Neville

Small Fires by Ronnie Turner

Manhattan Down by Michael Cordy 

Historical Crime Book of the Year

The Art of A Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson 

The Rush by Beth Lewis 

Dangerous by Essie Fox

Burning Grounds by Abir Mukherjee

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Thriller Book of the Year

The Chemist by A A Dhand

Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell 

Human Remains by Jo Callaghan 

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North

Some of Us Are Liars by Fiona Cummins 

Overall Crime Book of the Year

The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani

The Final Vow by M W Craven

Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan

The Good Father by Liam McIlveney

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough

Congratulations to all the nominate authors.  The winner will be announced on Thursday 18^th June 2026 during the Capital Crime Festival.