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.

The Enduring Mystery Of Shakespeare's Missing Play

I’ve always been shamelessly omnivorous when it comes to mysteries, and real-world literary puzzles and hijinks are my favourite kind. Give me long-lost documents hidden in a bank vault in Switzerland for decades before unexpectedly being uncovered by somebody’s unsuspecting great-niece. Give me a fraud, a forgery, an abandoned library, a dispute between antiquarians that turns vicious, scientific tests on the age of ink, millionaire art collectors who hoard Bibles or First Folios or (horror!) cut up priceless medieval tomes for the illuminations. Above all give me missing bibliographic treasures, things that appear to have vanished from everybody forever - or, perhaps, from almost everybody. There’s so much to be done with the gaps between.

When I first heard of a missing Shakespeare play based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, I thought it was a literary hoax. (People like doing those, too. Australia, where I’m from, specialises in them.) Surely we don’t lose Shakespeare plays. But sometimes, as it happens, we do.

We can start on solid ground. There’s credible evidence that Shakespeare collaborated with playwright John Fletcher on a play called The History Of Cardenio, based on an episode in Cervantes’ tale, in 1653. So far, so normal; Fletcher and Shakespeare had collaborated before. The play was performed by the King’s Men, but, unfortunately, no copy of it actually survives - as far as we know.

 There were many players in the drama that led the Don Quixote play to be lost, possibly found, and then lost again, but the most crucial for my purposes is Lewis Theobald. He was a writer in 18th century Britain, otherwise most famous for an ignominious feud with Alexander Pope. The History of Cardenio had vanished from view — and then Theobald suddenly threw his hat into the ring. In 1727, he released his own play, Double Falsehood, which he claimed was a restoration and ‘improvement’ on three editions of The History Of Cardenio he’d somehow found. (Found where? He didn’t say.) Academics have argued extensively over whether there’s any basis for this ‘improvement’ business or whether he just made it up to sell his own work. As of now, though, Double Falsehood has enough similarities to Shakespearean language that it’s been tentatively accepted as a part of the canon, though nobody knows exactly what’s Shakespeare, what’s Fletcher, and what’s Theobald.

What happened to this trio of plays Theobald supposedly had? Was it real? Where did it go, and why didn’t he do anything seemingly sensible with it, like publish it, or bequeath it to a university, or give it to the Crown? Alas, paper is vulnerable. Libraries burn down, mould gets into storage boxes, precious materials are invaded by time and worms. (One of my favourite facts about the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is that it uses old salt mines as storage, because they keep the books dry.) Even if Theobald had attempted to lock the thing up tight or preserve it for the ages, it may not have worked, and Shakespeare scholars might be left despairing with a handful of partly-eaten wet paper. As for publication, there could have been legal reasons, or Theobald may simply have been obstreperous. Infuriatingly, we may never know.

Fortunately, imagination forges into the breach left by history and fact. In Marked For Death, I made up an entirely new story for Shakespeare’s Cardenio, featuring a fictitious university crammed full of my favourite flawed academic types: egoists, fanatics, the pompous, crude, monomaniacal, aloof, overly romantic and just not sensible. (In detective fiction, there’s nothing so fun as a profoundly down-to-earth character meeting somebody who’s never had a sensible thought in their life.) It is a truth universally acknowledged by anybody who has spent time in academia that it attracts the passionate, and passionate people can tend towards extremes.

The world contains many lacunae. Some knots will never be fully and finally tied; there are voiceless parts, fragments, theories, but no concrete answers. Humans love an answer, so we strive to fill those ambiguities, and mystery novels carry that comfort: by the final page we will know. In reality, unfortunately. there are no such easy solutions, and the full History of Cardenio will likely be lost to us forever, without any sleuthing to save it. I do, however, live in hope that some enterprising researcher — or perhaps just a plumber exploring some pipes — will go into a basement and come up to the light holding a cobwebbed lockbox from the 1700s, with Theobald written across the top…

Marked for Death by R.O.Thorp (Faber & Faber) Out Now

A dead body and a missing Shakespeare play lead to a faculty of suspects in this modern murder mystery. Scientist Finn Blanchard is trying not to think about murder. The university administrator Nina Hussar may have fallen to her death down stairs she’d used for years, but the only mystery Finn wants to investigate is whether there’s a shark in the local lake. But when a professor’s sudden death unearths cryptic clues to a missing Shakespeare play, Finn is forced to admit his research isn't the fishiest part of university life. After all, as his detective ex-boyfriend says, there’s nothing more suspicious than a fall down some stairs. And if Finn can’t figure out who the killer is soon, the next blood in the water might be his own . . 

R O Thorp can be found on Instagram @r.o.thorp

The 2026 First Crime Novel Competition

 

NEW YORK, NY 5/5/26 – Minotaur Books and the Mystery Writers of America introduced the winner of their First Crime Novel Competition at the 80th annual Edgar® Awards Banquet on Wednesday, April 29th, in New York City. The announcement was made by Kelley Ragland, vice president and publishing director at Minotaur Books.

The competition winner, Sharon Roth, is a Maryland attorney who also writes as Shannon Taft. Roth has written over twenty published short stories, including a Derringer Award-finalist and a story that appeared in Best American Mystery and Suspense. Her debut novel, Ghost of a Clue, is a cozy mystery featuring a protagonist named Lexi, who as a child witnessed the killing of her mother and sister. As a result of the attack, Lexi hears her sister's voice in her head. Now an adult, Lexi is trying to put the past behind her and buy a B&B in the Poconos. But when the true crime journalist intent on bringing all of Lexi's secrets into the open is murdered, Lexi is the prime suspect. Ghost of a Clue is tentatively scheduled for publication in fall of 2027.

Kelley Ragland added, “We fell in love with Lexi Wells and her voice, as well as the Poconos setting. Ghost of a Clue is a terrific mystery full of charm and substance, featuring a character with the unique ‘sidekick’ of her sister’s memory. We’re thrilled to be publishing Sharon’s debut.”

The First Crime Novel Competition, which had its first winner in 2008, provides a previously unpublished writer an opportunity to launch his or her career with the Minotaur Books imprint. The winner will receive a one-book, $10,000 contract.

Minotaur is currently accepting submissions for next year’s award.

For more information about both writing competitions Minotaur Books co-sponsors, Click Here

Many Thanks to Hector DeJean [Associate Director of Publicity] Minotaur Books

About Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group and Macmillan Publishers [the U.S. trade division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group].

Minotaur Books, an imprint of The St. Martin’s Publishing Group, launched in 1999, and publishes 75 hardcover crime fiction titles annually. Minotaur Books grew out of a fifty-year tradition of publishing quality crime fiction at St. Martin’s Press, and has published several award-winning and best-selling titles > https://us.macmillan.com/minotaurbooks/

The St. Martin’s Publishing Group is part of Macmillan Publishers, the U.S. trade division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

About Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. MWA is dedicated to promoting higher regard for crime writing and recognition and respect for those who write within the genre. MWA is a non-profit organization as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. www.mysterywriters.org.

Mystery Writers of America 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Award Winners

 

Mystery Writers of America 2026 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2025. 
 
BEST NOVEL

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
 
BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Backwater by Vikki Wakefield (Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)

 BEST FACT CRIME:

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press)

 BEST SHORT STORY

“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine – September-October 2025 by Dave Zeltserman (Must Read Books Publishing)

 BEST JUVENILE

Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic Press)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

 “Pilot” – Paradise, Written by Dan Fogelman (Hulu)

 OTHER AWARDS 

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the family of Robert L. Fish. “How It Happened,” Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July-August 2025 by Billie Kay Fern (Must Read Books Publishing)

 THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD – Presented on behalf of Simon & Schuster. 

 All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

 THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD – Presented on behalf of G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

 Gone in the Night by Joanna Schaffhausen (Macmillan Publishers – Minotaur Books)

 THE LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN MEMORIAL AWARD – Endowed by the estate of Lilian Jackson Braun.

 A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio (Severn House)

 SPECIAL AWARDS -- PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED ON JANUARY 13, 2026

GRAND MASTER

Donna Andrews

Lee Child

RAVEN AWARD

Book Passage, Corte Madera CA

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD

John Scognamiglio, Kensington Books

Congratulations to all the winners.

Bad Indians: A lesson on writing monstrous characters by Amin Ahmad.

It all started one afternoon a few years ago. I was driving down the New Jersey Turnpike, thinking about ideas for my next novel when a black Lincoln limousine zipped by. Tinted windows hid the passenger, the chauffeur wore a peaked cap and a vanity license plate proclaimed, ‘SINGH IS KING’.

This was new to me. Indians in America are discreet professionals—doctors, techies, engineers—but here was a person proudly proclaiming his wealth to the world. As a novelist, this image stuck in my mind. Who was Mr. Singh? Where did his money come from? Why was he so confident?

The stories written about Indian immigrants tend to stay within familiar themes: The loss of culture. Painful assimilation into the American mainstream. Generational conflict. Arranged marriages. Curry.

The guy in the Lincoln was different. He was rich. He was badass, and he wanted the world to know it.

Slowly, over the next few months, the shadowy figure in the back of the limousine took on more definition. In my imagination he became Abbas Khan, an Indian immigrant who arrived in America in the 1970s and built his real-estate empire from scratch. He was a canny, hard-nosed businessman, a bazaar merchant who knew how to manipulate people. Now he had made it in America and was redeveloping a large swathe of Manhattan.

As Abbas Khan came to life, I found I was having a really good time. Oh, the joy of writing a bad Indian. The freedom of it.

As a novelist, my protagonists so far had been honourable, good people stuck in bad situations. Abbas Khan was different: He was a monster who hid his insecure, angry self behind an armour of fine British tailoring. Abbas had been forced into an arranged marriage, but instead of freeing his own two adult daughters, he pushed them into arranged marriages. To protect the reputation of his real estate company he hid a shameful link to a serial killer who’d terrorized New York City a decade ago.

It was fun to create a dark, manipulative character—but then an odd thing happened: I began to like Abbas. Yes, he was awful to his wife and adult daughters, but he was human too. He had made a ton of money, but as a Muslim man, he was not really accepted into New York elite society.

So Abbas made his own world. He bought an abandoned 1920’s estate on Long Island, painstakingly restored it to its former glory, and staffed it with faithful Indian servants. Like any immigrant, he tried to root himself into the New World by replicating the familiar.

And once I got a taste for writing bad Indians, I couldn’t stop.

Abbas is searching for a husband for his beloved younger daughter, but he forgoes the eligible young Muslim men with MBAs, and instead settles on Ali Azeem, a slacker from Mumbai. He does this because Ali is malleable, but also because Ali comes from the Old Country, like Abbas himself, and the two men develop an oddly affectionate bond.

There was also Farhan, Abbas’s older daughter, who once had been the apple of his eye. Now in her thirties, Farhan is a mess, and of course she acts out. And as I developed my novel, I created more members of the Khan family: insecure, backstabbing, jockeying for position.

As a novelist, I had learned an important lesson. I’d previously thought I should write ‘likable’ protagonists with honesty and integrity—but it was so much more interesting to write flawed, messy, contradictory characters. The trick was to make them human and recognizable: “There for the grace of God go I.”

Another thing I discovered as a novelist was that plot, instead of being an external situation imposed on the characters, could grow out of the contradictions and complexities of the characters themselves: Abbas, while trying to maintain his hard-won reputation, suppressed information that would come back to destroy him. Ali wanted to take a shortcut to wealth, ended up marrying into a family he did not understand, and was forced to lose his naivety. Farhan’s self-destructiveness reached new levels. And while creating characters who were glorious messes, I found that I could hide the motivations of one of the quieter, staid characters, who turned out to be the real ‘killer in the family’.

Now that I finished writing ‘A Killer in the Family’, I’m on to my next novel. And guess what? It’s full of bad Indians. It turns out that once you discover the joy of writing monstrous characters, there is no going back.

A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad (Cornerstone) Out Now

Good-natured but naïve, Mumbai party boy Ali Azeem is drifting through life. Then he meets the Khan sisters: pretty, marriage-material Maryam and sexy, unpredictable, off-the-rails Farhan. They are the daughters of Abbas Khan, the formidable immigrant patriarch of a glittering property empire, who has succeeded in making New York City his playground. Ali finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into the Khan family’s seductive world of private jets and towering skyscrapers. He begins to uncover rumours of affairs, accusations of corruption – and a troubling connection to the serial killer who once stalked the streets of Manhattan. As he closes in on the truth and learns the cost of the Khans' unattainable wealth and power, Ali must decide: is it a price worth paying?

More information about Amin Ahmad can be found on his website. He can also be found on Instagram @aminahmadbooks

Longlist for Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2026 Announced

 

LONGLIST FOR THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER 

CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2026 

New talent competes with established global bestsellers for the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction prize

Festival Dates:-23rd -26th July 2026

www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

#TheakstonsAwards #TheakstonsCrime

Thursday 30 April 2026: Harrogate International Festivals today announced the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2026, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty second year. 

The longlist, voted for by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers, podcasters and industry representatives, showcases stories that transport readers from gangland Yorkshire to a haunted Dartmoor country house, from wartime Glasgow to a remote Scottish island, and features a host of remarkable sleuths - from the world’s first AI detective, to a time-travelling cold case investigator. 

The Longlist includes:

Six talented authors are longlisted for the first time, including bestselling authors A.A. Dhand and Alice Feeney, who both have smash hit TV adaptations to their names. 

5 former winners - 2024 champion Jo Callaghan, Mick Herron, Denise Mina, Belinda Bauer - and two times winner Mark Billingham - feature on the longlist. Belinda Bauer and Jo Callaghan are both alumni of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ initiative championing emerging talent. 

The longlist features writers from across the UK, including Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham, Sussex, Cardiff and Oxfordshire, with four Scottish authors, Tariq Ashkanani, Callum McSorley, Denise Mina and Alan Parks nominated. 

Celebrating innovative and entertaining storytelling, the 2026 longlist showcases a thrilling range of crime fiction subgenres, from gritty gangland thrillers and locked room mysteries to enthralling court room dramas, dark domestic noir and atmospheric historical murder mysteries. 

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2026 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is:  

What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books, Viper) 

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (Penguin Random House, Bantam) 

What The Night Brings by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere) 

Human Remains by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster) 

The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press) 

The Chemist by A.A. Dhand (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction) 

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books) 

The Examiner by Janice Hallett (Profile Books, Viper) 

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (Penguin Random House, Doubleday) 

Clown Town by Mick Herron (John Murray Books, Baskerville) 

Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan (Bonnier Books, Zaffre) 

Paperboy by Callum McSorley (Puskin Press, Vertigo) 

The Good Liar by Denise Mina (Penguin Random House, Harvill)

Gunner by Alan Parks (John Murray Books, Baskerville) 

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction) 

A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins, Hemlock Press) 

Crime fiction fans are now invited to help whittle 18 down to 6 by voting 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 on Thursday 23rd July. 

The longlist in more detail: 

Five former winners are vying for top honours at this year’s Awards, including 2024 champion Jo Callaghan, who is longlisted for Human Remains, the third in her highly original series featuring detective duo DCS Kat Frank and her AI colleague Lock, alongside Belinda Bauer for The Impossible Thing, a historical mystery set in the world of rare egg trafficking. Both Jo Callaghan and Belinda Bauer are alumni of the Festival’s acclaimed ‘New Blood’ initiative supporting outstanding new voices. Also nominated are Denise Mina’s The Good Liar, a taut conspiracy thriller where a blood spatter expert is caught in a deadly dilemma about whether to reveal a miscarriage of justice, and Mark Billingham’s What the Night Brings, a pulsating Tom Thorne thriller where a series of targeted murders against police officers lead to an investigation into betrayal and vengeance. They are joined by Mick Herron who is longlisted for Clown Town, the latest instalment in the bestselling Slough House series, which sees a gang of washed-up spooks entangled in a dangerous game of blackmail with its roots in the Irish Troubles. Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive eleventh longlisting for The Frozen People, the first in a new series with a time-travelling spin, as an unsolved mystery takes a cold cases investigator back to the freezing London of 1850.

Among the six hugely talented writers longlisted for the first time are Tariq Ashkanani, nominated for The Midnight King¸ a breathtaking thriller exploring the dark legacy of a serial killing author after his death, and Kia Abdullah for What Happens in the Dark, a courtroom drama about nightmare neighbours and how far ordinary people will go to defend loved ones. Also longlisted are We Live here Now by Sarah Pinborough, a twisty, genre-bending take on the haunted house mystery, set on Dartmoor, and Paperboy by Callum McSorley, an inventive, fast-paced and blackly comic slice of Glasgow Noir. They are up against A.A. Dhand’s gangland thriller, The Chemist where a community pharmacist finds himself in the middle of a turf war between two powerful Yorkshire drug cartels, and Alice Feeney’s Beautiful Ugly, a magnetic thriller about marriage and revenge set on a remote Scottish island. 

This year’s longlist showcases an extraordinary range of crime fiction subgenres. Vaseem Khan’s Quantum of Menace, a witty James Bond spin-off where a reimagined Q investigates the suspicious death of a scientist friend after losing his job at MI6, is nominated alongside Paula Hawkins’ atmospheric ‘locked room’ style mystery set on a tidal Scottish island, The Blue Hour. Joining them on the longlist are Abigail Dean’s psychological thriller The Death of Us, exploring trauma, grief and survival though the impact of a horrendous crime on one couple's relationship, and Janice Hallet’s The Examiner, an intricate mystery set in an art college, where a student is killed and suspicion falls on their dysfunctional classmates. 

Completing the 2026 line-up are two historical thrillers set in the Second World War. Gunner by Alan Parks sees a wounded former detective drawn into the case of a mutilated German found in Glasgow's bomb wreckage, and A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor, set in a boarding school haunted by the ghost of a dead teacher whose replacement attempts to unmask the killer. 

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

“We are delighted to announce the 2026 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. It’s a pleasure to sponsor this Award and champion such an array of talented crime writers – from established global bestsellers and household names, to rising stars who are all set to become the superstar writers of tomorrow. We’re very much looking forward to finding out who the public vote for to reach the shortlist this year.”

Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:  

“Congratulations to all the hugely talented writers longlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. We’re excited to see such a compelling and inclusive longlist for this year’s Award. Readers are vitally important to the Award as they help to determine the outcome, and in this National Year of Reading we encourage everyone to go all in and vote for their favourite novel to reach the shortlist.”

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 2025 to 30 April 2026. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 30 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com 

Voting closes on Thursday 28 May at 23:59, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 18 June. Once the shortlist is announced, readers will have the chance to vote again to help determine the winner. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 23 July, at a special awards ceremony hosted by Steph McGovern. They will receive £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.