2026 International Thriller Writer Award Nominees Announced

 

Best Standalone Novel

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins (Atria)

Zigzag Girl by Ruth Knafo Setton (Black Spring Press)

The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan (William Morrow)

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press)

So Happy Together by Olivia Worley (Minotaur)

Best Series Novel

Chain Reaction by James Byrne (Minotaur)

The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Penguin/Putnam)

Head Cases: A Novel by John McMahon (Minotaur)

The Tourists by Christopher Reich (Thomas & Mercer)

Terminal Moonlight by Vincent Zandri (Down & Out Books)

Best First Novel

Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall (Pamela Dorman Books)

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava (Gallery/Scout Press)

History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime)

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (Atria)

 

Best Audiobook

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Macmillan) Narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards (Simon & Schuster) Narrated by John Hopkins and Anna Burnett

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (Macmillan) Narrated by Cia Court

When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur (Macmillan) Narrated by Michael Crouch, Anjali Kunapaneni, Jennifer Pickens and Landon Woodson

The Cheaters Wife by C N Mabry and N’Dia Rae (Simon Maverick) Narrated by Ruffin Prentiss and Machelle Williams

The White Crow by Michael Robotham (Simon & Schuster) Narrated by Katy Sobey

Best Young Adult Novel

Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson (Delacorte Press)

This Stays Between Us by Margot McGovern (Penguin Young Readers)

Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman (Delacorte Press)

The Silenced by Diana Rodriguez Wallach (Delacorte Press)

The Thrashers by Julie Soto (Wednesday Books)

Best Short Story

Level Up by Katrina Carrasco (Bywater Books)

The Seduction of Dr Dimension by Scott William Carter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Eleven Numbers by Lee child (Amazon Original Stories)

False Note by David Lagercrantz (Amazon Original Stories)

The Violent Season by Jessica Van Dessel (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)

ITW will announce the winners at Thrillerfest XXI on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at the New York Hilton Midtown, New York City.

Congratulations to all the nominated finalists!

Of Broadchurch, Murder and More...

Little, Brown has bought world rights to a novel inspired by ITV crime series "Broadchurch".

Sphere Fiction commissioning editor Jade Chandler bought the book from Cathy King at Independent Talent, representing "Broadchurch" screenwriter Chris Chibnall, who will co-write the novel with thriller author Erin Kelly.

As well as including previously unseen material, the novel—to be published next August—will "elaborate on the existing plot, delving deeper into the lives and back stories of the existing characters".

Chibnall paid tribute to Kelly's writing, describing it as "beautiful, emotive and suffused with tension", while Kelly commented: "Like everyone else I know, I was gripped and moved by 'Broadchurch'. I’m utterly thrilled to be writing the novel, not least because it gave me an excuse to watch the whole series again, multiple times. It’s testament to the writing, the performances and the photography that I was spellbound even when I knew the outcome. I can’t wait to delve even deeper into the hearts and thoughts of the characters and to bring the town to life on the page."

US rights in the novel have been sold to Minotaur at St Martin's Press.

"Broadchurch", set in a small Dorset town and starring David Tennant and Olivia Colman as a mismatched detective duo, had viewing figures of nine million and has been recommissioned for a second series. The drama has just won four TV Daggers at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards and has been sold to 100 territories worldwide, including the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands and China.

Audiobook publisher and retailer AudioGO has confirmed that it has filed for administration.

Sad news for the BBC Audiobook company it has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Friday (25th October), with firm BDO expected to be appointed to the role this week.

The company suspended its business operations earlier this month, following "recently discovered significant financial challenges". Hopes that the company would find a buyer or investor before administration have now receded.

Based in Bath, AudioGO has a workforce of around 100 employees and employs a stable of freelance producers, editors and actors. The company has confirmed that "significant redundancies" are expected later this week.

AudioGO were responsible for producing crime and thrillers for authors such as Agatha Christie, David Baldacci, Dick Francis, Lindsey Davis, M.C.Beaton and John le Carré – to name but a few.

Novelist Solves Decades-Old Crime?

The 1931 murder of Julia Wallace has been one of Britain’s most notorious crimes--at least until now, if the findings of novelist P.D. James are correct. Though, given James’ experience in thinking about death and murder through 20 novels, one would think she’d be in the know.

According to The Guardian, James isn’t the first novelist to be fascinated by the case “which Raymond Chandler described as the ‘the nonpareil of all murder mysteries’. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote that it ‘provides for the detective novelist an unrivalled field for speculation’.”

Writing in the Sunday Times magazine, James claimed that the murder of Julia Wallace in Liverpool, which “compares only to the Ripper murders in 1888 in the amount of writing, both fiction and non-fiction, which it has created”, was misunderstood from the beginning by the police, the judge and jury.

Her 1982 novel, The Skull Beneath the Skin, the fictional murder of Lady Ralston, is thought to parallel the Wallace case, and she refers to it directly in the detective chief-inspector Dalgliesh novel, The Murder Room (2003).

The Guardian goes on to detail the available clues that convinced James her positing was correct. The case is “essentially tragic and has psychological subtleties to which it would take a Balzac to do justice,” James wrote. She builds a picture of Wallace as a man worn down by failure and disappointment who eventually cracked: “Perhaps when he struck the first tremendous blow that killed her, and the 10 afterwards delivered with such force, it was years of striving and constant disappointment that he was obliterating.”

Julia Wallis

Back in 2002, Patricia Cornwell put forth a similarly forceful theory with regards to the true identity of Jack the Ripper, a theory she outlined closely in her non-fiction book Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper--Case Closed.

Blow the Bloody Doors off!

London's Barbican Hall is to host an evening of music by Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, John Barry and Roy Budd from Michael Caine's most iconic films on 6 February 2014 @ 19:30
The four films singled out for concert performances here are classics with music composed by an exceptional quartet of musicians - Alfie (Sonny Rollins), The Ipcress File (John Barry), The Italian Job (Quincy Jones) and Get Carter (Roy Budd).
These composers represent the best of British and American music of the time. Musical director Terry Edwards (whose recent Barbican performances include Beck: Song Reader Live and Big Star’s Third) has assembled a crack team of versatile musicians from places as far-flung as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Polar Bear and Madness.

The evening places the music centre stage, intercut with excerpts from the films. Click here to book.