CrimeFest Awards Short Lists Announced

CrimeFest, one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the shortlists for its annual awards.

The awards began 16 years ago when CrimeFest launched in 2008; they honour the best crime books released in the UK in the last year, and feature the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award which offers a £1,000 cash prize.

Authors in contention for the £1k prize include the Times Radio presenter and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Stig Abell, for his fiction debut, Death Under a Little Sky. Jo Callaghan is nominated for her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, In the Blink of An Eye, a daring, original debut featuring an AI detective. Jo Callaghan works as a senior strategist researching the future impact of AI and geonomics. 

Also, up for the debut award are Megan Davis described by Waterstones as an ‘eclectic, cut throat new voice in thriller writing’ with The Messenger; Jenny Lund Madsen with her darkly funny Thirty Days of Darkness, the critically acclaimed historical crime debut Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow; and the pitch-black Death of a Bookseller, by Alice Slater.

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CrimeFest, said: “The Specsavers Debut Novel Award has become one of the most highly anticipated awards of the genre, and we’d like to thank Specsavers for their on-going support in celebrating new talent.”

The shortlist for the CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book includes explorations of icons of the genre including Steven Powell for Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy; Nicholas Shakespeare for Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, and Adam Sisman for The Secret Life of John Le Carré. 

CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel sees bestselling authors in contention, including Mark Billingham for The Last Laugh; Mick Herron with The Secret Hours; and Elly Griffiths for The Great Deceiver. They’re joined by authors Mike Ripley, Jesse Sutanto and Antti Tuomianen.

Nominated for the best crime fiction e-book published in 2023 for the E-Dunnit Award are Rachel Abbott’s Don't Look Away; Jane Casey for The Close; Marin Edwards’ Sepulchre Street; Christina Koning for Murder at Bletchley Park; Laura Lippman’s Prom Mom; and The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell.

This nominees for the CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (aged 12-16) include Jennifer Lynn Barnes for her TikTok sensation, The Brothers Hawthorne, which combines puzzles, plot twists, and romance. 

She’s up against the bestselling author Ravena Guron, the ‘trailblazing’ blockbuster Promise Boys by Nick Brooks; the international bestseller Karen M. McManus for One of Us is Back; and Elizabeth Wein’s 1937 murder mystery featuring solo female pilot Stella North, Stateless. 

Adrian Muller said: “We are proud to be one of the few genre awards that recognise and celebrate children, and young adult crime fiction. This category has really boomed in recent years. The top-selling female author of crime fiction in the UK last year was Holly Jackson, and we’re thrilled to host Holly and fellow author, Robin Stevens, at talks for state schools in Bristol this May. The genre is a fantastic gateway into reading.”

Robin Stevens is also shortlisted for the CrimeFest Award for Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12) for The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz, published by Puffin, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the bestselling series that has sold 2 million copies in the UK to date. 

She’s up against a strong shortlist that includes J.T. Williams, Lis Jardine, Beth Lincoln, and the footballer Marcus Rashford for The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School, co-written by Alex Falase-Koya.

Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest judging panels.

The winners of the 2024 CrimeFest Awards will be announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on Saturday 11 May at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel.

Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is the biggest crime fiction convention in the UK, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days, from 9-12 May.

This year also features the CrimeFest Best Adapted TV Crime Drama Award, which celebrate dramas based on a book screened in 2023. 

Shortlisted shows include Amazon’s Reacher, based on books by Lee Child; the BBC’s Shetland, and ITV’s Vera, based on the books by Ann Cleeves; Apple TV’s Slow Horses, adapted from Mick Herron’s series; The Serial Killer’s Wife on Paramount by Alice Hunter; and Dalgliesh, based on the books by P.D. James.

The convention will feature a panel that pays homage to P.D. James with author Frances Fyfield, the Sunday Times chief fiction critic Peter Kemp, playwright and crime author, Simon Brett, and PD James’ granddaughter, Dr Beatrice Groves. 

Featured Guests for 2024 are author of the international hit Murdle - G.T. Karber - who will host a live Murdle event in a rare UK appearance; Diamond Dagger winners James Lee Burke and Lynda La Plante, the acclaimed American author Laura Lippman; and the seminal Scottish author, Denise Mina. 

The line up also features Ajay Chowdhury, Cathy Ace, Janice Hallett, Abir Mukherjee, Vaseem Khan, Holly Jackson, Kate Ellis, Ruth Dudley Edwards, and Martin Edwards.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. Established in 2008, it follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

All category winners will receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

The 2024 CrimeFest Award Shortlists in full:

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

In association with headline sponsor, the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award is for debut authors first published in the United Kingdom in 2023. The winning author receives a £1,000 prize. 

Death Under a Little Sky by Stig Abell (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)

In The Blink Of An Eye  by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster)

The Messenger by Megan Davis  (Zaffre)

Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen translated by Megan Turney (Orenda Books)

Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow (Baskerville)

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater  (Hodder & Stoughton)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

The H.R.F. Keating Award is for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the United Kingdom in 2023. The award is named after H.R.F. ‘Harry’ Keating, one of Britain’s most esteemed crime novelists, crime reviewers and writer of books about crime fiction.

Contemporary European Crime Fiction: Representing History and Politics by M, J, F & A Dall'Asta, Migozzi, Pagello & Pepper (Palgrave)

Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction by Lisa Hopkins (Palgrave)

 How To Survive a Classic Crime Novel  by Kate Jackson (British Library Publishing)

Love Me Fierce In Danger: The Life of James Ellroy by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Academic)

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harvill Secker)

The Secret Life of John Le Carré by Adam Sisman (Profile Books)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

The Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere)

The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron  (Baskerville)

Mr Campion's Memory by Mike Ripley (Severn House)

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Sutanto (HQ)

The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomianen  (Orenda Books)

eDUNNIT AWARD 

For the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the United Kingdom in 2023.

Don't Look Away  by Rachel Abbott (Wildfire)

The Close by -Jane Casey (HarperCollins)

Sepulchre Street by Martin Edwards(Head of Zeus)

Murder at Bletchley Park by Christina Koning (Allison & Busby)

Prom Mom by Laura Lippman (Faber & Faber)

The Devil's Playground by Craig Russell (Constable)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR CHILDREN

This award is for the best crime novel for children (aged 8-12) first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

Mysteries At Sea: Peril On The Atlantic by A.M. Howell  (Usborne Publishing)

The Detention Detectives by Lis Jardine  (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

The Swifts by Beth Lincoln (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

 The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School by Marcus Rashford (with Alex Falase-Koya) (Macmillan Children's Books)

The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz by Robin Stevens (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison by J.T. Williams (illustrated by Simone Douglas) (Farshore)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS

This award is for the best crime novel for young adults (aged 12-16) first published in the United Kingdom in 2023.

The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes  (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Promise Boys by Nick Brooks (Macmillan Children's Books)

This Book Kills by Ravena Guron (Usborne Publishing)

Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron (Usborne Publishing)

One of Us is Back by Karen M. McManus (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Stateless by Elizabeth Wein (Bloomsbury YA)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

This award is for the best television crime drama based on a book, and first screened in the UK in 2023. 

Dalgliesh (series 2), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books by P.D. James (Channel 5)

Reacher (series 2), based on the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child (Amazon Prime)

Shetland (series 8), based on the Shetland books by Ann Cleeves (BBC)

Slow Horses (series 3), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple)

The Serial Killer's Wife, based on the Serial Killer books by Alice Hunter (Paramount+)

Vera (series 12), based on the Vera Stanhope books by Ann Cleeves (ITV)

 

2020 CrimeFest Awards

Lee Child, Holly Watt, and Laura Shepherd-Robinson have received a 2020 CRIMEFEST Award in a virtual presentation hosted by actor Matt McCooey, who plays Inspector Bill Wong in the hit series Agatha Raisin.

The CRIMEFEST awards, hosted by one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, are in their 13th year and celebrate the best crime books released in 2019 in the UK.

Laura Shepherd-Robinson receives £1,000 for the inaugural Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award for Blood & Sugar in a new category in association with the convention’s headline sponsor, Specsavers.

Laura worked in politics for nearly 20 years before completing an MA in Creative Writing at City University. Her first novel, a vivid evocation of the slave trade in Georgian England, has received widespread critical acclaim. The Financial Times said she has ‘set the bar high for historical crime fiction.’

Laura Shepherd-Robinson said: “I’m so thrilled to have won this prize, I can’t really believe it. Thank you so much to CRIMEFEST and to Specsavers, and also to my amazing editor Maria Rejt and my agent Antony Topping, but most of all thank you to all the people who have read Blood & Sugar.”

Dame Mary Perkins, Specsavers’ founder who was born in Bristol, her ‘favourite city’, congratulated Laura for a ‘very topical book’. She said: “I’m so glad that CRIMEFEST is still happening, albeit online. We’re proud to sponsor the debut crime novel award. Reading and the importance of good vision makes for a very close connection for Specsavers.”

Lee Child and Jeff Harding - the reader on Child’s audio book Blue Moon - also receive £1,000 for winning the Audible Sounds of Crime Award, sponsored by Audible UK.  Lee Child said: “Thank you so much for this, to CRIMEFEST obviously, but also to Jeff Harding most of all, my amazing narrator. He won this for me, thanks Jeff. I hope to see everyone soon in person and at a proper convention.”

All category winners, aside from Audible Sounds of Crime, which is established by Audible UK listeners, were judged by panels of leading British crime fiction reviewers. All the winners receive an engraved, hand-made Bristol Blue Glass Award.

In other categories, Holly Watt received the eDunnit Award for To the Lions, which won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2019. Featuring a female journalist who stumbles upon a dark conspiracy, it was praised as a ‘first-rate Fleet Street novel’ by the Sunday Times. Watt, an investigative journalist, has worked on MP’s Expenses and the Panama Papers and written for major broadsheets in the UK.

Helen FitzGerald received the Last Laugh Award for Worst Case Scenario, a deliciously dark, unapologetically funny and nail-biting tense psychological thriller from the international bestselling author of The Cry, which was dramatized by BBC TV.

The H.R.F Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction went to John Curran for The Hooded Gunman, a celebration of the 2000 books published by the iconic imprint Collins’ Crime Club.

Best Crime Novel for Young Adults went to Kathryn Evans for Beauty Sleep. Evans is no stranger to awards as her debut More of Me won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award – the first Young Adult novel to do so. Her latest, Beauty Sleep, is a dark thriller that plunges a pre-tech girl into a futuristic world.

The winner of the award for Best Crime Fiction Novel for Children was Thomas Taylor for Malamander, a quirky fantasy with a cast of characters in pursuit of a sea monster. An illustrator and writer, Taylor’s first job was the cover for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The 2020 CRIMEFEST Awards were due to be presented at a Gala Dinner during the convention at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel this June. In light of Covid-19, the winners were announced online at www.crimefest.com and via its social media pages on Tuesday 7 July.

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CRIMEFEST, said: “Nothing can beat authors, readers and the crime writing industry gathering in person to celebrate the best of the genre. However, having appeared with Agatha Raisin co-star Ashley Jensen at last year’s CRIMEFEST, we were delighted that Matt McCooey returned to host our virtual ceremony. I’d like to thank our partners and sponsors, Free@Last TV, the production company behind the hit television series for producing our online awards presentation and congratulate all worthy winners.”

CRIMEFEST was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It was established over ten years ago in 2008. It follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all authors and readers alike.

The convention has grown to become not only one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, but also one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days.

2020 CRIMEFEST Awards (as a list)

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD:

Laura Shepherd-Robinson for Blood & Sugar (Mantle)

AUDIBLE SOUND OF CRIME AWARD:

Lee Child and Jeff Harding for Blue Moon (Penguin Random House Audio)

eDUNNIT AWARD:

Holly Watt for To the Lions (Raven Books)

LAST LAUGH AWARD:

Helen FitzGerald for Worst Case Scenario (Orenda Books)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD:

John Curran for The Hooded Gunman (Harper Collins Crime Club)

BEST CRIME NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS:

Kathryn Evans for Beauty Sleep (Usborne Publishing)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR CHILDREN:

Thomas Taylor for Malamander (Walker Books)

CrimeFest 2020 Awards Shortlist Announced

Now in its 13th year, the awards honour the best crime books released in 2019 in the UK.

New for 2020, in association with its headline sponsor Specsavers, is the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award. The winner will receive a £1,000 prize.

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CRIMEFEST, said: “Specsavers are passionate about the crime genre thanks to its founder Dame Mary Perkins, and their support ensures new voices in the genre will be recognised. We have really diverse awards reflecting the depth and breadth of the crime genre. Categories recognise e-books and audiobooks, humour, children and Young Adult crime fiction novels. We aim to be the most inclusive of awards to reflect the values of our convention.”

A further £1,000 prize fund is also awarded to the Audible Sounds of Crime Award, sponsored by Audible UK. Eligible titles are submitted by publishers, and Audible UK listeners establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Laurence Howell, Vice President, Content at Audible said: “We are delighted to continue as sponsor of the Audible Sounds of Crime Award. This is a prize that is very close to our heart and important for our members who are passionate fans of crime audiobooks. Crime and thriller remains one of our bestselling genres because of the intimate, immersive nature of audiobooks. Congratulations to all award nominees!”

All other category winners, which are judged by panels of leading British crime fiction reviewers, receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

The 2020 CRIMEFEST Awards were due to be presented at a Gala Dinner during the convention at the Bristol Grand Mercure Hotel this June. In light of Covid-19, the winners will be announced online at www.crimefest.com and via its social media pages on Tuesday 7 July.

CRIMEFEST was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It was established over ten years ago in 2008. It follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all authors and readers alike.

The convention has grown to become not only one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, but also one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days.

Specsavers Crime Fiction Debut Award

One of the most anticipated categories showcases the next big names in the genre.

Shortlisted Holly Watt has already picked up the 2019 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for her debut, To The Lions. Another high-profile debut star is Alex Michaelides with The Silent Patient, which sold over a million copies and was a Richard and Judy book club pick.

Engineer Fiona Erskine’s debut Chemical Detective is also in contention for the best debut, alongside Katja Ivar for Evil Things. Katja who was born in Moscow, lives in Paris and has a Masters in Contemporary History; her debut takes place in Finland at the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Carolyn Kirby’s The Conviction of Cora Burns was chosen by The Times as an historical fiction book of the month and was longlisted for the HWA debut crown award. Laura Shepherd-Robinson worked in politics for nearly twenty years before writing her thrilling debut historical crime novel, Blood & Sugar, set in 1781 amidst the British slavery industry also makes the shortlist.

Audible Sounds of Crime Award

The Audible shortlist features bestselling novels including Kate Atkinson’s Big Sky, read by Jackson Brodie actor Jason Isaacs, Lee Child’s Blue Moon narrated by Jeff Harding and The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides featuring Sherlock actress Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins.

The British-Nigerian actress Weruche Opia narrates Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Booker-longlisted My Sister, The Serial Killer. Also, in contention are Alex Callister’s Winter Dark, The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell, T.M. Logan’s The Holiday, and Peter May’s The Man with No Face.

H.R.F. Keating Award

Barry Forshaw, one of the UK’s leading experts on the genre, is shortlisted for the H.R.F Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction for his guide to the genre, Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide. He’s up against John Curran’s The Hooded Gunman, a celebration of the 2000 books published by the iconic imprint Collins’ Crime Club. Also on the shortlist is Ursula Buchan with Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps. Ursula, the granddaughter of John Buchan, who wrote the classic thriller famously adapted to film by Alfred Hitchcock, draws on recently discovered family documents in her illuminating biography.

Last Laugh Award

Previous winners of the Last Laugh Award return on the 2020 shortlist as Christopher Fowler, the author of fifty novels and short stories, is shortlisted for his Bryant & May mystery, The Lonely Hour. Fowler won the Last Laugh Award in 2009. L.C. Tyler also won the award in 2010. He returns with his novel, The Maltese Herring.

Also battling for the best humorous crime novel is the king of Helsinki noir, Antti Tuomainen, William Boyle for A Friend is a Gift you Give Yourself and Hannah Dennison with Tidings of Death at Honeychurch Hall.  Helen FitzGerald joins the shortlist for Worst Case Scenario, a deliciously dark, unapologetically funny psychological thriller by the international bestselling author The Cry.

eDunnit Award

Holly Watt (To The Lions), Helen FitzGerald (Worst Case Scenario) and L.C. Tyler (The Maltese Herring) are all shortlisted in their second category of the CRIMEFEST awards – the eDunnit award for best electronic crime novel. They’re up against Sarah Hilary’s Never Be Broken – her sixth book in the DI Marnie Rome series and Andrew Taylor for The King’s Evil, the hugely successful series from an author considered one of the best historical crime writers today. Also shortlisted is the American giant of twenty-one acclaimed, award winning international bestsellers, Don Winslow, for The Border, the concluding part of his Cartel trilogy.

Best Crime Fiction Novel for Children

Dark deeds, piratical plots and dastardly villains feature in the shortlist for the best children’s crime novel.

Welsh author P.G. Bell is shortlisted for The Great Brain Robbery, the second in his Train to Impossible Places Series. Acclaimed children’s author Vivian French is in contention for her adventures of a family theatre-troupe touring Victorian England by train in The Steam Whistle Theatre Company. 

Librarian and author Sophie Green makes the list with her unusual investigative duo chasing ghostly goings-on in Potkin and Stubbs. Also shortlisted is A.M. Howell whose The Garden of Lost Secrets set in 1916 on a country estate was a Times Children’s Book of the Week.

The Haven, an adrenalin-fuelled adventure by top thriller writer Simon Lelic, also makes the shortlist, along with Malamander by Thomas Taylor, a quirky fantasy with a cast of characters in pursuit of a sea monster. An illustrator and writer, Taylor’s first job was the cover for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults

An icon of the crime genre synonymous with the modern legal thriller, John Grisham, makes the shortlist for his Young Adult novel Theodore Boone: The Accomplice featuring a nosy thirteen-year-old half-boy, half-lawyer.

Grisham is up against last year’s winner for the best crime fiction novel for young adults, Nikesh Shukla. Shukla hopes to hold onto the title with The Boxer, the story of seventeen-year-old Sunny who takes up boxing to protect himself after a racist attack.

Simon Mason, who won the CRIMEFEST Best Young Adult novel in 2017 for Kid Got Shot is also back with Hey Sherlock! which stars teen slacker and crime-solving genius Gavin Smith.

Kathryn Evans is no stranger to awards as her debut More of Me won the Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award – the first Young Adult novel to do so. Her latest, Beauty Sleep, a dark thriller that plunges a pre-tech girl into a futuristic world, makes the shortlist. Also, in contention is the dark, twisty, fairy tale world of Samuel J. Halpin’s The Peculiar Peggs of Riddling Woods and Heartstream, a taut thriller about obsession, fame and betrayal by Tom Pollock.

The Shortlists (as a list in full)

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

The Chemical Detective by Fiona Erskine (Point Blank)

Evil Things by Katja Ivar (Bitter Lemon Press)

The Conviction of Cora Burns by Carolyn Kirby (No Exit Press)

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (Orion Fiction)

Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

To The Lions by Holly Watt (Raven Books)

AUDIBLE SOUNDS OF CRIME AWARD

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson narrated by Jason Isaacs (Penguin Random House Audio)

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite narrated by Weruche Opia (W F Howes)

Winter Dark by Alex Callister narrated by Ell Potter (Audible Studios)

Blue Moon by Lee Child narrated by Jeff Harding (Penguin Random House Audio)

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell narrated by Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, Dominic Thorburn (Penguin Random House Audio)

The Holiday by T.M. Logan narrated by Laura Kirman (Zaffre)

The Man with No Face by Peter May narrated by Peter Forbes (Quercus, Fiction)

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides narrated by Louise Brealey, Jack Hawkins (Orion)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

Beyond The Thirty-Nine Steps by Ursula Buchan (Bloomsbury Publishing)

The Hooded Gunman by John Curran (HarperCollins Crime Club)

Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide by Barry Forshaw (No Exit Press)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

A Friend is a Gift you Give Yourself by William Boyle (No Exit Press)

Tidings of Death at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison (Constable)

Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald (Orenda Books)

Bryant & May - The Lonely Hour by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)

Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda Books)

The Maltese Herring by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

e-DUNNIT AWARD

Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald (Orenda Books)

Never Be Broken by Sarah Hilary (Headline)

The King's Evil by Andrew Taylor (HarperFiction)

The Maltese Herring by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

To The Lions by Holly Watt (Raven Books)

The Border by Don Winslow (HarperFiction)

 

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR CHILDREN (ages 8-12)

The Great Brain Robbery by P.G. Bell (Usborne Publishing)

The Steam Whistle Theatre Company by Vivian French (Walker Books)

 Potkin and Stubbs by Sophie Green (Bonnier Books)

The Garden of Lost Secrets by A.M. Howell (Usborne Publishing)

The Haven by Simon Lelic (Hodder Children's Books)

Malamander by Thomas Taylor (Walker Books)

BEST CRIME FICTION NOVEL FOR YOUNG ADULTS (ages 12-16)

Beauty Sleep by Kathryn Evans (Usborne Publishing)

Theodore Boone: The Accomplice by John Grisham (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Peculiar Peggs of Riddling Woods by Samuel J. Halpin (Usborne Publishing)

Hey Sherlock! By Simon Mason (David Fickling Books)

Heartstream by Tom Pollock (Walker Books)

The Boxer by Nikesh Shukla (Hodder Children's Books)