Longlist for Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2025

Festival Dates: 17 – 20 July 2025

Longlist for Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2025  revealed as global bestsellers compete with fresh talent for prestigious award

Thursday 24th April 2025: Harrogate International Festivals announced today the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2025, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty-first year. 

The longlist, selected by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers & podcasters and representatives from within the industry, showcases innovative, original and entertaining stories, with global bestsellers and exciting new talent competing for the coveted award. Readers are now encouraged to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner crowned on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July. 

3 former winners - 2023 champion M.W. Craven, Chris Whitaker and Chris Brookmyre - feature on the longlist, with fan favourite Elly Griffiths nominated for a tenth time. 

Six talented authors receive their first longlisting, including rising star Marie Tierney nominated for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award in 2024.

The longlist includes 3 illustrious alumni of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, renowned for championing emerging talent: Abir Mukherjee, Stuart Turton and Stuart Neville. 

The longlist features writers from across the UK, including Newcastle, Birmingham, Sussex, Bath and Oxfordshire, with 3 Scottish authors, Chris Brookmyre, Alan Parks and Abir Mukherjee, and 2 from Ireland, Jane Casey and Stuart Neville. 

Representing the very best in storytelling, the longlist showcases a thrilling range of crime fiction subgenres, from gritty court room dramas and twisty psychological thrillers to enthralling historical mysteries and dystopian chillers. 

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is: 

The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere) 

Our Holiday by Louise Candlish (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey (HarperFiction, Hemlock Press) 

The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown Book Group, Constable) 

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas (Penguin Michael Joseph) 

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books, Quercus Fiction) 

Estella’s Revenge by Barbara Havelocke (Hera Books) 

Redemption by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster UK) 

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction) 

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books) 

The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (Cornerstone, Century) 

The Kill List by Nadine Matheson (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker) 

Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster UK) 

To Die in June by Alan Parks (Canongate) 

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books, Zaffre) 

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books) 

All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion, Orion Fiction) 

The longlist in more detail: 

Three former winners are vying for top honours at this year’s Awards, including 2023 champion M.W. Craven, who is longlisted for The Mercy Chair, the sixth book in his Cumbrian set Poe and Tilly series, alongside Chris Whitaker for All the Colours of the Dark, a million-copy bestseller exploring the aftermath of a childhood kidnapping, and Chris Brookmyre for the highly original thriller, The Cracked Mirror, which sees a hard-bitten homicide detective and an old lady who has solved multiple murders in her sleepy village, crack an impossible case. Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive tenth longlisting for The Last Word, a murder mystery set at a writers' retreat. 

Three alumni of the Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, supporting fresh talent are longlisted this year. Abir Mukherjee is nominated for Hunted, a timely thriller about two parents desperately tracking down their children who are suspected of terrorist atrocities, along with ‘King of Belfast Noir’ Stuart Neville for chilling serial-killer thriller Blood Like Mine and Stuart Turton for The Last Murder at the End of the World, an ingenious dystopian thriller about a murder in an island paradise inhabited by the last humans on earth. They are joined by Marie Tierney who is longlisted for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award, the Festival’s newest initiative to platform rising stars of the genre, in 2024. 

Along with Tierney, the five other hugely talented writers longlisted for the first time include Claire Douglas, nominated for intricately plotted psychological thriller The Wrong Sister, Barbara Havelocke for Estella’s Revenge, a twisty gothic retelling of ‘Great Expectations’ and Ellery Lloyd for The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, an ingenious mystery set in the art world. They are up against two writers who are also lawyers, Nadine Matheson, longlisted for her gripping thriller exploring themes of race, class and justice, The Kill List, and Ruth Mancini for The Woman on the Ledge, about a duty solicitor representing a young woman framed for murder. 

Showcasing the dazzling range of crime fiction subgenres, Louise Candlish’s psychological thriller Our Holiday where a feud between second home-owners and locals turns murderous, acclaimed Irish writer Jane Casey’s gripping DS Maeve Kerrigan novel A Stranger in the Family, Imran Mahmood’s powerful court-room drama about how far parents will go for their child in Finding Sophie, Jack Jordan’s propulsive Nevada-set revenge thriller Redemption, and Alan Parks’ gritty Glasgow noir To Die in June, complete the 2025 longlist.

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

“We are delighted to announce the 2025 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The award is a vital platform for recognising and celebrating British crime writing talent both new and established, and once again our Awards Academy have selected another thrilling crop of books for our longlist. Now it’s time for readers to have their say, and we encourage everyone to get involved and vote for their favourites!

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

“Congratulations to all of the extremely talented writers longlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Anyone who loves riveting storytelling is in for a treat with this year’s longlist, which showcases the incredible depth and range of British crime fiction. Readers are very much at the heart of this award as they help to determine the outcome, and we’re very excited to see who the fans will vote for 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 2024 to 30 April 2025. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 24 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com 

Voting closes on Thursday 15 May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 5 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

Forthcoming Books from Bloomsbury

 January 2024

By night, Vivian Parry performs the role of Manhattan’s sharpest theatre critic, immersing herself fully in every show she sees. By day, she uses work, sex, and psychotropic drugs to keep her comfortably numb. Desperate for a promotion and at the urging of her editor, she agrees to an interview with David Adler, an enigmatic graduate student. When he later disappears, Vivian soon learns from his devastated fiancée that she was the last person to have seen him alive. The police refuse to investigate his disappearance and Vivian finds herself obsessed with what happened, assuming the role of amateur investigator. But as she gets closer to the truth about David Adler, she finds that the boundaries between theatre and reality are more tenuous than even she could have believed. Here in the Dark is by Alexis Soloski.

The Grief House is by Rebecca Thorne. Everyone is lying. But the dead know the truth A week-long grief retreat on a beautiful country estate with no phones and no wifi isn’t ex-tarot reader Blue’s usual getaway. But ever since her mother’s death she’s been carrying a secret. Could this finally help her let it go? When she arrives, it’s raining, and there’s something strange about the house. Only a few guests have made it through the weather. As the owners, Molly and Joshua Park, try desperately to cling to normality, the storm worsens until they’re stranded in the house – cut off from the outside world. And after one of the guests disappears in the night, Blue wonders who around her, the Parks and the guests, is telling the truth about why they’re there – and whose grief might be hiding a deeper secret. The floodwater rises. Everyone is keeping secrets – but only one is a killer. Can Blue escape with her life, and her sanity?

March 2024

Sophie King is missing. Her parents, Harry and Zara, are distraught; for the last seventeen years, they've done everything for their beloved only daughter and now she's gone. The police have no leads, and Harry and Zara are growing increasingly frantic, although they are both dealing with it in very different ways. Increasingly obsessed with their highly suspicious neighbour who won't open the door or answer any questions, they are both coming to the same conclusion. If they want answers, they're going to have to take the matter into their own hands. But just how far are they both prepared to go for the love of their daughter? Finding Sophie is by Imran Mahmood.

The Last Murder at the End of The World is by Stuart Turton. Solve the murder to save what's left of the world. Outside the island there is nothing: the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. 122 villagers and 3 scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists. Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And they learn the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 92 hours, the fog will smother the island - and everyone on it. But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer - and they don't even know it...

Capital Crime Individual tickets on sale

INDIVIDUAL EVENT TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
& WE'RE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME SHARI LAPENA, CLARE MACKINSTOCH, BEN AARONOVITCH & PETER JAMES TO OUR LINEUP!

There's only one place to be from 31st August - 2nd September 2023 and that's the Leonardo Royal St Paul's Hotel, where we will be celebrating the best genre in town.

We believe that every reader and crime fiction fan should be able to celebrate and enjoy a weekend's worth of entertaining and engaging conversations from some of the world's finest creative minds! With only four weeks to go until we're opening our doors, we're swinging them wide open with our individual event tickets that will suit every budget.

Get ready to mingle with crime fictions biggest stars and latest chart toppers as we're honoured to welcome Richard Osman, Lisa Jewell, Joanne Harris, Kate Atkinson, "Happy Valley" creator Sally Wainwright, Dorothy Koomson, Chris Carter, Peter James, Ben Aaronovitch Liz Nugent, Imran Mahmood, Will Dean, Nicola Williams, Richard Armitage, Yomi Adegoke, Mark Billingham, M W Craven, Steve Cavanagh, Adele Parks and many more of your favourite authors to Capital Crime this year! 

For our full line-up and schedule head to our website!

Tickets can be brought here.

THE FINGERPRINT AWARD NOMINEES ARE...

 

Since our schedule announcement last week our festival tickets have been selling like hot cakes (or whatever the crime equivalent is)!

To keep the crime-celebration going we've announced our nominees for the 2023 Fingerprint Awards!

The Fingerprint Awards are the awards where you, the crime and thriller fan, get to choose the winner. Every year we will be featuring the best in the genre, as selected by our Advisory Board, from the year before but it's up to YOU to decide who wins in each category.​

Voting is free and open to all! 

Vote here

The winners will be revealed at our festival on Thursday 31st August live at Capital Crime 2023 and via our social channels.

To toast your winners in person book your ticket to Capital Crime 2023!

Book Your Tickets Here

ABOUT CAPITAL CRIME

There's only one place to be from 31st August - 2nd September 2023 and that's the Leonardo Royal St Paul's Hotel, where we will be celebrating the best genre in town.

Get ready to mingle with crime fictions biggest stars and latest chart toppers as we're honoured to welcome Richard Osman, Lisa Jewell, Joanne Harris, Kate Atkinson, "Happy Valley" creator Sally Wainwright, Dorothy Koomson, Chris Carter, Peter James, Liz Nugent, Imran Mahmood, Will Dean, Nicola Williams, Richard Armitage, Yomi Adegoke, Mark Billingham, M W Craven, Steve Cavanagh, Adele Parks and many more of your favourite authors to Capital Crime this year! 

For our full line-up and schedule head to our website

Tickets can be purchased via our website, along with full details about accommodation, discounted tickets (Frontline Workers/Librarian/Students/Local Residents) but if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with the team at info@capitalcrime.org and they'll be happy to help.

Longlist announced for Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2023

 LONGLIST REVEALED FOR UK’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS CRIME WRITING AWARD:

THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023

The unique handcrafted oak barrels for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award being built under the watchful eye of one of England’s last coopers; Euan Findlay, with T&R Theakston and the Programming Chair for the 2023 Festival Vaseem Khan. Past recipients of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Awards include Lee Child, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham. (Credit: Charlotte Graham, 2023)

MARK BILLINGHAM | M. W. CRAVEN | FIONA CUMMINS | LUCY FOLEY | ELLY GRIFFITHS | JANICE HALLETT MICK HERRON | LISA JEWELL | DOUG JOHNSTONE | VASEEM KHAN | CLARE MACKINTOSH | IMRAN MAHMOOD GILLIAN MCALLISTER | VAL MCDERMID | LIAM MCILVANNEY | LEONORA NATTRASS | ALAN PARKS |VICTORIA SELMAN | SARAH VAUGHAN | RUTH WARE

The longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2023 has been announced today by Harrogate International Festivals. The search for the best crime novel of the past year gets underway as the public are now invited to vote for their favourites to reach the next stage.

The winner of the prestigious Award will be announced at the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (20 July), which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. To mark the momentous occasion, for the first time the longlist includes twenty outstanding authors, rather than the traditional eighteen, competing for the UK and Ireland’s most coveted crime fiction writing Award.

With thrilling stories that transport readers from a burnt-out Glasgow under threat, to the hidden backstreets of Paris, from the bustle of 1950s Bombay and a mail ship bound for Philadelphia, the longlist celebrates the very best of the crime genre. 

A number of returning champions are hoping to take home the Award once again - Mick Herron defends his 2022 title with the latest Slough House instalment, Bad Actors, alongside Clare Mackintosh’s gripping New Year’s Day murder mystery The Last Party, two-time winner Mark Billingham’s electrifying thriller The Murder Book, and the scintillating 1989, the second in the new Allie Burns series from the doyenne of crime writing Val McDermid. 

Several of the crime world’s favourite crime solving protagonists are also in the running for the coveted trophy – Elly Griffith’s penultimate mystery featuring Dr Ruth Galloway, The Locked Room, is in contention, alongside M.W. Craven’s latest Detective Sergeant Washington Poe thriller The Botanist, and Black Hearts, the explosive thriller featuring Doug Johnstone’s Skelf women. 

They are joined by fellow Theakston nominees, including Sarah Vaughan with her masterful psychological page-turner Reputation, the unputdownable The It Girl from Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley’s deeply unsettling, locked room mystery The Paris Apartment as well as All I Said Was True, the ticking clock thriller from barrister-turned-authorImran Mahmood. Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2023 Programming Chair Vaseem Khan is vying to win with The Lost Man of Bombay, as is Blue Water – Leonora Nattrass’ atmospheric tale aboard an eighteenth-century ship on route to Philadelphia. Joining them are Liam McIlvanney’s highly anticipated The Heretic, which sees D.I. Duncan McCormack tackling brutal gang warfare on the streets of Glasgow, and the eerily unnerving new thriller Into The Dark from Val McDermid’s 2017 New Blood selection, Fiona Cummins.

A plethora of established voices join the Theakston ranks for the first time this year. The tantalisingly tense Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister and Lisa Jewell’s chilling new domestic noir The Family Remains are longlisted along with Victoria Selman’s nerve-jangling Truly Darkly Deeply, the deftly suspenseful The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett, while chilling police procedural May God Forgive gives star of ‘Tartan Noir’ Alan Parks his first longlisting. 

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2023 longlist is:

The Murder Book by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown Book Group; Little Brown)

The Botanist by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown Book Group; Constable)

Into The Dark by Fiona Cummins (Pan Macmillan; Macmillan/Pan)

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins; HarperFiction)

The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett (Profile Books; Viper)

Bad Actors by Mick Herron (John Murray Press; Baskerville)

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell (Cornerstone; Century Fiction)

Black Hearts by Doug Johnstone (Orenda Books)

The Lost Man of Bombay by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh (Little, Brown Book Group; Sphere)

All I Said Was True by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury Publishing; Raven Books)

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister (Penguin Random House; Michael Joseph)

1989 by Val McDermid (Little, Brown Book Group; Little Brown)

The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney (HarperCollins; HarperFiction)

Blue Water by Leonora Nattrass (Profile Books; Viper)

May God Forgive by Alan Parks (Canongate Books)

Truly Darkly Deeply by Victoria Selman (Quercus)

Reputation by Sarah Vaughan (Simon & Schuster)

The It Girl by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster)

Simon Theakston, Executive Director of Theakston, added: “Each year I eagerly await the long list announcement for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and every year I’m reminded of the phenomenal talent in the crime fiction writing world, whether a returning icon or a rising star. I’m looking forward to a celebratory toast of Old Peculier in July, but for now, we raise a glass to all the exceptional nominees as the shortlist vote is taken to the public.”

Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, Sharon Canavar, commented: “We are delighted to announce the 2023 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, with an exceptional collection of the UK and Ireland’s best crime fiction novels from the past year. The Award is an integral part of the Festival and with a gripping mix of subgenres nominated, from psychological thrillers to murder mysteries, we can’t wait to see how the public vote this year.”

The longlist was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, along with representatives from the media partner, Daily Express. The award is run by Harrogate International Festivals 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 2022 to 30 April 2023 by UK and Irish authors.

The public are now invited to vote to create a shortlist of six titles from 10am on Thursday 27 April atwww.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com. Voting closes on Thursday 18 May, with the shortlist announced and winner voting opening on Thursday 15 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 20 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com | @HarrogateFest | #TheakstonAward 

Capital Crime Announces Exciting New Central London Venue, After Sell Out Festival in 2022

 

Capital Crime 2023 to be held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral from 31st August - 2nd September 2023 

Dorothy Koomson & Kate Mosse (Capital Crime Festival 2022

Led by Goldsboro Books’ co-founder and managing director, David Headley, celebrated crime and thriller festival, Capital Crime, has announced it will take place this autumn at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in St Paul’s, providing a fitting backdrop for this year’s stellar line-up. 

Authors confirmed so far include Kate Atkinson, Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright, Richard Osman, Dorothy Koomson, Chris Carter, Peter James, Liz Nugent, Imran Mahmood, Kat Diamond, Joanne Harris, Nicola Williams, Richard Armitage, Yomi Adegoke, Adele Parks and Lisa Jewell, with the full line-up of over 140 authors and field specialists to be announced later in the year. Standard Weekend and Day Tickets for Capital Crime 2023 are on sale now at www.capitalcrime.org. 

Richard Osman Capital Crime Festival 2022

Headley and his team at Goldsboro Books have helped launch the careers of so many authors since it opened almost 25 years ago, by uniting incredible writing with their loyal, ever-growing community of passionate readers. Committed to connecting readers to the books they’ll love, the capital’s first crime writing festival is a brilliant extension of this vision with an outstanding programme of over 40 entertaining, accessible events that explore all corners of the genre, and the opportunity to meet your literary heroes. The previous festivals have seen a wide range of authors, from household names to exciting debuts paired with actors, broadcasters and experts across the field. The 2022 line-up included Rev. Richard Coles, Kate Mosse, Robert Harris, S.A. Cosby, Bella Mackie, Abir Mukherjee and Paula Hawkins. 

Alongside the festival, Capital Crime will continue to create a year-round home for crime and thriller readers and authors with their book club and awards, and nurture under-represented authors with their social outreach initiative which was established in 2019. In June 2023, the festival will take its first trip out of the city with “Capital Crime goes on Holiday”, which will bring together crime-writing legends including Peter James, Dorothy Koomson, and John Sutherland for a very special series of events at Brighton Friends Meeting House, with book signings run by Goldsboro’s recently opened, Brighton store. 

Capital Crime co-founder and Goldsboro Books managing director David Headley said: 

“I’m incredibly proud of everything we are achieving at Capital Crime, we’re unlike any other festival. We’re a year round home for crime and thriller readers and fans. Alongside our weekend festival we run our Fingerprint Awards, where winners are voted for by readers, our Social Outreach initiative, which encourages literacy and aims to demystify the publishing industry, and we’ll also be running an exciting satellite event in Brighton with Goldsboro Books. We were so honoured to be joined by so many wonderful authors at last year’s festival and I can’t wait to reveal everything we have in store for this year!” 

Capital Crime Festival Director, Lizzie Curle, said: 

“I am absolutely delighted that we’ll be welcoming authors and field specialists from across the globe to the UK’s capital city once again this year. Our new indoor venue in the shadow of St Paul’s cathedral, complete with rooftop bar and club, will be the perfect place to celebrate the best genre in the world with the authors, readers and fans who make Capital Crime possible.” 

Standard Weekend and Day Tickets for Capital Crime 2023 are on sale now at www.capitalcrime.org 

Bella Mackie, Ragnar Jonasson & Amanda Redman at Fingerprint Awards, Leonardo Hotel

Shortlist for The Fingerprint Award 2022 announced

 

Crime novelists including Val McDermid, Janice Hallett and Abir Mukherjee have been shortlisted for the inaugural Fingerprint Awards.

The awards, which recognise the best titles in the crime genre and most of which are voted for by readers, are held as part of the Capital Crime Festival co-organised by Goldsboro Books owner and agent David Headley.

Shortlisted for the Crime Book of the Year is McDermid’s 1979 (Little, Brown), Mick Herron’s Slough House (John Murray Press) and Hallett’s debut, The Appeal (Viper), which won the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger earlier this year. Also in the running is fellow debut novelist Sarah Pearse with The Sanatorium Transworld) and Eva Björg Ægisdóttir for her second novel, Girls Who Lie (Orenda).

Lisa Jewell and Paula Hawkins have made the cut for Thriller Novel of the Year with The Night She Disappeared (Cornerstone) and A Slow Fire Burning (Transworld) respectively, while Gold Dagger-winning M W Craven is in the running for Dead Ground (Little, Brown).

Multi-award winner author Mukherjee is among those shortlisted for the Historical Crime Novel of the Year for The Shadows of Men (Vintage), his latest Wyndham & Banerjee novel, alongside Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan).

Two other categories will be selected solely by the Capital Crime advisory board, comprised of authors, bloggers, journalists and industry figures. The categories are 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.

"My vision for Capital Crime was always to make it a festival for readers and what better way to celebrate the readers who make it all worthwhile than to give them the power to decide the winners of the Fingerprint Awards?" Headley said. "Narrowing down the incredible body of work published last year to six categories of five books [each] was no mean feat but with the well-informed advisory board we’ve gathered together, I’m confident that these shortlists represent the very best of crime and thriller writing from around the world."

Readers can vote for their preferred winners here by 19th September. The winners will be announced at 7.30pm on 29th September.

Capital Crime will be hosting pitch-an-agent sessions with David Headley (D H H), Emily Glenister (DHH), Camilla Bolton (Darley Anderson) or Phillip Patterson (Marjaq).The slots are open to all unrepresented ticket holders working on their crime novel (completed novels or full synopsis preferred) as part of the Next Generation of Voices afternoon takeover at the festival this autumn. To apply for a slot, contact info@capitalcrime.org.

The shortlists in full:

Crime Book of the Year 2021

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse (Transworld)

1979 by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)

The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Viper)

Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdottir (Orenda Books)

Slough House by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)

Thriller Book of the Year 2021

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins (Transworld)

Dead Ground by M W Craven (Little, Brown)

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell (Cornerstone)

Knife Edge by Simon Mayo (Transworld)

Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton)

Historical Crime Book of the Year 2021

A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago (Bloomsbury)

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell (Bloomsbury)

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Pan Macmillan)

The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage)

A Comedy of Terrors by Lindsay Davis (Hodder & Stoughton)

Debut Book of the Year 2021

Girl A by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins)

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner (Bloomsbury)

Welcome to Cooper by Tariq Ashkanani (Amazon Publishing)

How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina (Little, Brown

Edge of the Grave by Robbie Morrison (Pan Macmillan)

Genre-Busting Book of the Year 2021

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Bloomsbury)

How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie (HarperCollins) 

The Burning Girls by C J Tudor Penguin Books)

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi (Penguin Books)

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (Orion)

Audiobook of the Year 2021

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan)

The Girl Who Die by Ragnar Jónasson (Orenda Books

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox (Transworld)

A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz (Cornerstone)

I know what I Saw by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury)

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Imran Mahmood

Name:- Imran Mahmood

Job:- Criminal and Civil Barrister and author

Twitter:- @imranmahmood777

Introduction:-

Barrister and author Imran Mahmood's first novel You Don't Know Me was published in 2017. It was also selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice and was shortlisted for the Glass Bell Award in 2018. It was also longlisted in 2018 for the CWA Gold Dagger and the Theakstons Old PeculierCrime Novel of the year Award. It was also made into a BBC drama (to great aclaim) in 2021. His second book I Know What I Saw was published in 2021 and was one of The Times best thrillers of 2021. His most recent book is All I said Was True was published iin July 2022.

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing or both)

I have just delivered 3rd draft of book 4. It is about grief and regret as well (obviously) as murder! I loved writing this book and it’s the one I'm proudest of. I can't wait to see it out next year.

Favourite book?

This is a always To Kill a Mocking Bird. It deals with everything – race, class, poverty, wealth, slavery, human rights, power, justice, morality, truth, integrity, coming of age – the lot. A few other books try to do all of this but the genius of Harper Lee was that she told stories of horror through the lens of an innocent - child. The effect is devastating. 

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why?

Staying with To Kill a Mockingbird I would like to have Atticus Finch and Scout round for a home-made curry!

How do you relax?

I write of course! And cook. Or if I have time I paint (badly) or do a little woodwork. I make things for the kids that they don’t have any appreciation for. 

Which book do you wish you had written and why?

I'm going to sidestep Harper Lee this time (because there is no way I could have written that). I’m going to say The First Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman for its modest sales!

Also, it displays a great understanding of the market. There’s a whole section of society (that read) but who find themselves totally invisible in culture. Osman realised that and boy did he make the most of it! Also it’s such a perfectly delivered mystery. Can't fault it.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer?

Writing is very difficult. Reading is much easier. Just read.

What made you decide to write standalone novels as opposed to a series and would you write a series?

I had only intended to write the one book! I had no idea that when you write one – publishers and agents just expect you to carry on. There was no way to turn book 1 into a series so book 2 was a standalone. And by then I liked the idea of meeting new characters that I knew nothing about. I have since thought about a returnable series. I think it’s a lot of work despite the impression you get and it takes a long time (4 plus books I think) to establish a series. I don’t think I have the patience to do that

With Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets being the theme at St Hilda's this year, Where is your favourite town and where is your favourite country? Why have you chosen these?

London (which is about 100 towns really rather than one place). It’s my adoptive home (from Liverpool) and I love 2 things about it. That you can become anonymous in London very easily. And that the tolerance levels are so high (as a rule) that you can be any version of yourself that you want to be without (usually) ever attracting a second-look. I love that I sat on the Tube last week and someone wandered on wearing a tutu, a blonde Elsa wig to their waist, drinking beer from a Pringle can. She was probably in her sixties. Nobody batted an eye. I love that. The price of being left alone when you want to be left alone is often being left alone when you don’t. So it’s not a perfect city – but where is?

Favourite country – UK. Not a natural patriot. But the UK (despite everything) feels free and safe and there aren’t many places I could spend the rest of my life in. There’s always something to spoil a great country. Geographically/geologically/structurally? the USA has everything. Mountains, lakes, deserts, snow, beaches, big modern cities, slow lazy cities, canyons, waterfalls, huge national parks. But then – you know it has people like Trump in it. And a lot of guns! 

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

Meeting so many new people after so much hiding away for the last 2 years!

All I Said Was True by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury Publishing PLC)

I didn't kill her. Trust me...When Amy Blahn died on a London rooftop, Layla Mahoney was there. Layla was holding her. But all she can say when she's arrested is that 'It was Michael. Find Michael and you'll find out everything you need to know.' The problem is, the police can't find him - they aren't even sure he exists. Layla knows she only has forty-eight hours to convince the police that bringing in the man she knows only as 'Michael' will clear her name and reveal a dangerous game affecting not just Amy and Layla, but her husband Russell and countless others. But as the detectives begin to uncover the whole truth about what happened to Amy, Layla will soon have to decide: how much of that truth can she really risk being exposed?

St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Weekend - Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets

St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Weekend is taking place from 12 – 14 August 2022.  

We have an homage to Mo Hayder by Nadine Matheson, an expose of rural noir by S.A. Cosby, an evening with Mick Herron (on Slow Horses) and Elly Griffiths (on Cold Comfort Farm).

Peter May is talking about his early influences. 

Ann Cleeves is looking at the Human Geography of Crime.

Philip Gooden has penned our Murder Mystery with roles performed by crime writers, and special prizes to be won.

Plus intriguing and entertaining talks by Imran Mahmood, Abir Mukherjee, Beth Lewis, Greg Buchanan, Leye Adenle, Anna Bailey, Anthony J Quinn, Trevor Wood and William Shaw. 

It is going to be spectacular!

You can book to attend in person, either the whole weekend or just Friday night with Mick and Elly (and a three-course dinner). 

Accommodation is available, and meals can be booked at the college (where the food is delicious and vegan options are available).

The full programme is here.

More details and links to ticket sales can be found here.

Longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022 announced

 

The longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022 has been announced today, with debut authors and literary icons vying for the UK and Ireland’s most coveted crime fiction writing award.

The award, now in its eighteenth year, is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and recognises the best crime novels published in the UK and Ireland in paperback over the past year. This year’s longlist takes readers from the decks of a haunted galleon to the claustrophobia of a psychiatric ward, from a small American town shaken by the disappearance of a young girl to the hedonism and danger of London’s Georgian pleasure gardens.

The longlist sees a number of previous winners hoping to take home the prize once again. Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2022 Programming Chair Denise Mina will look to snatch her third win for The Less Dead, as will Rabbit Hole author Mark Billingham, who took home the inaugural award in 2005 and again in 2009. Chris Brookmyre, who won the 2017 prize, is in the running again with The Cut while Blood Ties author Brian McGilloway, who was highly commended at last year’s prize, is also longlisted. Other prize alumni on the 2022 longlist include four-time shortlistees Elly Griffiths with The Night Hawks and Mick Herron with Slough House, as well as previous longlistees Ann Cleeves with The Heron’s Cry, Erin Kelly with Watch Her Fall, Imran Mahmood with I Know What I Saw, Joseph Knox for True Crime Story, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s Georgian detective novel Daughters of Night, Stuart Turton with genre-bending whodunnit The Devil and the Dark Water, and William Shaw for The Trawlerman.

While some familiar names have returned again this year to compete, the longlist features a number of authors receiving their first chance at the prize. M.W. Craven receives a nod for Dead Ground, while Vaseem Khan is featured for his novel Midnight at Malabar House, set in the turbulent streets of Bombay in 1950. Incredible debut authors in the running for the award include 2021 New Blood panellist Anna Bailey with her taut novel Tall Bones, and Abigail Dean with bestselling debut Girl A.

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022 longlist is comprised of:

Girl A by Abigail Dean (HarperFiction)

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey (Doubleday)

The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)

Blood Ties by Brian McGilloway (Constable)

The Cut by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)

The Less Dead by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)

The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Fiction)

Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly (Hodder & Stoughton)

I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmood (Raven Books)

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox (Doubleday)

Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Mantle/Pan)

Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)

Slough House by Mick Herron (Baskerville)

Dead Ground by W. Craven (Constable)

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton (Raven Books)

Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Trawlerman by William Shaw (riverrun)

Simon Theakston, Executive Director of Theakston, added: “Crime fiction seems to have an enduring popularity with readers, and this year’s longlist is a clear indication as to why. Books from iconic writers and impressive debuts demonstrate the wonderful talent working in the genre today – the public have got a hard job ahead of them voting for a shortlist of only six! We raise a glass of Old Peculier to all the authors on the longlist, and look forward to a celebratory drink with our Award winner in July.”

Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, Sharon Canavar, commented: “We are thrilled to announce the 2022 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, championing the very best crime fiction being published in the UK and Ireland. With a mix of nail-biting psychological thrillers, tense police procedurals and gripping mysteries, this year’s longlist demonstrates the incredible breadth of modern crime fiction. We can’t wait to see which books the public side with during voting, and look forward to revealing the winner at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in July.”

The longlist was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, along with media partners the Express. The award is run by Harrogate International Festivals sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and the Express, and is open to full length crime novels published in paperback 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022 by UK and Irish authors.

The public are now invited to vote for a shortlist of six titles at 

www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com. Voting closes on 26^th May, with the shortlist announced and winner voting opening on 14^th June. 

The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 21^stJuly, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd .