In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Catherine Ryan Howard

Name:- Catherine Ryan Howard

Job:- Author

Website:- https://catherineryanhoward.com

Instagram:- @cathryanhoward

Introduction:-

Catherine Ryan Howard is an award wining author who has been shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel, the UK Crime Writers Association John Creasey/New Blood and Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Awards, and the An Post Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year multiple times. 

Her novels have been included in the New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year, the Washington Post’s Best Mysteries and Thrillers of the Year and the Sunday Times Best Thrillers of the Year. A screen adaptation of her fifth novel 56 Days is due to debut exclusively on Amazon Prime in early 2026. 

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

I’m currently reading Author Unknown: Tales of a Literary Detective by Don Foster and writing what will be my ninth thriller. It’s about ‘stigmatized properties’, i.e. houses with horrible pasts. 

Has any gothic book spooked you and if so which one and why

Despite writing about serial killers for a living, I am a complete coward and so they all do. But I remember very clearly being genuinely disturbed by Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. To quote Joey from Friends, I had to put the book in the freezer. 

Which two gothic writers would you invite to dinner and why?

Shirley Jackson and Mary Shelley, because I think they’d have a fascinating conversation with each other and I could just sit there and listen. 

How do you relax?

Like many of my crime-writing colleagues, I watch, listen to or read a bit of true crime.

Which gothic book do you wish you had written and why?

I wish I had the brains and imagination to produce something like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. 

If you were to write a gothic book where would you set it and why?

Full disclosure: I had a great answer to this question. I started typing it. I went online to check a few details – and fell down a rabbit hole and discovered loads of new things about the place I had in mind that made me think, hmm, maybe I should set a thriller there. So now I can’t tell you about it, sorry! But it’s amazing place… (I tease, I know.) Let’s say instead a big house out in the middle of nowhere that seems to be made completely of glass. I don’t understand how people live in those kinds of houses. Great during the day, yes, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it at night. 

How would you describe your latest published book?

 It’s a thriller about an inexperienced ghostwriter who’s tasked with helping a man accused of murder tell his story of the story, which according to him is that he’s innocent.

With Detecting the Gothic: tales from the Dark Heart of Crime Fiction the theme at St Hilda's this year, which are you three favourite gothic authors or books

Flowers in the Attic by Virginia Andrews, The Shining by Stephen King and Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier aka the classic trio of age-inappropriate childhood reads. 

Which 3 gothic films would you rewatch and why.

The Others (loosely inspired by The Turn of the Screw) and Shutter Island (adapted from Dennis Lehane’s novel) because they both have truly superb twists, and then something lighter like Beetlejuice to calm me down after the trauma of the first two.

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

Me reading the last sentence of my paper, because I’m so nervous about it! But honestly, the whole thing. So many crime writers have told me about their incredible experiences at past weekends and the programme looks absolutely fascinating. I just know it’s going to be a joy. 

Burn After Reading by Catherine Ryan Howard (Transworld Publication) 

A ghostwriter is tasked with capturing the memoirs of a man who might be a murderer and he's ready to confess...The night Jack Smyth ran into flames in a desperate attempt to save his wife from their burning home, he was, tragically, too late - but hailed a hero. Until it emerged that Kate was dead long before the fire began. Suspicion has stalked him ever since. After all, there's no smoke without fire. A year on, he's signed a book deal. He wants to tell his side of the story, to prove his own innocence in print. He just needs someone to help him write it.Emily has never ghostwritten anything before, but she knows what it’s like to live with a guilty secret. And she's about to learn that some stories should never be told .

Information on how to buy online tickets can be found here. The programme can be found here.

#HCFW25

Photograph ©Bríd O’Donovan

 

Remembering Joe Hartlaub [Sept 11 1951 - May 29 2025]

 

Shots Magazine’s editors Mike Stotter and I were devastated to hear the sad news of the passing of Joe Hartlaub, as were so many of us in the crime, mystery and thriller genre.

Apart from one of our Greatest Book Reviewers, specialising in Thriller Fiction, and a writer in his own right - he was a renowned attorney specialising in the Music Industry.

I was first aware of Joe’s reputation in the world of Thriller Fiction from Carol Fitzgerald’s Book Reporter. I enjoyed her weekly emails each and every Saturday Morning in my inbox; always seeking out Joe Hartlaub’s Thriller Picks and his reviews of newly published work.

Click Here, for Bookreporter.com  

I finally got to meet Carol and Joe in the summer of 2006, at International Thrillers’ [ITW] first convention, held at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix in 2006. We were jurors at an event entitled “The Jack Reacher Trial” which featured two attorneys on opposite sides of the mock courtroom, one for the prosecution, and one for the defence of Lee Child’s character [played by the author himself]. The attorneys were played by legal thriller writers who were actually lawyers in their day jobs. I recall one being Paul Levine but sadly my memory fails to recall the second legal thriller writer.  

From that time onwards a friendship blossomed based on our love of all things bibliophilic.

Both Mike Stotter and I would enjoy meeting up with Carol and Joe on our annual excursions across the Atlantic at future Thrillerfests and Bouchercon conventions.

One of the most memorable times being Hat Shopping with Kelli Stanley and Joe in Cleveland Ohio, during Bouchercon 2012, as well as bumping into each other  several times during Bouchercon Indianapolis in 2009.

And the impromptu meeting on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in 2016  

Joe would send me a text message audio recording of himself singing me Happy Birthday. Shortly after learning of his passing, I learned he was sending these little audio clips to many of his friends and colleagues.

They always raised a smile.

Both Mike and I had been in touch with Joe just last month, discussing meeting up during the 2025 Bouchercon in New Orleans this coming September. This city on the Louisiana Bayou was one of Joe’s favourite cities in North America – probably due to its rich music heritage, especially of the Blues. Joe had explained that though excited at the prospect – especially as we’d not seen each other since 2016 – however he said he was a tad ‘under the weather’, but hoped to get better in time for September’s Bouchercon.

Sadly, we heard via Carol Fitzgerald that Joe passed away last week.

Joe’s Obituary is HERE fittingly hosted at The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

“Joe graduated from the University of Akron in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science (Accounting) and obtained a Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron [School of Law] in 1977, when he began a legal career spanning five decades. The majority of his 48 years in practice were devoted to entertainment law, thanks in no small part to Joe's lifelong love of music and the written word. He took great pleasure in helping his clients and worked tirelessly on their behalf. “

Signing off, the obituary closed with Chuck Berry line >

"'C'est la vie,' say the old folks, 'It goes to show you never can tell.'"

The Complete Obituary is HERE

Apart from the memories Joe leaves behind, his blogposts at Kill Zone remain archived and can be accessed HERE and when Joe retired from book reviewing at Bookreporter, in the summer of 2021, Carol Fitzgerald organised a special feature entitled “Hats Off to Joe Hartlaub” in which she asked many writers and colleagues of Joe to write a little about what Joe Hartlaub’s work meant to them – and it’s a fitting tribute to this dear friend and colleague of the world of Thriller Fiction.

It can be accessed HERE

And finally let’s conclude with a song 

Shortlist for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and McDermid Debut Novel announced

SHORTLISTS FOR THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2025 AND McDERMID DEBUT AWARD REVEALED

Celebrating the very best in crime fiction from new discoveries and superstars of the genre 

Festival Dates: 17 – 20 July 2025

www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

#TheakstonsAwards #TheakstonsCrime

Thursday 5 June 2025: Harrogate International Festivals has announced the shortlists for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, and the McDermid Debut Award for new writers. The winners of both awards will be revealed on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July.  

The six books shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, now in its twenty-first year, showcase outstanding storytelling, with some of the most innovative and exciting writers in the UK, Chris Brookmyre, M.W. Craven, Elly Griffiths, Abir Mukherjee, Marie Tierney and Chris Whitaker, competing for the coveted award. The winner, who receives £3,000 and a handmade, engraved oak beer cask provided by T&R Theakston Ltd, will be selected by a panel of seven expert judges, with the public vote representing the eighth judge. Readers are now invited to vote for their favourite book to win at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com.   

Stunning debut novel Deadly Animals by rising starcMarie Tierney, a thriller centred on a roadkill obsessed teenager’s daring quest to unravel the truth behind the string of chilling deaths plaguing her Birmingham community, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award in 2024, is shortlisted alongside books by five highly established writers.

Three former winners are in contention for the award, including 2017 champion Chris Brookmyre who is nominated for his innovative 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. 2021 winner Chris Whitaker is shortlisted for All the Colours of the Dark, a million-copy US-set bestseller exploring the aftermath of a childhood kidnapping that reverberates through the generations, alongside 2023 champion M.W. Craven, nominated for The Mercy Chair, the mesmerising sixth book in the bestselling Washington Poe series, set in Cumbria, where Poe and Tilly face brutal killings that push them to the edges of justice and morality.

Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive seventh shortlisting for The Last Word, a twisty cosy crime murder mystery set at a sinister writers' retreat where two amateur sleuths join forces with detective Harbinder Kaur to investigate the suspicious death of an author. An alumni of the Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel supporting fresh talent, Abir Mukherjee is shortlisted for Hunted, a race-against-the-clock thriller about two parents desperately tracking down their children who are suspected of terrorist atrocities.

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

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

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

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

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker) 

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books, Zaffre) 

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

Commenting on the shortlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025, Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said: 

“Congratulations to all of the highly talented writers shortlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The six thrilling, chilling and hugely entertaining novels on our shortlist highlight the exceptional depth and range of British crime fiction and offer something for every crime fiction fan. We urge readers to get involved and vote for their favourite novels to win the Award - and the iconic beer cask trophy - so have your say today!” 

The shortlist for the McDermid Debut Award, named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, now in its second year, showcases six ‘exciting fresh voices,’ with race, class, the abuse of power and lived experience of disability amongst the topical themes explored across a range of subgenres including psychological thrillers, contemporary country house mysteries, detective fiction and spy thrillers. The award has quickly established a successful track record for discovering emerging talent as inaugural winner, Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney, has been shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025

Acclaimed broadcaster Louise Minchin is shortlisted for Agatha Christie inspired crime novel Isolation Island, set on a remote Scottish island where ten strangers take part in a gruelling reality TV show which turns deadly once a body is discovered. Another shortlisted novel with a Christie-inspired setting is I Died At Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel, a contemporary country house mystery exploring identity, family, race and gender, as dark secrets from the past are unravelled after a young woman’s body is found in a flower bed. 

Featuring an unforgettable female protagonist, Nilesha Chauvet’s post-Me Too thriller Her Two Lives, about a woman who runs a care home by day and hunts down the men who prey on young girls by night, is written with deep psychological insight. Sick to Death by former NHS nurse, Chris Bridges explores the marginalised perspective of a disabled woman who, fed up of being underestimated, becomes a force to be reckoned with when she targets the person standing in the way of her dreams.

Smashing outmoded stereotypes is also a central theme of Sean Watkin’s thriller Black Water Rising, featuring a gay detective out to prove he’s more than just a diversity hire by finding a killer on the loose in Liverpool. Completing the shortlist is A Reluctant Spy by Scottish writer David Goodman, a topical story of mercenaries, greed and corruption about a tech executive forced to act as a trained espionage operative in order to avert a global conflict.

Honouring internationally bestselling crime writer, Val McDermid, who helped to co-found the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2003 and whose dedication to fostering new voices in crime fiction is legendary, this new Award seeks to continue her legacy, celebrating and platforming the best debut crime writers in the UK. The shortlist was selected by a panel of established crime and thriller writers and the winner will be decided by a panel of expert judges, without a public vote. All shortlisted authors receive a full weekend pass to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and the Winner will receive a £500 cash prize. 

Val McDermid said: 

“If, like me, you love reading, you’re always on the lookout for exciting fresh voices. And you need look no further than this talented selection of debut authors who will thrill, excite and intrigue you. Happy Reading!”

The full McDermid Debut Award 2024 shortlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is:  

Sick to Death by Chris Bridges (Avon, Harper Collins)  

I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (No Exit Press, Bedford Square)  

Her Two Lives by Nilesha Chauvet (Faber & Faber)  

A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (Headline)  

Isolation Island by Louise Minchin (Headline, Headline Fiction)  

Black Water Rising by Sean Watkin (Canelo)  

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

“We’re delighted to finally reveal the shortlists for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the McDermid Debut Award, celebrating new talent. It’s exciting to see such a wide range of sub-genres represented across the shortlists, and timely themes tackled with such originality and insight. We are looking forward to celebrating all of these incredible shortlisted writers and their brilliant books at what promises to be an unmissable awards ceremony on the opening night of the Festival.”

025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

 

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Winners of the 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. 

THE 2025 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE WINNERS

The Miller-Martin Award for Best Crime Novel Sponsored by the Boreal Benefactor with a $1000 prize

Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr Strange Light (an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada)

Best Crime First Novel (Sponsored by Melodie Campbell with a $1000 prize)

 Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate, Doubleday Canada

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada Sponsored by Shaftesbury with a $500 prize

As We Forgive Others by Shane Peacock, Cormorant Books

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery Sponsored by Jane Doe with a $500 prize

Black Ice by Thomas King, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Crime Novella Sponsored by Carrick Publishing with a $200 prize

The Windmill Mystery by Pamela Jones, Austin Macauley Publishers

Best Crime Short Story

 “Hatcheck Bingo”, by Therese Greenwood, from The 13th Letter, Mesdames and Messieurs of Mayhem, Carrick Publishing

Best French Language Crime Book

Une mémoire de lion by Guillaume Morrissette, Saint-Jean

Best Juvenile / YA Crime Book Sponsored by Superior Shores Press with a $250 prize

Shock Wave by Sigmund Brouwer,  Orca Book Publishers

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book Sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton) with a $300 prize

It’s a tie!

Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse by Denise Chong, Random House Canada

and 

The Knowing, by Tanya Talaga, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author Sponsored by ECW Press with a $500 prize

Govern Yourself Accordingly by Luke Devlin,

***

About Crime Writers of Canada

Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson and Eric Wright. We thank our sponsors and volunteers, and the many participating publishers, authors and judges for their continued support.

2025 CWA Daggers Shortlist announced

The 2025 shortlist for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, are announced.

Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

The prestigious KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime novel of the year

The shortlist includes the debut novel from Bonnie Burke-Patel’s Died at Fallow Hall, up against established authors in the genre, including RJ Ellory with The Bell Tower, Tana French’s The Hunter, and Attica Locke’s Guide Me Home.

It also features two historical crime books with D.V. Bishop’s A Divine Fury, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.

The shortlist sees Lou Berne’s masterful thriller, Dark Ride, up against previous winner of the Steel Dagger, MW Craven, with Nobody’s Hero. Also making the list are Garry Disher with Sanctuary, Abir Mukherjee’s Hunted, Stuart Neville with Blood Like Mine and the iconic American author, Don Winslow with City in Ruins.

The much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger highlights the best debut novels.

Among the rising stars of 2025 is the debut set in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, Katy Massey’s All of Us Are Sinners. Jessica Bull’s Miss Austen Investigates, Justine Champine’s Knife River, Anders Lustgarten’s Three Burials are also contenders alongside Gay Marris with A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder and Marie Tierney with Deadly Animals.

The Historical Dagger, sponsored by Morgan Witzel in memory of Dr Marilyn Livingstone.

Two novels feature on both the Gold and the Historical Dagger shortlist. DV Bishop’s A Divine Fury is the fourth in the Cesare Aldo series featuring a sixteenth century detective in Florence, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets set in 17th century Italy. 

The shortlist also includes Chris Lloyd: Banquet of Beggars, Clare Whitfield with Poor Girls, and A.J. West, The Betrayal of Thomas True which is set in a London underworld in the year 1710.

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted for these prestigious awards. It’s not only a joy but it’s inspiring to see such a rich variety of stories and voices being celebrated. The 2025 CWA Daggers shortlist is a true reflection of the growing strength of crime writing today. The contributed work of every shortlisted writer is shaping the future of the genre, and their work reminds us why we fell in love with these stories in the first place.”

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski, features the smash-hit, Waterstones Book of the Month, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton.  The queer debut gangland thriller The Night of Baba Yaga from Japan’s Akira Otani also makes the shortlist shortly after winning the 2025 CrimeFest Debut Crime Novel of the Year, sponsored by Specsavers.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes a giant of the genre with John Grisham and Jim McCloskey’s Framed, which looks at ten wrongful convictions, and Kate Summerscale’s retelling of the Christie murders, The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story.

This year sees multiple bestselling names from the genre up for the award including Janice Hallett, and Ruth Ware, up against lesser established names such as the academic and expert on Agatha Christie, J.C Bernthal, with the short story, A Date on Yarmouth Pier.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press against Faber, Orenda, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. 

2025 sees the announcement of two new CWA Dagger Awards. The Twisted Dagger celebrates psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail. 

Shortlisted titles include Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings, Catherine Steadman’s Look in the Mirror, and Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra.

The Whodunnit Dagger celebrates books that focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery. Books in this category include cosy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries. Amongst the six shortlisted authors are Lisa Hall with The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl and Laura Marshall with A Good Place to Hide a Body.

The Dagger in the Library nominee longlist is voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. 

This year’s sees established names including the bestselling phenomenon Richard Osman, the acclaimed Kate Atkinson, JK Rowling’s crime alter-ego Robert Galbraith, the award-winning mystery author Janice Hallett, bestseller Lisa Jewell and author of sixty historical crime novels, Edward Marston.

The Emerging Author Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists and is sponsored by Fiction Feedback, also welcomes six new upcoming authors.

The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. The winner will gain the attention of leading agents and top editors; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2025 was awarded to Mick Herron.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 3 July.

 The Shortlist in Full:

KAA GOLD DAGGER

A Divine Fury by D V Bishop (Macmillan)

The Bell Tower by R J Ellory (Orion)

The Hunter by Tana French (Penguin Books Ltd)

Guide Me Home by Attica Locke (Profile Books Ltd)

 Book of Secrets byAnna Mazzola (Orion)

I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers)

 

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Dark Ride by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)

Nobody's Hero by M W Craven (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)

Sanctuary by Garry Disher (Viper/Profile Books)

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)

Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster)

City in Ruins by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)

 

ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Miss Austen Investigates by Jessica Bull (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)

Knife River by Justine Champine (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)

Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton) 

A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder by Gay Marris (Bedford Square Publishers)         

All Us Sinners by Katy Massey (Little, Brown /Sphere)

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)

 HISTORICAL DAGGER

A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)

Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)

The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)

The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West  (Orenda Books)

Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield (Aries / Head of Zeus)

 

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Dogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis

Going to the Dogs by Pierre Lemaitre (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne

The Night of Baby Yaga by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett

The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö (Zaffre) tr.  Kristian London  

Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton

Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes

 

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 

Unmasking Lucy Letby by Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz (Seven Dials)   

The Lady in the Lake by Jeremy Craddock (Mirror Books)   

Framed by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Hodder & Stoughton)  

The Criminal Mind by Duncan Harding (PRH/Michael Joseph)   

Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming (Quercus)   

The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Circus)   

SHORT STORY DAGGER

‘The Glorious Twelfth’ by S.J Bennett: in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

‘A Date on Yarmouth Pier’ by J.C Bernthal in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

'Why Harrogate?’ by Janice Hallett in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)

‘City Without Shadows’ by William Burton McCormick in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

‘A Ruby Sun’ by Meeti Shroff-Shah in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

‘Murder at the Turkish Baths’by Ruth Ware in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)

WHODUNNIT DAGGER

 A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett, (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)

 Murder at the Christmas Emporium by Andreina Cordani,(Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)

 The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl by Lisa Hall, (Hera Hera)

A Good Place to Hide a Body by Laura Marshall, (Hodder & Stoughton )

 A Matrimonial Murder by Meeti Shroff-Shah, (Joffe Books)

Murder at the Matinee, by Jamie West, (Brabinger Publishing)

TWISTED DAGGER

Emma, Disappeared by Andrew Hughes (Hachette Books Ireland)

Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)

The Stranger In Her House by John Marrs (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)

The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson (Hodder & Stoughton)              

 Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra: (PRH/ Viking)

Look In The Mirror by Catherine Steadman (Quercus)           

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Kate Atkinson

Robert Galbraith

Janice Hallett

Lisa Jewell

Edward Marston

Richard Osman

 

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Bitter Lemon Press

Faber & Faber

Orenda Books

Pan Macmillan

Simon & Schuster

 

EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGER

Bahadur Is My Name by Loftus Brown, 

Funeral Games by Shannon Chamberlain

 Soho Love, Soho Blood by Hywel Davies

Ashland by Joe Eurell

 The Fifth by Shannon Falkson,

Murder Under Wraps by Catherine Lovering, 

 

Fish and Fowl: Categorizing the Genre-Bending Novel

I am a native-born Scot with a Nigerian surname, a US passport and an English accent.  If some librarian of humanity were to place me on the shelf beside my brothers and sisters, where, I wonder, would I be filed?  In the fiction section, perhaps.  Possibly under cryptids.

When it comes to categories, I’m a bit of a nightmare.  And yet it’s a fundamental of human nature that everything must be sorted, catalogued and put into boxes.  A nice, compact label to sum up the entirety of a thing in all its nuanced glory.  Even something as ostensibly descriptive as blonde or brunette is freighted with sub-text.  It is highly unlikely, for instance, that the persons generated in your mind by the previous sentence were male.

Categories are fundamental to who we are for a reason.  We need shortcuts to get us through the day, otherwise the one-and-a-half kilos of fat sheltering behind our eyeballs would cook itself into render.  Imagine going through life treating every pedestrian crossing you come across as something you’ve never seen before; or wondering if the unaccompanied two-year old bawling their eyes out in the park is a lost and frightened child, or merely some very tiny, very upset grown-up.  Life would very quickly grind to a halt.

Publishers, shocking as it may seem, are human too.  When it comes to books, they like to categorise them.  They need to categorise them.  If the reader is looking for a fast-paced thriller, they do not want to wade through historical textbooks on the Serene Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire in order to find one.  That would be . . . not efficient.  So, publishers make it easy.  We have thrillers, and sci-fi, and cosy crime, and romance, and paranormal romance and the list goes on.  Pick your category and start browsing.  Job done.

But the list is not endless.  What if someone has written something that is two or more of these things?  What then?  What bookshelf could possibly be home for a mutant creation like that?

I’m asking for a friend.

This friend likes to write stories.  If he has a great idea for a story, he’ll write it.  But the deluded fool never bothers to think about the type of story he’s writing.  It’s enough for him that it’s a cool story.  He wrote a sci-fi adventure called Braking Day, then a murder mystery called A Quiet Teacher, and a follow-up called Two Times Murder.  And then . . . then he wrote Esperance, a police procedural that turns weird.  About a cop who’s in way over his head, wondering how someone can drown in seawater on the 20^th floor of a Chicago apartment block hundreds of miles from the ocean.  About a woman who materialises out of nowhere in Bristol, England asking questions about a ship that set sail in 1791.  About how each, unknown to the other, has set out on a path where human justice and inhuman crimes will crash into each other with dire consequences.  How does one label a book like that?  On what shelf does it fit?  It is part crime novel, part thriller, part sci-fi, with a dash of historical fiction thrown in for good measure.  Exactly the sort of hot, buttery mess that might be written by a native-born Scot with a Nigerian surname, a US passport and an English accent.

Not that I did, of course.  I’m asking for a friend, remember?

My friend’s publishers have decided to run with “speculative fiction”, by which I think they mean a novel set in the “real” world with science-fiction (“speculative”) elements.  On the other hand, Library Journal in the US described Esperance as “recommended for readers who love intricately blended genre stories that ask big questions”.  And if one were to open up the programme for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, one would find said friend described as, you guessed it, a “crime writer”.  You pays your money and takes your choice, I guess.

Which kind of brings me back to the question we started out with.  On what shelf does one put a native-born Scot with a Nigerian surname, a US passport and an English accent?

So, here’s the thing.  I am not Scottish or Nigerian or American or English.  I am all of these things.  At the same time.  I know, right!  But now we can answer the question.  My librarian of humanity should keep me on all of those shelves.  Everywhere all at once, so to speak.  That way, I’m easy to find and always where I belong.  Similarly, whether the reader happens upon Esperance as speculative fiction, or sci-fi, or crime, or thriller, or anything else, I hope they’ll give it a try, regardless.  It’s a cool story.

Not that I care, really.

I’m only asking for a friend.

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji (Quercus Books) Out now.

An impossible death: Detective Ethan Krol has been called to the scene of a baffling murder: a man and his son, who appear to have been drowned in sea-water. But the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away. An improbable story: Hollie Rogers doesn't want to ask too many questions of her new friend, Abi Eniola. Abi claims to be an ordinary woman from Nigeria, but her high-tech gadgets and extraordinary physical abilities suggest she's not telling the whole truth. An incredible quest: As Ethan's investigation begins to point towards Abi, Hollie's fears mount. For Abi is very much not who she seems. And it won't be long before Ethan and Hollie find themselves playing a part in a story that spans cultures, continents . . . and centuries.

More information about the author and be found on his website.