The longlist for the 2020 UK and Ireland award was announced today.
Now in its 16th year, the longlist for the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has been announced – including a mixture of well established authors and those who have made their debut.
The award, which is presented by Harrogate International Festivals, received a record number of submissions and this highly anticipated longlist of 18 titles includes ten of which were written by women.
This year’s longlist of authors and books nominated are as follows:
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic Books)
Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Abacus)
Nothing Important Happened Today by Will Carver (Orenda Books)
Cruel Acts by Jane Casey (HarperCollins, Harper Fiction)
Blue Moon by Lee Child (Transworld, Bantam)
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan, Macmillan/Pan)
Red Snow by Will Dean (Oneworld, Point Blank)
Platform Seven by Louise Doughty (Faber & Faber)
Worst Case Scenario by Helen Fitzgerald (Orenda Books)
The Lost Man by Jane Harper (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)
Joe Country by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Little, Brown Book Group, Little, Brown)
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Orion Publishing Group, Orion Fiction)
Conviction by Denise Mina (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee (VINTAGE, Harvill Secker)
The Whisper Man by Alex North (Penguin Random House, Michael Joseph)
Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Headline Publishing Group, Wildfire)
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce (Pan Macmillan, Mantle/Pan)
Talking about the announcement, Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston, said: “Year on year, I’m astounded and delighted by how this exceptional genre continues to excel – we were deluged with record submissions and these 18 impressive titles demonstrate the quality and power of contemporary crime fiction. From the familiar faces to the new voices, we are immensely proud of this year’s longlist and raise a virtual glass of Old Peculier to all the authors, and what will be another fierce contest for this much-wanted award.”
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, and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd, the Express, and WHSmith.
The public are now invited to vote for a shortlist of six titles on www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com, which will be announced on 8th June.
Meanwhile, the winner of the award would normally be presented on the opening evening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival as part of Harrogate International Festival Summer Season, which this year was cancelled, with much sadness, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This year, the winner will be announced through a virtual awards ceremony on 31 July, and will receive £3,000, and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.