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23
Jul 2021
Author 'over the moon' after winning Harrogate festival's crime novel of the year
Chris Whitaker went home with the prestigious crime novel of the year award last night after being awarded on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.
The four-day event, organised by the arts charity Harrogate International Festivals, welcomes big names in the crime-writing world.
Mr Whitaker's books We Begin at the End, follows a 13-year-old girl and the local police chief in a Californian town. The book meets them when a murderer is released from prison and returns to their town.
It is a story of crime, punishment, love and redemption - one that Mr Whitaker has been working on for 20 years.
Mr Whitaker came up with the idea for the book after he was stabbed and mugged in North London when he was 19. He said the book came about during a really dark time so he often forgot about it and focused on other projects.
But four years ago he returned to the file on his computer called Duchess, the protagonist's name, and got to work.
He said he couldn't put into words how much this award meant to him. For years he has been visiting Harrogate for thhe Crime Writing Festival never believing one day he would be recognised.
He said it was an "honour" to win the award surrounded by so many of his literary idols.
Mr Whitaker said:
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This is Mr Whitaker's third book. He said he is currently working on crime fiction book and will spend much of the next year promoting We Begin at the End across the world.
The book is currently in development to be made into a film.
The festival continues until Sunday. Special guests include Mark Billingham, Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Mick Herron, Clare Mackintosh, Val Mcdermid and Richard Osman.
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