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12
May 2020
Harrogate's crime writing competition reveals longlist of killer novels for 2020
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has seen a record number of submissions this year as it celebrates the centenary year of Agatha Christie's first novel. Aptly, 10 of the 18 novels in the long list are written by women.
The award is part of the annual Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival which is managed by Harrogate International Festivals. Historically, the winner is announced on the opening evening of the festival but this year the event has been cancelled due to coronavirus.
Instead, the winner will be revealed in a virtual awards ceremony on 31 July, where the author will receive £3,000, and an engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.
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.
Reducing the longlist to a shortlist is now down to a public vote. So if you're a lover of crime fiction and have time on your hands during lockdown - you can read them all and vote for your favourite on: www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com
Here is the long list:
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)
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