Awards News (III) - Theakstons 2017 Shortlist

And finally, the Theakston 2017 Shortlist was also announced on Saturday. From their website:

Six Suspects Announced on the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Shortlist

The shortlist for crime writing’s most wanted accolade, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, has been announced.

The most prestigious prize in the crime genre is now entering its 13th year. The shortlisted six were whittled down from a longlist of 18 titles published by British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between 1 May 2016 and 30 April 2017.

The 2017 Award is run in partnership with title sponsor T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Mail on Sunday.

Essex-based writer Eva Dolan returns to the shortlist for the second year; Tell No Tales was shortlisted in 2016. Her follow-up After You Die is the third book from the author BBC Radio 4 marked as a ‘rising star of crime fiction’. Shortlisted for the CWA Dagger for unpublished authors when she was just a teenager, her debut novel Long Way Home, was the start of a major new crime series starring two detectives from the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit.

Mick Herron’s espionage thriller, Real Tigers, is the third in his Jackson Lamb series. It received critical acclaim, with The Spectator saying the novel ‘explodes like a firecracker in all directions’. The series is based on an MI5 department of ‘rejects’ – intelligent services’ misfits and screw-ups, featuring anti-hero Jackson Lamb. Herron’s writing was praised by critic Barry Forshaw for ‘the spycraft of le Carré refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.’

Lie With Me, the psychological thriller by Sabine Durrant was a Richard and Judy book pick. Durrant, also a feature writer, is a former assistant editor of The Guardian and former literary editor at The Sunday Times. Full of violent twists, her roguish charmer, Paul Morris, a once acclaimed author now living off friends and feeding them lies, is invited on a Greek holiday and events take a sinister turn. The Guardian praised it as a ‘thriller worthy of Ruth Rendell or Patricia Highsmith.’

Susie Steiner is also a former Guardian journalist. Her first crime novel introduces Detective Manon Bradshaw, working on the high profile missing person’s case of Cambridge post-grad Edith Hind, daughter of Sir Ian and Lady Hind. Can DS Manon Bradshaw wade through the evidence before a missing person inquiry becomes a murder investigation? Missing, Presumed, was a Sunday Times bestseller, a Richard & Judy pick and was praised for its stylish, witty and compelling writing.

Chris Brookmyre beat stiff competition to win the Scottish crime book of the year award with his novel, Black Widow, a story of cyber-abuse, where ‘even the twists have twists’. It features his long-time character, reporter Jack Parlabane. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that she had been given the novel as an early Valentine’s Day present by her husband, declaring it ‘brilliant’.

Val McDermid, acknowledged as the ‘Queen of Crime’ has sold over 15m books to date. Her latest number one bestseller, Out of Bounds, features DCI Karen Pirie unlocking the mystery of a 20 year-old murder inquiry. The book is her 30th novel.

The shortlist was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee.

The titles will now be promoted in a seven-week promotion in over 1,500 libraries and WHSmith stores nationwide throughout June and July.

The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 14 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 20 July on the opening night of the 15th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. They’ll receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.

It’s also been announced that the awards night will honour Lee Child. The Jack Reacher creator will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Val McDermid, Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2017 - Longlist

It feels like summer's on its way when the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year longlist appears!
From the press release:

Now in its 13th year, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction and is open to UK and Irish crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2016 to 30 April 2017.
We are delighted to share with you the 18 titles that have made their way onto this year’s longlist!

Mark Billingham - DIE OF SHAME
Christopher Brookmyre - BLACK WIDOW
Lee Child - NIGHT SCHOOL
Eva Dolan - AFTER YOU DIE
Sabine Durrant - LIE WITH ME
Mick Herron - REAL TIGERS
Sarah Hilary - TASTES LIKE FEAR
Antonia Hodgson - THE LAST CONFESSION OF THOMAS HAWKINS
Val McDermid - OUT OF BOUNDS
Alex Marwood - THE DARKEST SECRET
Peter May - COFFIN ROAD
Stuart Neville - THOSE WE LEFT BEHIND
Ian Rankin - EVEN DOGS IN THE WILD
Craig Robertson - MURDERABILIA
William Shaw - THE BIRDWATCHER
Susie Steiner - MISSING, PRESUMED
Ruth Ware - THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10
David Young - STASI WOLF

The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 20 May, followed by a seven-week promotion in libraries and WHSmith stores nationwide from 1 June.

The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 14 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 20 July on the opening night of the 15th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 Shortlist & CWA Dagger Longlists

Catching up with recent short- and longlist announcements...

The shortlist for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 has been announced.

In addition: "Val McDermid will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill."

Time Of Death – Mark Billingham
Career Of Evil – Robert Galbraith
Tell No Tales – Eva Dolan
Disclaimer – Renee Knight
I Let You Go – Clare Mackintosh
Rain Dogs – Adrian McKinty

"The overall winner will be decided by a panel of Judges, alongside the public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk."

Read more about the shortlisted titles at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival website.

At CrimeFest, the longlists for the ten CWA Daggers were announced. I've borrowed this handy summary from Dead Good Books.

The CWA Dagger longlists 2016


Goldsboro Gold Dagger, sponsored by Goldsboro Books:

Dodgers by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
Black Widow by Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
After You Die by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)
Real Tigers by Mick Herron (John Murray)
Finders Keepers by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
Dead Pretty by David Mark (Mulholland Books)
Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina (Orion)
She Died Young by Elizabeth Wilson (Serpent’s Tail)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications:

The Cartel by Don Winslow (William Heinemann)
The English Spy by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins)
Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay (Corvus)
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)
Real Tigers by Mick Herron (John Murray)
The Hot Countries by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Crime)
Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Hearberlin (Michael Joseph)
Make Me by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
Spy Games by Adam Brookes (Sphere)
The American by Nadia Dalbuono (Scribe UK)

John Creasey New Blood Dagger:

Fever City by Tim Baker (Faber & Faber)
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
Mr Miller by Charles Den Tex (World Editions)
The Teacher by Katerina Diamond (Avon)
Wicked Game by Matt Johnson (Orenda Books)
Freedom’s Child by Jax Miller (HarperCollins)
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (Jonathan Cape)
The Dark Inside by Rod Reynolds (Faber & Faber)
The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle (Viking)

International Dagger:

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango, trans. by Imogen Taylor (Simon & Schuster)
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaître, trans. by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press)
Icarus by Deon Meyer, trans. by by K L Seegers (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Sword of Justice by Leif G.W. Persson, trans. by Neil Smith (Doubleday)
The Murderer in Ruins by Cay Rademacher, trans. by Peter Millar (Arcadia)
The Father by Anton Svensson, tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel (Sphere)
The Voices Beyond by Johan Theorin, trans. by Marlaine Delargy (Transworld)
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, trans. by Jonathan Lloyd-Davis (Quercus)

Non-Fiction Dagger:

The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
Sexy Beasts: The Inside Story of the Hatton Garden Mob by Wensley Clarkson (Quercus)
You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life (You Are Raoul Moat) by Andrew Hankinson (Scribe)
A Very Expensive Poison by Luke Harding (Faber & Faber)
Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant (John Murray)
John le Carré: The Biography by Adam Sisman (Bloomsbury)

Dagger in the Library:

RC Bridgestock, published by Caffeine Nights
Tony Black, published by Black & White
Alison Bruce, published by Constable & Robinson
Angela Clarke, published by Avon
Charlie Flowers, published by Endeavour Press
Elly Griffiths, published by Quercus
Keith Houghton, published by Thomas & Mercer
Quintin Jardine, published by Headline
Louise Phillips, published by Hachette
Joe Stein, published by Ward Wood

Short Story Dagger:

‘As Alice Did’ from Montalbano’s First Case and Other Stories by Andrea Camilleri (Pan Macmillan)
‘On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier’ from Nocturnes 2: Night Music by John Connolly (Hodder and Stoughton)
‘Holmes on the Range: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository’ from Nocturnes 2: Night Music by John Connolly (Hodder and Stoughton)
‘Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman’ from London’s Glory by Christopher Fowler (Bantam)
‘Stray Bullets’ from Crimes by Alberto Barrera Tyszka (MacLehose Press)
‘Rosenlaui’ by Conrad Williams from The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty, ed. by Maxim Jakubowski (Constable & Robinson)

Debut Dagger:

Dark Valley by John Kennedy
Death by Dangerous by Oliver Jarvis
The Devil’s Dice by Roz Watkins
Hardways by Catherine Hendricks
Let’s Pretend by Sue Williams
Misconception by Jack Burns
A Reconstructed Man by Graham Brack
A State of Grace by Rita Catching
The Tattoo Killer by Joe West
Wimmera by Mark Brandi

Endeavour Historical Dagger, sponsored by Endeavour Press:

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby (Pan Books)
A Death in the Dales by Frances Brody (Piatkus)
A Man of Some Repute and A Question of Inheritance by Elizabeth Edmondson (Thomas & Mercer)
Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
The Last Confessions of Thomas Hawkins by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Other Side of Silence by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
A Book of Scars by William Shaw (Quercus)
The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith (Lion Fiction)
Striking Murder by A. J. Wright (Allison & Busby)
Stasi Child by David Young (Twenty7Books)

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2016 - Longlist

The longlist for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year 2016 has been announced; taken from their website:

Now in its twelfth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2015 to 18 April 2016.

The 2016 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Radio Times.

The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.

The longlist in full:

Time of Death by Mark Billingham, Little Brown

Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty, Serpent’s Tail

Career of Evil, Robert Galbraith, Sphere

Black Eyed Susans, Julia Heaberlin, Michael Joseph

Disclaimer, Renée Knight, Black Swan

I Let You Go, Clare Mackintosh, Sphere

The Moth Catcher, Ann Cleeves, Pan

Tell No Tales, Eva Dolan, Harvill Secker

The Ghost Fields, Elly Griffiths, Quercus

The Missing and the Dead, Stuart MacBride, Harper Fiction

Every Night I Dream of Hell, Malcolm Mackay, Mantle

Splinter the Silence, Val McDermid, Little, Brown

The Glorious Heresies, Lisa McInerney, John Murray Publishers

The Nightmare Place, Steve Mosby, Orion Fiction

The Final Silence, Stuart Neville, Harvill Secker

In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware, Harvill Secker

Death is a Welcome Guest, Louise Welsh, John Murray Publishers

Stasi Child, David Young, Twenty7

From 21 April, longlisted titles will feature in a six-week campaign across all 300 WHSmith stores and 80 library services, representing a total of 1645 library branches.

The shortlist of six titles will be announced on 31 May, followed by a seven-week promotion in libraries and WHSmiths.

The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

Previous winners of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award include Denise Mina, Val McDermid, and Sarah Hilary.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 21 July on the opening night of the 14th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 - Winner

Not content with being the Euro Crime favourite read of 2014, Sarah Hilary has also won the (Harrogate) Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 for Someone Else's Skin.

Also shortlisted:

The Facts Of Life And Death by Belinda Bauer, Black Swan
The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin, Mantle
The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths, Quercus
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton
Entry Island by Peter May, Quercus

Read more at BBC News.

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 Shortlist & CWA Dagger Longlists

The shortlist for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 has been announced.

In addition "Sara Paretsky, will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill".

Read more about each title in the Harrogate News:

The Facts Of Life And Death by Belinda Bauer, Black Swan
The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin, Mantle
The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths, Quercus
Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary, Headline
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton
Entry Island by Peter May, Quercus

Also today longlists have been announced for the Gold, John Creasey and Ian Fleming CWA Daggers. The shortlists will be announced on 30 June.

From Booktrade:

CWA GOLDSBORO GOLD DAGGER LONGLIST

The Shut Eye - Belinda Bauer/Transworld Publishers/Bantam Press

The Rules of Wolfe - James Carlos Blake/Oldcastle Books/No Exit Press

The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith/Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere

Missing - Sam Hawken Profile Books/Serpent's Tail

Mr Mercedes - Stephen King/Hodder & Stoughton/Hodder & Stoughton

Pleasantville - Attica Locke/Profile Books/Serpent's Tail

The Bone Seeker - M.J. McGrath/Pan Macmillan/Mantle

The Serpentine Road - Paul Mendelson/Little, Brown Book Group/Constable

Life or Death - Michael Robotham/Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere

The Kind Worth Killing - Peter Swanson/Faber and Faber/ at Bloomsbury House


CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER LONGLIST

The Abrupt Physics of Dying - Paul E Hardisty/Orenda Books

Dear Daughter - Elizabeth Little/Vintage Publishing, Penguin Random House/Harvill Secker

Dry Bones in the Valley - Tom Bouman/Faber and Faber

Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng/Little, Brown Book Group

Fourth of July Creek - Smith Henderson/Random House/William Heinemann

The Girl in the Red Coat - Kate Hamer/Faber and Faber

The Killing of Bobbi Lomax - Cal Moriarty/Faber and Faber

The Well - Catherine Chanter/Canongate Books

You - Caroline Kepnes/Simon & Schuster


CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL LONGLIST

No Safe House - Linwood Barclay/Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction

The Defence - Steve Cavanagh/Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction

The Stranger - Harlan Coben/Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction

Missing - Sam Hawken/Profile Books/Serpent's Tail

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins/Transworld Publishers/Doubleday

Nobody Walks - Mick Herron/Soho Crime/ Soho Crime

The White Van - Patrick Hoffman/Atlantic Books Ltd/Grove Press

The Final Minute Simon Kernick/Random House/Century

Runner - Patrick Lee/Penguin/Michael Joseph

The Night The Rich Men Burned - Malcolm Mackay/Pan Macmillan/Mantle

Cop Town - Karin Slaughter/Random House/Century

The Kind Worth Killing - Peter Swanson/Faber and Faber

Heartman - M.P. Wright/Black & White Publishing

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 - Longlist

The press release revealing the longlist for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year 2015 (with links to Euro Crime reviews):

2015 THEAKSTONS OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR LONGLIST REVEALED

Giants of the genre are pitted against a clutch of new voices in one of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country.

The longlist for the 2015 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award sees stalwarts Ian Rankin, Lee Child and John Harvey in the running.

Rankin and Child battle it out, each with their 19th novels in the iconic Rebus and Reacher series. Lee Child’s number one global bestseller Personal takes on Rankin’s Saints of the Shadow Bible, which brought Rebus back from retirement.

John Harvey’s Darkness, Darkness could be a swan song for the gong with Resnick’s last case, 25 years after the Detective Inspector’s first appearance.

2014 winner Belinda Bauer is back on the list with The Facts of Life and Death, a chilling story where lone women are terrorised in a game where only one player knows the rules.

Taking on the old guard is the debut that threatens to be “as big as Jo Nesbo”. The electrifying serial killer thriller, Eeny Meeny from M.J. Arlidge features the tough, determined and damaged DI Helen Grace.

Other debuts include the TV and film scriptwriter Ray Celestin’s The Axeman's Jazz, a stunning atmospheric crime thriller set in 1919 New Orleans, inspired by a real life serial killer, and Sarah Hilary’s compelling first thriller, Someone Else's Skin, which received critical acclaim for being superbly disturbing, twisty and tricksy.

Disappeared is Irish journalist Anthony Quinn’s first novel, set in a dark corner of Northern Ireland where the Troubles have never ended. And Antonia Hodgson’s debut, The Devil in the Marshalsea also makes the list with her medieval murder mystery.

Child 44 author Tom Rob Smith appears with his fourth novel, Number One bestseller The Farm, an utterly riveting and hypnotic psychological thriller part-set in Sweden. Scottish author Louise Welsh delivers with her first apocalyptic thriller in her Plague Times trilogy, A Lovely Way to Burn.

Now in its eleventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in British and Irish crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2014 to 30 April 2015. The 2015 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and Radio Times.

The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.

The longlist in full:

Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge, Michael Joseph
The Facts Of Life And Death by Belinda Bauer, Black Swan
The Ghost Runner by Parker Bilal, Bloomsbury
The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter, Fig Tree
The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin, Mantle
Personal by Lee Child, Bantam
The Killing Season by Mason Cross, Orion Fiction
Bryant & May - The Bleeding Heart by Christopher Fowler, Bantam
The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths, Quercus
The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah, Hodder & Stoughton
Darkness, Darkness by John Harvey, Arrow
Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary, Headline
The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton
Entry Island by Peter May, Quercus
Disappeared by Anthony Quinn, Head of Zeus
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin, Orion Fiction
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith, Simon & Schuster
A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh, John Murray Publishers

From 21 May to 17 June, longlisted titles will feature in a four-week campaign across all 600 WHSmith stores and 80 library services, representing a total of 1645 library branches. The longlist will be whittled down to a shortlist of six titles which will be announced on 15 June. The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, which this year comprises of Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd. and title sponsor Simon Theakston, Festival Chair Ann Cleeves, Radio Times’ TV Editor Alison Graham, Head of Fiction at WHSmith, Sandra Bradley and Producer of the Radio 2 Book Club, Joe Haddow, as well as members of the public.

The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 13 July at www.theakstons.co.uk

Previous winners of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award include Denise Mina, Lee Child, Val McDermid, and Mark Billingham.

The winner of the prize will be announced by title sponsor Simon Theakston at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster and Festival regular Mark Lawson on 16 July on the opening night of the 13th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Award News: Theakstons...and the winner is...

The winner of the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year has just been announced and it's Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer.

THEAKSTONS CRIME NOVEL AWARD SHORTLIST

Rubbernecker - Belinda Bauer - winner

The Red Road - Denise Mina

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter - Malcolm Mackay

The Chessmen - Peter May

Dying Fall - Elly Griffiths

Eleven Days - Stav Sherez

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2014 - Shortlist

The shortlist for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2014 has been announced. From the BBC's website (links are to Euro Crime reviews):

THEAKSTONS CRIME NOVEL AWARD SHORTLIST

The Red Road - Denise Mina

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter - Malcolm Mackay

The Chessmen - Peter May

Rubbernecker - Belinda Bauer

Dying Fall - Elly Griffiths

Eleven Days - Stav Sherez

The award is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback in the last year.

The winner will be decided by a panel, chaired by writer Steve Mosby, which includes Simon Theakston, the executive director of Theakston; Radio Times' Alison Graham and Dave Swillman, head of fiction at WH Smith.

A public vote will also be included in the final decision.

Broadcaster Mark Lawson will host the awards on the opening night of the 12th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on 17 July.

The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize - as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel.

Also on the night, Lynda La Plante will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.

Harrogate Crime Writing Festival

Awards News: Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2014 - Longlist

The press release revealing the longlist for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year 2014:

2014 THEAKSTONS OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR LONGLIST REVEALED

Giants of the genre are pitted against each other as the longlist is announced for the tenth Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

One of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country, 2014 sees past winners Lee Child, Mark Billingham and Denise Mina in the running.

Lee Child who won the Award in 2011 returns to the longlist with his 17th Jack Reacher novel, A Wanted Man. Sizing up to the phenomenal bestseller is two-time award winner, Mark Billingham for his Tom Thorne novel, The Dying Hours.

Denise Mina, who has won the past two years’ could make it a hat trick and defend her title with her brilliantly plotted The Red Road, said to rival Ian Rankin’s best. Number one bestseller Ian Rankin also represents Tartan Noir, with Standing in Another Man’s Grave, his first new Rebus novel in five years.

A new Scot is on the block to take on the old guard, Malcolm Mackay is one of two debut authors to feature on the longlist with The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter. The first in a trilogy, it’s been praised as an intriguingly odd, remarkably original debut.

South African author Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls was a phenomenal bestseller and after being praised by Stephen King, it’s a hot contender.

Irish author Stuart Neville’s first three novels were previously longlisted for this award, and he’s back this year with his hugely gripping thriller, Ratlines. Stav Sherez is also back on the longlist with Eleven Days, his superior police procedural and sequel to A Dark Redemption.

No stranger to awards Belinda Bauer is the CWA 2010 Gold Dagger Award-winning author; her latest novel Rubbernecker has received glowing reviews.

Elly Griffiths also makes an appearance with her intriguing crime story, Dying Fall, which effortlessly brings together neo-Nazis, New Age hippies in Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Now in its tenth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014. The 2014 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and Radio Times.

The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.

The longlist in full:

Rubbernecker, Belinda Bauer, Transworld Publishers

The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes, HarperCollins

The Dying Hours, Mark Billingham, Little, Brown Book Group

Like This, For Ever, Sharon Bolton, Transworld Publishers

A Wanted Man Lee Child, Transworld Publishers

The Honey Guide, Richard Crompton, Orion

The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald, Faber & Faber

Dying Fall, Elly Griffiths, Quercus

Until You're Mine, Samantha Hayes, Random House

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, Malcolm Mackay, Pan Macmillan

The Chessmen, Peter May, Quercus

I Hear The Sirens In The Street, Adrian McKinty, Profile Books

The Red Road, Denise Mina, Orion

Ratlines, Stuart Neville, Vintage, Random House

Standing in Another Man's Grave, Ian Rankin, Orion

Children of the Revolution, Peter Robinson, Hodder & Stoughton

Eleven Days, Stav Sherez, Faber & Faber

Weirdo Cathi Unsworth, Profile Books

From 22 May to 19 June, longlisted titles will feature in a four-week campaign across all 600 WHSmith stores and 80 library services, representing a total of 1645 library branches. The longlist will be whittled down to a shortlist of six titles which will be announced on 30 June.

The overall winner will be decided by a panel of Judges which this year comprises of Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd. and title sponsor Simon Theakston, Festival Chair Steve Mosby, Radio Times’ Alison Graham, and Head of Fiction at WHSmith, Dave Swillman, as well as members of the public. The public vote opens on 3 July and closes 15 July at www.theakstons.co.uk

Previous winners of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award include Denise Mina, Lee Child, RJ Ellory, Val McDermid, Allan Guthrie, Stef Penney and Mark Billingham.

The winner of the prize will be announced by title sponsor Simon Theakston at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster and Festival regular Mark Lawson on 17 July on the opening night of the 12th annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Very Special Guest at Harrogate - J K Rowling as Robert Galbraith

The Theakston's Crime Writing Festival at Harrogate has just announced that J K Rowling will be appearing at this year's event...:

We are delighted to announce that J.K. Rowling, new to the crime genre under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, will be on the Harrogate stage with bestselling crime writer Val McDermid for a unique In Conversation event this July. This special event will take place at 7.30pm on Friday 18 July at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, and will be J.K Rowling’s first and only appearance this year as Robert Galbraith.* The Silkworm, featuring the return of private investigator Cormoran Strike, will be published in hardback by Little, Brown on 19 June 2014. McDermid said of Galbraith’s first crime novel – ‘The Cuckoo’s Calling reminds me why I fell in love with crime fiction in the first place’.

Rowling/Galbraith, and McDermid join an already stellar list of names, which includes the likes of Ann Cleeves, Sophie Hannah, Lynda LaPlante, Laura Lippman, Peter May, Denise Mina, Steve Mosby and S.J.Watson. The Festival dates are 17-20 July 2014, so block out these dates and join us for one long criminally good weekend.

Blurb: When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, she just thinks he has gone off by himself for a few days - as he has done before - and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realises. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were published it would ruin lives - so there are a lot of people who might want to silence him.

And when Quine is found brutally murdered in bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any he has encountered before . . .

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, The Silkworm is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant Robin Ellacott.

My final words on Harrogate 2012

I've finished writing up all the panels I went to at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival 2012. You can read these here. I've added photos to the earlier posts including the Crime Novel of the Year ceremony (and a photo of Colin Dexter).

The programming chair (for 2013) returns to Val McDermid who did the first few years. Already announced are: Kate Atkinson, Charlaine Harris, Susan Hill and Ruth Rendell interviewed by Jeanette Winterson.

Hopefully half the authors invited will be women rather than just under a third as in 2012.

The dates for 2013 are 18-21 July.

(In case you're eager to know about the quiz - I joined the Crimesquad team (Agatha Christie's Pearl Necklace team name) and we came second by one point.)

Harrogate - Jo Nesbo

And the final event of the weekend was the interview of Jo Nesbo. The queue was enormous and stretched all through the hotel.

The Harry Hole books in the correct order.

From the programme
Unarguably the star of the current Scandinavian crime scene, Norwegian Jo Nesbo has become one of the best-selling crime writers in the world, with two of his books selling every minute. This success can only increase with the latest Harry Hole thriller, Phantom and Martin Scorcese set to direct a film adaptation of his earlier bestseller The Snowman. There could be no better way to round off this year’s festival than with rock star and crime writing phenomenon Nesbo, in conversation with BBC Radio 4 Front Row’s Mark Lawson.

My notes:

JN wasn't going to come to Harrogate as in Italy but Mark Billingham forced him. He is able to write in airports, on planes and trains. Often pleased when planes delayed! He can write almost anywhere. Bought an apartment to write in and it is the one place he can't. He just needs coffee and music and he's ok.

Jo Nesbo pronounced (I think) Yo Nesboo.

He wasn't full of beans when he found out that Jo was thought to be a girl's name, Jo's not man's name.

He then told a story of when he was in Manilla and saw his books on the shelf in a bookshop. He offered to sign them but shop assistant very suspicious and asked for id. When buying some books, she said I'm sorry without your id we cannot give you writers' discount!

Harry Hole name is based on the police officer in the his village where his grandmother lived. He never saw Hole but grandmother would say Hole would get you if you don't go to bed. He met Hole many years later at a funeral and when chap said he was Hole, JN's first thought - but it isn't 8pm yet.

JN's father grew up in NY and called him Jo not Yo.

[discussion about out of order publication of his books in English] - chaos, randomly published (by Random House!)

Gets a number of emails from people saying they won't read them until get them all in order - sales will take off!!

The first book, The Bat (The Batman) is set in Australia. Wasn't a conscious decision and no idea it would get published. Saw friends trying to write literary novels and failing so decided to write something simple as first novel. Used to writing lyrics and short stories and as he was going to Australia for 5 weeks came up with crime story. Arrived jet lagged and went to hotel (where HH also stays!) and started writing. After 5 weeks had first draft of novel finished. He wrote it so quickly he told publishing house it took a year and a half to write.

HH just came out on page. Planned to send it to publishing house and get polite refusal and keep on writing. Didn't plan as a series. Second novel took long time to think how to include Harry as he wasn't a fully developed character until The Redbreast. Then he knew who he was and found sides to his character. The Batman based on aboriginal myth, half man half bat, ancient symbol of the devil.

Used many clichés of hard boiled detective with contradictions in character - single but romantic, inspired by Frank Miller/Sin City which embraced cliches. Wanted to get to who he was.

[Book two] The Cockroaches set in Bangkok was inspired by Ray Bradbury short stories. Inspired to have readers travel to places never been ie not London, NYC.

Didn't sell rights of first two as strange enough to have Norwegian detective let alone one working in Sydney.

Optimism going forward vs pessimism of WW2. When he was 15 he found out his Mum's family worked for resistance and father fought along with Germans. After the war he spent 3 years in jail. How was the wedding?! Incomprehensible that his father wore a German Helmet, the symbol of evil. Became close to father after speaking to him about it. Father raised in US, came back anti-communist. He said that prison was fair for being as wrong as he was. The Redbreast is his father's story - injured went to Austria, trenches stories from dad. Dad's friends shot in room whilst he slept. There are Norwegians descended from Nazi's breeding programme.

Norway is a young country. After WW2 wanted to say that they had a strong resistance but probably didn't.

[talking about the Utoya/Oslo tragedy] Norwegians do live in paradise but sometimes door opens and something comes in. He was in Oslo on a climbing rope at the time of the explosion and so didn't feel it. Felt weird and then with the news of Utoya it got unreal.

Will there be an impact like 22/7 or 9/11 on fiction?
He had no following so not the same, may be accepted as a tragedy, a natural catastrophe in time.

Trends in his books but are enlarged in fiction eg neo-nazis there since 70s but not a movement that will affect society politically. Norwegians not anti bankers like in Britain (or anti lawyers).

Scorcese film [of The Snowman] will go ahead so long as he stays healthy! There's a first draft of the script he thinks - tries to keep far from it - easy as they don't tell him anything! Dicaprio favourite to star as HH.

ML asks the killer question - you've been writing a HH about one every two years, is that still the case? JN says have you read Phantom? Is is a trick question? Fans will be pleased to hear that there will be another Harry Hole book.

Answers to questions from the audience:

Music has impacted his writing and his generation of writers maybe more than literature. Harry not a big fan of his band though!

All his all favourite writers are dead. What would he ask them? - Why do they write?

How similar is he to HH? Initially no similarities, didn't plan to be him but writing more about self as time goes on. There's a good deal of him in HH.

Latest book is a crime book for children, wasn't important that it was a crime story.

Why do you write? He likes the attention when people come up and say loved your novel. But this wouldn't make you become a writer as the likelihood of it happening is so small. We write because we read.

The end of HH is in his mind but not yet written. No resurrection though.

Phantom is bleak but not as depressing as first chapter of The Devil's Star. Got depressed and had to rewrite chapter a couple of time. Had to take 6 months off after writing TDS, Couldn't face writing Harry. Phantom based on research for The Redeemer.

Headhunters was an enjoyable book to write. Usually plan, write synopsis, but woke up with the idea and wrote it in 2 months.

Jackpot film - based on draft for a story he wrote a few years ago: 4 guys in a room, last working class guys in Oslo! Bet on a football game and win but cannot divide winnings equally as all need it more than others. Each plans to kill the other three!

He has experience with alcoholism amongst friends but can't generalise problem. If you do to much research you end up with general view rather than individual.

Consciously influenced by Sjowall and Wahloo - all writers are even if not aware of it.

Never has an agenda to focus on political issue but cannot write without politics.

[and the last question]

If you could have been a rockstar or a famous crime writer - which would you choose?

[pause]

What do you mean, I am!

Also do read Mrs Peabody's account of the interview.

Harrogate - 50 Different Words For Murder

The first of two panels on the final day, the ones I'd been eagerly awaiting:

From the Programme:
With crime fiction from around the world as popular as ever, we ask four overseas authors what, if anything, is lost in translation. Writing originally in Swedish, Spanish and Afrikaans, Camilla Lackberg, Antonio Hill, Deon Meyer and Liza Marklund will tell Barry Forshaw just how much of their work is filtered or coloured by their translator. How much involvement do they have in the translations? And crucially…will we ever get tired of Scandinavian crime fiction?

My notes:

If LM is Godmother of Swedish crime fiction what does that make Maj Sjowall? LM's granny!

BF says that DM is the best crime writer in Afrikaans. DM said that it was a huge honour to be here, thank you Theaksons.

CL's latest book is The Drowning.

AH - poetic title (The Summer of Dead Toys) but kind of creepy, only book so no problem with being translated out of order, set in a very hot Barcelona.

CL is a celebrity for her private life eg being on the Swedish version of Strictly; her personal life was a gossip item 4 years ago complaining about media, got revenge by attacking reality tv in The Stonecutter/The Stranger.

BF asked LM - do we get right image of Scandinavia from her books? Scandinavians like to think were the best and that the problem with the rest of the world was that they are not Scandinavian. LM wanted to covered issues like abused women/children so wrote crime novels about these issues.

BF says Afrikaans has 87 years left. That's enough for DM! DM's English not as impeccable as his Afrikaans mother tongue, which is a beautiful and varied language.

BF: Translators so grateful to be included in Death in a Cold Climate. CL's books are shared between husband and wife team Steven T Murray and Tiina Nunnally. She's never got into how they do that! They are good at emailing her. She rarely hears from translators.

AH has been a translator so knows process.

LM works closely with (translator) Neil Smith, rework US edition quite a lot.

Translators object to editors changing US to British English (or vice-versa) as it's a whole way of thinking not just the language. DM: British people know more about South Africa than Americans as they only know America. DM's US editions have extra paragraphs or chapters to explain.

AH Read English translation (by Laura McGoughlin) and dialogue was very good, she got the rhythm.

CL & LM are huge in Germany, pictures everywhere. CL wearing angel wings! It's really easy to persuade her to get into angel wings! Been a ghost, dead floating body - crazy campaigns for her books.

LM read everything - raised close to Arctic circle (so not much to do) read Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Maj Sjowall.

DM sees self as ambassador for SA and try to rectify misconceptions about SA. "Once a time you couldn't have a sympathetic white cop" changed after apartheid.

LM - you never find crime novels in dictatorships.

CL likes contrast between everyday life (everyday dramas) and dead bodies, hideous murders.

Legacy of Franco hangs heavy. AH not so young (he says0 lived under it for 9 years.

The panel hoped they were translated due to quality of book not ease with which name can be pronounced in English.

AH was asked to change his name in Germany as not Spanish enough - add an extra letter - but he refused.

Translators clean up LM in German editions. make Annika more polite. Usually you spend several hours for your author portrait - look nice and then German publisher says we need ugly pictures - want author to look like girl next door, roots showing. DM doesn't have this problem and wife think he looks like Brad Pitt anyway!

Annika is an incarnation of LM that makes every mistake but gets away with it. Women are human beings even if not treated like that. LM likes to be a bit Annika if pushed around. We should all be a bit Annika.

CL: didn't want Erica to be her but writes better about her when she writes about her own experiences. Over time Erica is 50% her. Patrik is based on her ex-husband who was a tax economist but she is now married to policeman.

AH's main character is a melancholic, normal guy unless he gets angry! He beats 1 man up but he deserved it and he is the big brother he would like to have.

BF asked DM which of your characters do you like best? He tries to make them different - question is like being asked to choose your favourite child!. He misses them, as characters become like  friends/family and worries about them and make stories up about what they're doing.

LM wrote about union leaders going to strip club as don't have many scandals in Sweden so have to treasure them.

The Ice Princess started with that image of woman in frozen bath. Got title and story built from that image.

AH had an image of girl in swimming pool surrounded by broken toys - made up whole story to explain this image.

DM - press us very free in SA. Took a while to get used to. Dangerous to write a crime novel trying to make a political point as you may lose readers.

LM writes political novels.

CL doesn't think highly of British press - glad that Swedish press isn't as curious. Tabloids are generally nicer than the UK ones.

DM - some of UK press is the best in the world, some is worst.

AH - journalist write scandals about each other in Spain.

BF asked about sex scenes...

LM tries to write them from a male pov.

CL can't make herself write sex scenes as picture of mum & mother-in-law in her head.

DM - Afrikaans of Cape Flats very specific way of speaking but cannot translate (very musical).

CL - get many questions on Scandinavian crime - analyse the success and why they're so good at it; why do people like reading about Scandinavian countries?

Assassinations (Palme & Lind) were a wake up call pulled them into rest of world. Sweden has problems like any other country, not all tall and blonde. A Kennedy moment when Olaf Palme killed. LM said Sweden was 50 years ahead in 1950s as weren't in wars.

Why are Latin countries not as popular. Climate? AH - show we can kill, don't need snow. Not a long tradition of crime fiction in Spain most papers won't review crime fiction.

Corruption endemic theme in all books. No worse in SA than UK, UK politicians "cook the books" (DM). CL said Swedish politicians aren't as colourful or don't hear about it. Now economic scandals as sexual scandals are not scandals any more!

Literary reviewers think CLs books are written in too everyday language and so put their success abroad down to really good translators. LM said Scandi books not better but have a spotlight on a whiter society and spots are darker;the contrast is bigger in Scandi society.

CL - people are curious about Sweden.

LM in Germany always gets question - why did you start with 4th book - only gets that in Germany!! (could be out of order translation or down to the fact that her first book The Bomber is a later one chronologically)

CL in Italy - got so many questions abut Patrik staying at home looking after baby. Convinced a large audience of women that it was a good idea.

DM - email feedback is about the books but when on tour is asked abut country.

AH get different questions about woman character, depending on country - too sexually liberated for some.

DM - 85% of crime is domestic and drug/alcohol related.

LZ - theme is power, in all novels, and stories around that.

DM - vast majority of crime is in disadvantaged communities.

Question from audience about British authors writing about their countries eg Spain (Quintin Jardine) and Alexander McCall Smith (Africa):

AH says why not, have a different view.

CL says "stay away!" (re Brit writers writing about Scandinavia)

DM says that AMS gets Botswana people exactly right, No crime fiction novel can be a panoramic view of all society. Thinks AMS absolutely brilliant and does it very very well.

Comment from German member of the audience post-war Germany very stable, crime fiction very pop since 50s. Patricia Highsmith not seen as crime writer in Germany or Spain.

Ruth Rendell often mentioned as being read by Scandinavians. CL a crime nerd since little. 80% of her reading is crime.

BF ended the session by saying the Germans are coming...

Harrogate - Deadlier than the Male

One of the things I did notice at the festival is that despite the reported figure that 80% of crime readers are women which was also borne out by the audience demographic, less than 33% of the authors appearing were women...

From the programme:
Is it women who write the most graphically violent crime fiction? Or has this simply become a myth that should be nailed once and for all? And whether written by men or women, why is it that the majority of this fiction is bought by female readers? Journalist Danuta Kean puts some uncomfortable questions to Jilliane Hoffman, Julia Crouch, Amanda Kyle Williams and Tania Carver aka Martin Waites who (as a man writing as a woman) has a stiletto in both camps.

My notes:

80% readers of crime fiction are women

Are women deadlier than than male?.

MW: There is a perception - he thinks he writes the same level of violence as Martin or Tania. If involved violence should hurt, not keen on graphic violence. Perceived as a blokey writer as Martin - that's because he's a bloke!

AKW: don't think we're more violent, there's a bias as people don't look for females when there is a serial killer on the loose. More shocking for women to write violence but they also have ability to write from victim's perspective.

JC: more in touch with fear; men are more likely to be attacked but they don't feel scared.

JH: rape - women can imagine it. Scene in Retribution doesn't say what attack involved. Women have more imagination than men and  they can imagine what happened. Mustn't cross line and go grotesque.

Why do women read so much crime fiction?

We're drawn to what makes people tick.

MW: men want to find out what people tick too.

JH: has the female come in and save the day. The Cutting Room sees return of CJ Townsend. JH's heroine kills the dragon.

AKW - her heroine kicks ass. Makes no apologies for the fact that it's violent. Readers read crime fiction as drawn to the dark.

JH - impart to readers what it feels to be a victim. We're desensitised to word rape so have to take reader through that night - readers wouldn't understand victim until they understood the crime; what motivates her to prosecute someone who may or may not be guilty and put them on death row.

MW - The Surrogate based on real life case in USA. who would do that? He got his wife Linda involved as of the two she's been more pregnant... Not gratuitous, did it like (film) Se7en and doesn't show much. Would have been different perspective if it was a Joe Donovan book. The last book his wife said read like a MW book so had to scrap it and rewrite as TC.

JH - The Cutting Room features a snuff group - fairly sure that one exists.

AKW - Scaring you is my job and I enjoy it.

MW - The White Room, one of two novels wanted to write as grew up few streets from Mary Bell (child killer) - it was a real miseryfest to write (though Guardian book of the year). He was writer in residence at a prison and one when he was in lockdown wrote male rape scene - later reread it and wondered where it had come from.

AKW - respects readers - entertainment and that's kind of it. Story reads fast and reader is satisfied in the end. Doesn't take self too seriously.

JH - check all is accurate, legally, medically.

JH - "know enough to fake it good"

AKW - would never harm an animal

JC - A French review of Cuckoo said don't harm the children; wouldn't do it in much detail

JH - no harm to children or animals, had to bump up age in Pretty Little Things (child pornography).

Harrogate - New Blood

And on to the next panel. Val McDermid's very popular "New Blood". As you can see the room is huge and I was so far back I had to watch the tv screen and couldn't take any useful photos.

From the Programme:
Always a festival ‘must see’. Queen of Crime Val McDermid has hand-picked four of the hottest new talents on the scene and invited them to discuss their debut novels. Eager readers on the lookout for the next big thing will be spoiled for choice as Val introduces Elizabeth Haynes (Into The Darkest Corner), David Mark (The Dark Winter), Oliver Harris (The Hollow Man) and Kate Rhodes (Crossbones Yard).

My notes:

VM gets sent piles of debut books so she can pick authors for the panel. Keeps her up to date as well as getting a list for hitman. Crime fiction has expanded over the years, you can go anywhere do anything. Buy & Try!

All here because VM loved characters and voices.

OH - police procedural very unlike Dixon of Dock Green

LH - took pole-dancing clasees for research.

DM - a man of mystery! The Dark Winter is set in "joyous sea side town of Hull" as fun as you'd might expect...

KR is a poet

[then followed an intro to all the books - links to reviews are above.]

LH - the OCD plot was device for word count (as written for NaNoWriMo) and think of what to do next. VM used to send Kate Brannigan to the supermarket for similar reasons.

DM - born in Carlisle.

OH - write to explore other aspects of people's lives, experimental form to take apart what's going on.

LH - worked for police intelligence - wrote romance in playground, 50 shades of jelly baby (VM). Massive crime fiction fan but could never find any justification for crime, so was part of reason she applied for police job, to inspire her fiction.

Boundary between crime fact and fiction. Darkness in book. VM can read violence but terribly squeamish.

DM - write about what you know. As a journalist for 7 years has met many victims of crime (crime reporter). Natural affinity. Lucky to get job at 17, almost immediately attending murder trial.

KR fed up with poetry after 15 years, very lonely. Like to have a conversation with readers, loved crime fiction, very classy and very good at the moment especially in Britain.

VM - you have to care about a character whether you like or hate them.

VM - George Bennett in A Place of Execution was given self-doubt as a result of It's a Wonderful Life.

DM's main character is very earnest, good - which is tiresome and he has arguments with him in his head. VM says What drives McAvoy is his love for wife and child

KR's next book is about bankers dying (big cheer from the audience).

Harrogate - The Golden Age?

My next panel was on Saturday morning about The (A?) Golden Age.

From the programme:

For many, the Golden Age of British crime fiction was the 1920s and 1930s, when writers such as Christie, Allingham, and Sayers were at their peaks. Others would argue that we are currently living through crime fiction’s true Golden Age and that contemporary writers are more than a match for the Golden Oldies. Banging the drum for the here and now are Stuart Neville and Robert Wilson, while Nicola Upson and David Roberts will be talking up the cosies. Chairman, Martyn Waites (aka Tania Carver) will do his best not to take sides.

My notes:

The Golden Age dead or is it now? Was it the Golden Age and what made it so?

NU crucial age of crime fiction was between wars as lots of writers working with set conventions. TGA established a genre of crime fiction with set rules that can then be broken.

DR hates that word cosy - demeaning and patronising. TGA started 1920 and died out in 1950s; there were some superb novelists eg Dorothy L Sayers, who despised own books; Agatha Christie was a good writer, Tey, Nicholas Blake - that's what makes it GA - very good writers and better than a lot today (ooh! -  controversy)

RW said after WW1, needing to set the world to rights. He reminded self of GA by reading Strong Poison (DLS); ruling classes wiped out the working class by bad decisions, but business as usual in novels. DR disagreed - upper classes suffered great losses too, first over the top life expectancy of two weeks for young officers. Rules about good and evil, which are not so clear in modern novels as "evil" is explained by social reasons. RW said that by the end of WW2 knew what is evil is : Hitler.

NU: direct correlation between WW! and GA but not due to class. Books show the importance of an individual life -  one life can matter against mass slaughter of war.

SN asks who's reading GA?

MW:  Christie villains often a foreigner or a member of working class. But DR said don't forget Poirot ia foreign refugee and that Miss Marple is part of a despised generation and a spinster. Upper classes can ask questions and and travel so as not restricted to a couple of villages like Midsommer Murders - so convenient  to have aristocratic sleuth, not just snobbery.

Character of today's crime fiction.

SN said not *the* GA,  several GAs eg Chandler, Hammet, Irish (though not sure that's true), Scandinavian.
 
SN writes about a sympathetic mass murderer. Sophisticated readership needed?

DR said there was too much violence in RWs books. The constant use of violence is like a drug, keeps needing to be increased.

MW said have moral responsibility to put violence in book as dealing with a violent death.

NU:  Tey made a distinction between legal and moral justice.

DR:  Harret Vane (in DLS) almost died,  not because of murder but because of not being married to the person she was living with.

MW: when read GA didn't recognise the England in it as he grew up in Newcastle.

Is it yearning for an England that didn't exist?

SN - all crime fiction is escapism. Amplified compared to real life and you get justice - also rare in real life.
RW - Scandinavian crime fiction popular as seen as ideal countries, now no-one want to go there!

MW - original titles of TGWTDT - Men who Hate Women - could be a title for any noir novel.

NU - Not all GA set in village eg Tiger in the Smoke by Allingham is set in London. Read Tey to see what it's like for women between the wars.

DR - why would you reread once you know the killer but AC still read in France, USA. How many books written today would people go back to? No cohesive school.

SN - there are movements rather than individual novels: tartan noir, Irish, Scandinavian.

GA definition excludes writers such as Patrick Hamilton.

Books read from that period do seem to be crime fiction rather than best sellers/classics (eg Huxley)

MW - nice if bit sooner didn't have to wait 50 years to be feted.

RW is term cosy patronising? Yes says DR.

AC is fondly remembered as bridge gap between child and adult reading.

MW suggests that cosy has mutated into forensic novel? eg Patricia Cornwell doesn't look at psychology behind it, less cake and more blood.

NU: best novels put character forefront.

DR would put P D James into GA. He hates violence and serial killers in modern stuff. Detective who is alcoholic, chip on shoulder and close family is investigated and they go and investigate - "word for it, self-indulgent comes to mind".

MW mentions Knox's The Decalogue, the ten rules for crime fiction reads out many of them eg must not include a Chinaman.

SN love writing from villain(s) pov, if couldn't write from that then couldn't write at all.

DR asks do you identify with killer? SN says evil doesn't know its own reflection. In their mind are doing the right thing. NU loves to write murder's pov as well. People like you and me not evil. Doesn't see self as writing GA novels as writing with modern sensibility re sex, violence set in the past. MW every one is a hero in their own story.

DR greatest proponent of this is Patricia Highsmith with Ripley - a modern GA writer, little violence but MW disagrees. There is violence but not modern torture.

RW re Thomas Harris - M Mann version of Lecter was evil, Anthony Hopkins version is a vaudeville character but more popular.

What have we gained/lost from GA?

SN it established a framework. Variety crime fiction can take. (leading onto phrase) transcends the genre - MW "twatish phrase that is!"

NU books we can enjoy, in bucket-loads. People return to Tey

DR more than just taking a sweetie - put aside Henry James and pick up Aggie with a guilty sigh.

Question from the audience:
Why do people keep creating defective humans?

MW - people like to read about damaged people and so feel better about self.

SN - deals with phsical rather than emotional damage in new book.

MW - happy is hard to write about. SN - Brian McGilloway does it well

DR - write about decent people not necessarily happy

NU  - most damaged person she's written about- Alfred Hitchcock. Day to day morality for Tey and DLS - they didn't always write abut murder

SH - defective detective - can work if genius eg Sherlock Holmes.

DR - loves P James books but wishes Grace would "only find his bloody wife" and then he could relax.

MW: any good novel should make you laugh/cry/think.

First GA was female, English writers and second one influenced by Americans.

Chandler and Wodehouse in same class at Dulwich. Imagine Marlowe & Wooster together!