Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End was crowned Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021 at the recent Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival – presented by Harrogate International Festivals at the Old Swan Hotel. Brian McGilloway's The Last Crossing was also given a "Highly Recommended" commendation.
Also at the Theakston convention, Scottish author Ian Rankin was presented with the festival's outstanding contribution to crime fiction award. Rankin said, "It’s such a privilege and an honour to receive this award, and especially to be in Harrogate to receive it in person. I’ve been a published writer for over 30 years but this past year has been uniquely challenging – for writers, readers and booksellers." He was awarded the prize on the opening night of the festival, for which he was also this year's festival programming chair.
The Private Eye Writers of America announced the Shamus Award Winners for 2021 (for works published in 2020). Best Private Eye Novel went to Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle (Oceanview); Best Original Private Eye Paperback was won by Brittle Karma by Richard Helms (Black Arch Books); Best First Private Eye Novel was The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho); and Best Private Eye Short Story, was "Mustang Sally" by John M. Floyd (in Black Cat Mystery Magazine). In addition, "The Eye," the PWA Life Achievement Award, was given to Michael Z. Lewin.
Open Road Integrated Media announced that it’s acquiring the United Kingdom’s Bloodhound Books, based in Cambridge. Bloodhound Books specializes in ebooks and print-on-demand for paper lovers with a focus on crime fiction. Bloodhound is a submissions house, actively welcoming authors’ queries, agented or not, in "crime fiction, women’s fiction, suspense, mystery, romantic comedies, historical fiction, cozy crime, domestic noir, psychological thrillers, romance, and chillers."
Sadly, we lost a couple of crime authors this week. George Weir, author of the Bill Travis Mystery series, passed away from cancer (here's an interview with the Mystery People from 2016), and Clare Dunkel, a/k/a Mo Hayder, has died from a motor neurone disease. Hayder's novel, Gone, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2012.
This is a promising development in forensic science.
This week's crime poem at the 5-2 is "Teeter Totter" by Tom Barlow.
In the Q&A roundup, LJ Ross shared her experiences with The Bookseller of engaging readers in the northeast region of the UK, and of weaving its settings and sights into her novels; and Author Interviews chatted with Hilary Davidson about her new standalone thriller, Her Last Breath.
Comments