Shortlist:
Belinda Bauer -
Snap
Steve Cavanagh -
Thirteen
Mick Herron -
London Rules
Val McDermid -
Broken Ground
Liam McIlvanney -
The Quaker
Khurrum Rahman -
East of Hounslow
The prize, now in
its 15th year, was created to celebrate the very best in crime fiction.
Snap
Belinda Bauer, a
previous winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, is
shortlisted with her 2018 Man Booker longlisted, Snap, which is inspired by the
murder of a pregnant woman, Marie Wilks, on the M50 in 1988. The judges
described it as “an acute, stylish, intelligent novel about how we survive
trauma.”
Thirteen
Thirteen, by
Steve Cavanagh, hailed by Ian Rankin for “plotting that takes the breath away.”
Thirteen offers an original twist on the courtroom thriller, where the serial
killer isn’t on trial - he’s on the jury.
London Rules
Mick Herron’s
widely acclaimed Jackson Lamb novels have been shortlisted twice for the Crime
Novel of the Year. London Rules is the fifth outing for the band of spies with
the backdrop of Brexit Britain and a terror plot.
Broken Ground
This Karen Pirie
thriller by Val McDermid, digs up a secret buried for 70 years in a Highland
peat bog and has been praised for its ‘masterly handling of pace and plot.’
The Quaker
The Quaker by
Liam McIllvanney is set in Glasgow in 1969 drawing on the real-life,
never-caught serial murderer Bible John.
East of Hounslow
This is Khurrum
Rahman first novel. East of Hounslow follows Jay, who ends up working undercover
for MI5 while undergoing radical Islamist training.
The overall
winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The
public vote opens on July 1 and closes July 14 at www.theakstons.co.uk.
Executive
director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston, said: “All shortlisted authors
are deserving of the title, but there’s only one Novel of the Year. The public
vote will be invaluable, readers have real power, so I’d encourage everyone to
make their voice heard - it’s free and simple to vote online. It will be
fascinating to see which of these remarkable titles prevails, all are simply
outstanding.”
The winner is
announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing
Festival, on July 18, 2019
The winner will
receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel
provided by Theakston Old Peculier.
