And it's an abolute cracker of list,
but...
WHO WILL WIN THE COVETED
TITLE??
IN AUTHOR ALPHABETICAL ORDER,
THE NOMINATIONS ARE....
April in Spain by John Banville
John Banville previously published his crime novels under the pseudonym name
Benjamin Black, and April in Spain sees a change of direction in this.
Banville is well known for his series of crime novels based on the 1950’s
pathologist Quirke, which were also adapted for T.V., starring Gabriel Byrne.
April in Spain is set on the idyllic coast of San Sebastian, where
pathologist Quirke is struggling to relax - despite the beautiful beaches,
cafes, and the company of his wife. When he glimpses a familiar face, April
Latimer, at a bar, at first it’s hard for him to know whether his imagination
is running away with him, because April was murdered years before. The Irish
Independent who sponsors the Irish Crime Novel of the Year Award, describes the
novel as “a slow-burning mystery, a love story and a study of the corruption
and power of the Irish political elite – quite a lot to pack into one crime
novel. Banville has achieved it with grace and poise.”
The Dark Room by Sam Blake
Sam Blake is the pseudonym for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin, founder of the
writers’ resource website, Writing.ie, as well as The Inkwell
Group publishing consultancy, and is the tour-de- force behind Murder
One, Ireland’s premium crime-writing festival. She is also a board member
of the Society of Authors, fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of
the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, past chair of Irish PEN and convenor of
the Irish Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association.
Sam Blake has achieved enormous success with her Garda Detective Cat
Connolly series and two other standalone mysteries, becoming a Number One
bestseller in Ireland. In The Dark Room we follow Rachel Lambert,
from London, and Caroline Kelly, from New York, to Hare’s Landing in West Cork.
The two women have their own reasons for coming to this remote spot but must
join forces in their investigations to uncover the truth about a 30-year-old
missing person’s case. The Irish Independent says of The Dark Room, “a
book which delivers a well-paced and layered plot that cleverly combines cold
cases with present day drama, resulting in and intriguing read with plenty of
twists and turns…Blake has a wonderful gift for description, ensuring the
reader can picture every scene…”
The Killing Kind by Jane Casey
Jane Casey has been nominated several times for the Best Irish Crime Novel of
the Year Award, winning the award in both 2015 and 2019. Well known for her
fantastic London-based Maeve Kerrigan series of police procedurals, in 2015,
she won the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award at the Edgars for her novel The
Stranger You Know. A graduate of Oxford she also has received a M. Phil
from Trinity College, Dublin.
In The Killing Kind, a standalone novel, lawyer Ingrid finds her
life under threat and needs to call on the help of the person who had
previously stalked her. The Irish Independent review describes The
Killing Kind as “that just-right blend of serpentine plot, believable
characters and a hero we want to root for, plus a thriller tension that’s
ratcheted so tightly at times, you almost need to put the book aside and take a
breather.”
Could this be Jane’s third time as a winner?
The Devil’s Advocate by Steve Cavanagh
Steve Cavanagh was nominated for Best Irish Crime Novel of the Year in 2019
for Twisted, and last year, 2020, for Fifty-Fifty. In The
Devil’s Advocate, he continues his popular Eddie Flynn series, sending
Eddie into America’s Deep South. Steve has achieved great success with his
novels, becoming an International Award-Winning & Bestselling Author. His
debut novel, The Defense, was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel
Dagger Award for Thriller of the Year, and The Plea won the
Prix Polar Award for Best International Novel.
Steve is a practicing lawyer and co-hosts the chart-topping podcast Two Crime
Writers And A Microphone. The Irish Independent review of The Devil’s
Advocate says, “Cavanagh has outdone himself with The Devil’s
Advocate. Intense and intoxicating, it gets to the heart of a remote town,
rife with racism and corruption. The compelling plot is expertly crafted with
plenty of unexpected twists, while the evocative writing places the reader
right in the middle
All Her Fault by Andrea Mara
Andrea’s debut novel, The Other Side of the Wall, was an
instant hit with readers, followed by One Click, which was shortlisted
for the Irish Crime Novel of the Year in 2018. This is Andrea Mara’s second
time in contention for the award.
All Her Fault takes place in a quiet Dublin suburb, as Marissa
Irvine goes to pick up son Milo from a play date with a boy at his new school,
but the woman who answers the door isn't a mother she recognises. She isn't the
nanny. She doesn't have Milo. And so begins every parent's worst nightmare.
In the Irish Independent’s review of All Her Fault, it says, “If
you’re a parent, there’s no way to read the opening chapter of All Her
Fault without thinking ‘That could be me!’. In a few short
pages Andrea Mara manages to take the soothingly – boringly! –
normal and turn it into something terrifying. In just a few
lines she dismantles the web of trust, the assumption of security, that
surrounds so much of what we do with our children and shows how very
fragile both those things are. The result is a story that is chilling and
compelling.”
56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard
Catherine Ryan Howard has previously been shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel
of the Year three times, initially for Distress Signals, then Rewind,
which is being currently being developed for television, and in 2020, for The
Nothing Man. Her second novel, The Liar’s Girl, was also a
finalist for the prestigious 2019 Edgar Award for Best Novel, and she has also
been shortlisted for the John Creasey Blood Dagger Award, as well as being
included in the Guardian’s list of 50 Great Thrillers by Women
Written Since 1945.
56 Days will be her fourth nomination for Irish Crime Novel of the
Year. The Irish Independent describes 56 Days as “a tricky,
brilliantly entertaining — and very timely — thriller about Oliver and Ciara,
who meet and hit it off just days before the first Covid lockdown was announced
in March 2020. They decide to see out the curfew in the throes of a passionate
affair — but one, or both, of them is hiding some very dark secrets…”
YOU CAN VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE NOVEL
HERE
