Saturday, May 14, 2011

Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2011 - Longlist

Due to the the Blogger problems and then work, I wasn't able to post this when it came out so apologies for the "old news". I like to record it on the blog for posterity :).

From the press release at Booktrade:
Now in its seventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, in partnership with Asda, and this year in association with the Daily Mirror, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1st January 2010 to 31st May 2011.

A major accolade in the crime writing field, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is unique in that it is the only one of its kind which is largely voted for by the general public. As of today (Friday 13th May), the public will have until Sunday 5th June to vote for their favourite title at www.theakstons.co.uk and the result of this vote will determine the six titles that make it onto the shortlist.

The longlist in full (links are to Euro Crime reviews):

Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Corgi)

From the Dead, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)

Blood Harvest, by S J Bolton (Corgi Books)

61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam Books)

Winterland, by Alan Glynn (Faber)

A Room Swept White, by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)

The Woodcutter, by Reginald Hill (Harper Fiction)

Rupture, by Simon Lelic (Picador)

Sister, by Rosamund Lupton (Piatkus)

Dark Blood, by Stuart MacBride (Harper Fiction)

Fever of the Bone, by Val McDermid (Sphere)

Fifty Grand, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail)

Still Bleeding, Steve Mosby (Orion)

The Twelve, by Stuart Neville (Vintage)

Random, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)

The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Pan Books)

The Anatomy of Ghosts, by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)

A Capital Crime, by Laura Wilson, (Quercus)

The shortlist will be announced on 1st July, and the eventual winner will be decided by a panel of judges including this year's Festival chair Dreda Say Mitchell, the journalist and novelist Henry Sutton, the winner of a Daily Mirror reader competition and Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston Ltd.
Cast your vote here.

2 comments:

Maxine Clarke said...

There are some very good titles here (and some not so good!). I can't decide between Rupture, A Capital Crime, and Winterland.....help!

Kenneth said...

There are three books here that I think are particularly deserving of recognition: I have read all of the Mark Billingham series (Tom Thorne) and feel that he has not been given enough recognition for a series that has been excellent with every book. I have read all except the nominated "From the Dead" and expect that to match all the previous works (I will never forget the special creepiness of "Sleepyhead". Fifty Grand was a big surprise for me - I was not familiar with McKinty, and I do not especially care for superheroes, particularly female ones including Salander, but McKinty's character had me hoping for a series with this Cuban character. But my fave is Robertson's "Random" so I am really looking forward to his second book to see if it will be anywhere near as good.