2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year - Winner

Congratulations to Adrian McKinty for winning the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for The Chain.

The books shortlisted were:

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Joe Country by Mick Herron
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

Read more about his win at the Theakston Website.

Blurb from Amazon:

YOUR PHONE RINGS.

A STRANGER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD.

TO FREE THEM YOU MUST ABDUCT SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD.

YOUR CHILD WILL BE RELEASED WHEN YOUR VICTIM'S PARENTS KIDNAP ANOTHER CHILD.

IF ANY OF THESE THINGS DON'T HAPPEN:
YOUR CHILD WILL BE KILLED.

VICTIM. SURVIVOR. ABDUCTOR. CRIMINAL.
YOU WILL BECOME EACH ONE.

YOU ARE NOW PART OF THE CHAIN

New Reviews: Alaux & Balen, Grey, Hall, James, Kelly, McKinty, Rendell, Russell, Schumacher

Since the last set of reviews went up, the Euro Crime favourite reads of 2014 have been compiled and the most mentioned authors/titles/translators announced.

In addition the review team's favourite discoveries of 2014 have been revealed.

In addition, here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Terry Halligan reviews Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noel Balen tr. Anne Trager, the first in the Winemaker Detective series;

Susan White reviews Isabelle Grey's Good Girls Don't Die;

Lynn Harvey reviews Tarquin Hall's The Case of the Love Commandos;

Rich Westwood reviews Christina James's Sausage Hall, the third in the DI Yates series;

Geoff Jones reviews Jim Kelly's At Death's Window, the latest in his North Norfolk-set Shaw & Valentine series;

Mark Bailey reviews Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty, the fourth in the Sean Duffy series;

Michelle Peckham reviews The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell;


Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Race to Death

and Susan also reviews Tony Schumacher's The Darkest Hour.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Reviews: Bolton, Carter & Ripley, Ferris, Holt, James, Jones, McKinty, Vargas, Woodhouse

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, three have appeared on the blog over the last couple of weeks and six are completely new.

NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Sharon Bolton's Like This, For Ever, the third in the Lacey Flint series;

Albert Campion returns in Mr Campion's Farewell, based on Philip Youngman Carter's unfinished manuscript and completed by Mike Ripley, reviewed here by Terry Halligan;

Terry also reviews Gordon Ferris's Gallowglass, the newest and final book in the Douglas Brodie series;

Amanda also reviews the first part in the Carnivia trilogy - The Abomination - by Jonathan Holt, set in Venice and now available in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Almost Love the second in the DCI Yates series by Christina James, set in the Lincolnshire Fens;

Geoff Jones reviews Carys Jones's Prime Deception, a political thriller (ebook only);

Mark Bailey reviews In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty, the third in the Sean Duffy series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Freg Vargas's Dog Will Have His Day, tr. Sian Reynolds, the second in the "Three Evangelists" series

and Michelle Peckham reviews After the Silence the first part in Jake Woodhouse's Amsterdam Quartet.


Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Aykol, Johnstone, King, McKinty, Nickson, Shepherd, Vargas

Win Where the Devil Can't Go by Anya Lipska (UK only)





Seven new reviews have been added to Euro Crime today:


I review Esmahan Aykol's second Kati Hirschel investigation Baksheesh tr. Ruth Whitehouse, set in Istanbul;


Amanda Gillies reviews Doug Johnstone's latest Gone Again which she found even better than Hit & Run;



Lynn Harvey reviews the most recent in the Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R King, Garment of Shadows, set in Morocco;




Mark Bailey reviews Adrian McKinty's, I Hear the Sirens in the Street, the second in the 1980s-Northern Ireland Sean Duffy trilogy;


Geoff Jones reviews the fifth in the historical Richard Nottingham series by Chris Nickson: At the Dying of the Year;




Terry Halligan reviews Lloyd Shepherd's sequel to The English Monster, The Poisoned Island


and Sarah Hilary reviews Fred Vargas's The Ghost Riders of Ordebec tr. Sian Reynolds.




Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Bolton, George, Hayes, Jungstedt, McKinty, Tyler

Competition for May:
Win a copy of Stagestruck by Peter Lovesey UK & Europe only (closes 4 June)

Do please vote in the International Dagger polls (top right of blog).

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Now You See Me by S J Bolton, a more urban outing than the previous three standalone novels but just as enjoyable it would appear;

Susan White is disappointed with Elizabeth George's This Body of Death, now out in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Sam Hayes's Someone Else's Son also out in paperback and calls it "truly superb";

Maxine Clarke reviews the fifth Inspector Knutas book, set on Gotland, The Dead of Summer by Mari Jungstedt, tr. Tiina Nunnally;

Terry Halligan reviews Adrian McKinty's Falling Glass set in Northern Ireland

and earlier this week on the blog I reviewed L C Tyler's Ten Little Herrings the second outing for mismatched duo Elsie and Ethelred.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Cotterill, Fossum, Glynn, McKinty, Russell, Southey

Two competitions for July and one is open internationally:
Win one of ten copies of Jail Bird by Jessie Keane (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of The Assassin's Prayer by Ariana Franklin (UK & Republic of Ireland only)

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Colin Cotterill's The Merry Misogynist in which Dr Siri Paiboun has a serial killer to catch;

I take a look at the new Karin Fossum, Bad Intentions, tr. Charlotte Barslund which covers some familiar Fossum themes;

Maxine Clarke is very impressed with Winterland by Alan Glynn;

Terry Halligan reviews Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand which has a Cuban detective searching for her father's killer, in Colorado;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Road Closed, the second in her DI Geraldine Steel series

and Rik Shepherd reviews Secret Lament by Roz Southey set in an 18th century Newcastle whose population includes spirits of the dead.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

New Reviews: Bale, Bradby, Child, Fossum, Franklin, McKinty & New Competition

A new competition is now up and running (open to all!); win a copy of My Last Confession by Helen Fitzgerald.

This week's new reviews:

Paul Blackburn reviews Skin and Bones by Tom Bale;

Terry Halligan reviews Blood Money by Tom Bradby;

Maxine Clarke reviews Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child;

Maxine also reviews The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum;

Pat Austin reviews the paperback edition of The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin (US: The Serpent's Tale)

and Michelle Peckham reviews Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

New Reviews: Hughes, Kerrigan, McKinty

A new competition is now up and running (UK only I'm afraid). Win a copy of The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard, donated by the translator Tiina Nunnally.

This week we're running an Irish theme with the reviews. The first batch has just been uploaded and a second set will follow later in the week:

Michelle Peckham reviews The Dying Breed by Declan Hughes;

Maxine Clarke reviews Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan

and Laura Root reviews The Bloomsday Dead by Adrian McKinty.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

More cover themes

A vague similarity between the covers of these two forthcoming books. This is the US cover of Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand which will be published in April (July in the UK). Simon Kernick's Target will be published in the UK in June.