Harrogate International Festivals has announced the 18 titles that will be vying for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024.
The UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award is now in its twentieth year.
The longlist for the award is voted for by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee.
Crime fiction fans are now invited to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted Award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday 18th July.
Six former winners are vying for top honours, including 2023 champion MW Craven, who is longlisted for his high-octane US-set thriller Fearless, alongside Queen of Crime Val McDermid for cold case mystery Past Lying, and Mick Herron, the author behind Apple TV’s smash-hit series ‘Slow Horses,’ for his elegant stand-alone spy novel The Secret Hours.
Also nominated are Chris Brookmyre’s edgy thriller about a murderous hen party on a remote Scottish island, The Cliff House, two times winner Mark Billingham’s The Last Dance, the first novel in his captivating new Blackpool-set detective series and Clare Mackintosh’s reality TV set thriller A Game of Lies.
Ann Cleeves, who was awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award in 2023 adds to this illustrious list, nominated for her atmospheric detective novel The Raging Storm.
The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 longlist is:
- The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
- The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus; Little, Brown Book Group)
- In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)
- The Close by Jane Casey (Harper Fiction; Harper Collins)
- The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)
- Fearless by M W Craven (Constable; Little, Brown Book Group)
- The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
- The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Baskerville; John Murray Press)
- Killing Jericho by William Hussey (Zaffre, Bonnier)
- None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (Century; Cornerstone)
- Conviction by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster)
- A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
- The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason (riverrun; Quercus)
- Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)
- Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (Sandycove; Penguin Ireland)
- The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan)
- The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph; Penguin Random House)
- You Can Run by Trevor Wood (Quercus)
Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said:
“We are delighted to announce the 2024 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, which truly showcases the depth and breadth of the UK and Ireland’s best crime fiction novels from the past year.
"The Award is an exciting part of the Festival, and with so many talented writers nominated – both new and established - we’re excited to find out who the public vote for this year.”
The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1st May 2023 to 30th April 2024.
The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 25 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com
Voting closes on Thursday 16th May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 13th June.
The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18th July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.
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