Take your pick: Baldacci, Billingham, Child, James, or Robinson?

On Friday 7th October The ITV/Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards will take place in London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The event, now into its fourth year, will be broadcast on ITV3 on Tuesday 11th October.

While the winners of several of the Crime Writers Association Daggers, including the International Dagger, were announced at the recent Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, the biggest awards - the Gold Dagger, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the New Blood Dagger - will be presented at the Crime Thriller Awards on 7 October. The night also sees the presentation of several television/film crime and thriller awards, for the best actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, best TV, best international TV and best film.

Before then however, we can all have our say on one of the awards to be presented, the ITV People's Bestseller Dagger. This 'people's choice' award began in 2009, with Harlan Coben being the inaugural recipient. I'm struggling to find who won last year (maybe the award wasn't presented?), but it's back again in 2011, with another line-up of five terrific crime writers for the public to vote on:

• David Baldacci;
• Mark Billingham;
• Lee Child;
• Peter James;
• Peter Robinson.

That will be a tough choice - all are very popular. I've been fortunate enough to meet Child and James, and have interviewed Robinson and Billingham by phone or email, and have enjoyed books from all four of them. I have some of Baldacci's on my bookshelf, but haven't read him yet.

You can read my 9mm interviews with Billingham here, Child here, and James here.

You can vote for your favourite amongst the five here.

Who is your favourite?