Billingham, MacBride, Child and more battle for Theakston!

The shortlist for the 2011 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award has been announced, with a very strong longlist of 18 good and great books (including the likes of FIFTY GRAND by Adrian McKinty, FEVER OF THE BONE by Val McDermid, THE TWELVE by Stuart Neville, and A ROOM SWEPT WHITE by Sophie Hannah)cut down to a final six. The winner to be revealed on the first night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on Thursday 21st July. Here are your remaining contenders:

• FROM THE DEAD by Mark Billingham
• BLOOD HARVEST by SJ Bolton
• 61 HOURS by Lee Child
• DARK BLOOD by Stuart MacBride
• THE HOLY THIEF by William Ryan
• THE ANATOMY OF GHOSTS by Andrew Taylor

There are some pretty good books there! I've read three of the six; Billingham, Child, and MacBride, and enjoyed them all. I've also got THE ANATOMY OF GHOSTS on my TBR bookshelf at home, and have heard some really good things about SJ Bolton.

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 between 1st January 2010 and 31st May 2011.

The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier. “I’m delighted to see that the public have recognised the talents of a broad range of authors in this year’s shortlist, from a debut novelist to names that have been bestsellers for several years," said Simon Theakston, Executive Director of T&R Theakston. "This list reflects the wealth of crime fiction talent we have within the UK and Ireland that continues to grow each year."

Billingham is looking to make this year a hat-trick after winning the prize in 2005 and 2009 (for LAZY BONES and DEATH MESSAGE respectively). Lee Child, meanwhile, will be hoping that this will be his lucky year; the bestselling author has yet to win the prize, despite the fact that one of his Jack Reacher novels reportedly sells somewhere in the world every few seconds. Both authors will go head to head with last year’s Festival Chair Stuart MacBride, Andrew Taylor (whose Cambridge-set historical chiller won much critical praise upon publication), SJ Bolton (hailed as the “high priestess of rural gothic crime”), and debutant crime writer William Ryan.


So, who do you think should win? Have you read any of the shortlisted novels? Were any of the other 12 novels on the longlist your favourite instead (see full longlist here)? Comments welcome.

My first-ever monthly crime picks for the Herald on Sunday

This year I've been asked to provide a monthly crime fiction round-up for the Herald on Sunday, one of New Zealand's most well-read newspapers. It's terrific to see some of New Zealand's larger media (big newspapers, magazines, TV shows etc) starting to include a little bit more crime fiction in their review pages - I'm very pleased to be able to contribute as well.

My first 'column', so to speak, was published this past weekend see above - in the 'Detours' lifestyle insert to the HOS), and now I can share it here with you. Each month I will pick 2-3 books that I have read in the past month (usually new or recent releases, but not always), and talk a little about them. Due to space constraints I don't have a lot of words to play with, but I'll be doing my best to highlight some good and great crime fiction, that could be enjoyable for some of the Herald on Sunday readers to try, as best I can.

Here's the first instalment of the monthly series:

Follow the Money
By Peter Corris (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)
The ‘godfather of Australian crime writing’, Corris has been penning his acclaimed Cliff Hardy tales for decades. This new instalment sees the aging hero in a slump; he’s lost his private eye license and his entire life savings - embezzled by a dodgy financial advisor, who later wound up dead. But then Hardy’s unofficially ‘hired’ by a slick, desperate lawyer to find out whether the embezzler faked his own death; an assignment that has the budding granddad entwined with ethnic gangs and Sydney’s gritty underbelly.

Buried Alive
By J.A. Kerley (Harper, $28.99)
The latest in Kerley’s excellent Carson Ryder series sees the young Alabama detective taking a long-overdue vacation, only to stumble onto a series of sadistic killings in rural Kentucky. Working both in conjunction and conflict with the local cops, Sheriff and FBI, Ryder tries to stay alive and uncover the truth while also dealing with the (welcome, for readers) reappearance of his brother Jeremy, an escaped killer. Kerley writes with pace and personality; mixing interesting characters, storylines and setting. An enjoyable read.

Shatter the Bones
By Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins, $39.99)
Few writers can mix brutality and belly laughs quite like Scottish author MacBride, whose Aberdeen-set thrillers starring DS Logan McRae can have you cringing one page, chuckling the next. McRae (more determined everyman than supercop) and his colourful colleagues and superiors are under intense media and public pressure due to the high-profile kidnapping of a mother-daughter duo, reality TV show singing sensations. An entertaining page-turner filled with plenty of wisecracks, vitality, and personal and professional conundrums.

Craig Sisterson was one of the judges of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel last year. He blogs about crime and thriller fiction at http://goldenglobenominees.blogspot.com//

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This column was first published in the Sunday 30 January 2011 issue of the Herald on Sunday, and is reprinted here with permission.

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What do you think of my mini-reviews? Of having such a regular column in one of New Zealand's major newspapers? Have you read (or do you intend to) any of these titles? What are some fo the upcoming titles I should definitely include in future columns? Comments welcome.

My review of DARK BLOOD on EuroCrime

Further to my post back in August about the excellent crime fiction website EuroCrime, and how the hundreds of reviews there can now also be searched and listed by reviewer, in recent days my review of the latest thriller from Scottish crime writer Stuart MacBride, DARK BLOOD, was published on EuroCrime.

DARK BLOOD is the latest in MacBride's enjoyable Aberdeen-set DS Logan McRae series. The publisher's blurb states: Richard Knox has served his time, so why shouldn't he be allowed to live wherever he wants? Yes, in the past he was a violent rapist, but he's seen the error of his ways. Found God. Wants to leave his dark past in Newcastle behind him and make a new start. Or so he says.

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae isn't exactly thrilled to be part of the team helping Knox settle into his new Aberdeen home. He's even less thrilled to be stuck with DSI Danby from Northumbria Police -- the man who put Knox behind bars for ten years -- supposedly here to 'keep an eye on things'. Only things are about to go very, very wrong. Edinburgh gangster Malk the Knife wants a slice of the development boom Donald Trump's golf course is bringing to the Granite City, whether local crime lord Wee Hamish Mowat likes it or not. Three heavies from Newcastle want a 'quiet word' with DSI Danby about a missing mob accountant. And Richard Knox's dark past isn't done with him yet!

"There is plenty to like about DARK BLOOD, which although still very gritty and grim takes a bit of a step back from the full-on brutality (even gore) of the last two McRae novels, FLESH HOUSE and BLIND EYE, where unintentional cannibalism and very-intentional ocular mutilation were on MacBride’s murderous menu," I said in the review.

You can read my full review of DARK BLOOD here. You can see my full list of previous reviews for the excellent EuroCrime website, here.