Friday, July 21, 2006

Evidently Worth the Torment

Scottish crime writer Val McDermid has won the 2006 Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for The Torment of Others (2004), her fourth novel to feature criminal psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and his police colleague, Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan. The announcement was made last night during the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.

In association with her victory, McDermid received £3,000 and a handmade oak beer cask (fortunately, not a full-size specimen).

The Torment of Others was one of five books shortlisted for this year’s commendation. The other nominees were: Strange Blood, by Lindsay Ashford; One Last Breath, by Stephen Booth; The Coffin Trail, by Martin Edwards; The Various Haunts of Men, by Susan Hill; and Fleshmarket Close, by Ian Rankin. Votes for the winner were cast online by interested readers.

2 comments:

Maxine Clarke said...

Although I am a huge fan of McDermid, I would have gone for the Rankin out of these. This particular McDermid has a disappointing denoument, and this particular Rankin was one of the better ones.

That's my twopennorth, anyway.

Anonymous said...

Harrogate was excellent - hot and humid, and that was just the weather. The writers were hotter.

Will post a report and pix at some stage.

Note The Shots Team came #2 in the crime quiz, close but no cigar as they say in Cuba - but our team of :-

MIKE STOTTER - Ed Shots
ADRIAN MULLER - LCC & Event Manager
THALIA PROCTOR - ORION
LIZ HAYES - MYSTERY WOMEN
PETER GUTTRIDGE - WRITER / REVIEWER
And I -

We thought we won........

Anyway, it was a great event all round, too many highlights to mention.

Congrat's to Val - and it was excellent to say hello to Baroness P.D. James, and Jeff Deaver and I talked about GARDEN OF BEASTS - my favoutite from his work and also his.

As thrillers are back with vigour, next year we have Freddy Forsyth making a rare appearance as well as Lee Child, the heir to Ian Fleming's throne [in my opinion]

But a real special treat was to spend some time with Mark Timlin, a writer who in my opinion is one of the greats.

In case you've not familar with his work, check out the excellent London Gangster Opus ANSWERS FROM THE GRAVE or his Nick Sharman Books :-

http://www.nicksharman.co.uk/


Ali

Pix of Ali with Mark Timlin by his Black Lincoln

http://hometown.aol.co.uk/AKarim1462/Ali+and+Mark+Timlin.jpg