How Good a Sleuth Are You?

My dear colleague and British Crime Writers’ Association stalwart Natasha Cooper (A Greater Evil), who is heavily involved in this summer’s Harrogate Crime Writing Festival (July 19-22), has asked that I alert Rap Sheet browsers to a new contest, designed to find out how many veteran mystery readers could actually cut it as sleuths.

This competition takes the form of a delightful short story entitled “He Taught Me Everything I Know,” penned by Cooper specifically for the Harrogate conference. The tale sets up a crime scene, with clues to “whodunit” to be delivered through three different Web sites over the next six weeks. A link to Chapter 1 of Cooper’s yarn, plus more information about what’s to come in this contest, can be found here.

And remember, your vote counts in selecting the winner of this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, to be handed out at Harrogate. You have until Sunday, June 17, to select from a long-list of 20 books. Click here for ballot-casting specifics.

If you fancy a look back at last year’s Harrogate festival, click here. And a radio interview with Natasha Cooper can be listened to here.