Prizing the Past

I’m especially pleased to see that Philip Kerr’s A Quiet Flame and Laura Wilson’s Stratton’s War, both of which I very much enjoyed reading this year, have found places on the shortlist for the 2008 Ellis Peters Historical Award. That commendation is given out annually by the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA).

Here are all the shortlist contenders:

• The Death Maze, by Ariana Franklin (Bantam Press)
• A Quiet Flame, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
• Death on a Branch Line, by Andrew Martin (Faber and Faber)
• Revelation, by C.J. Sansom (Macmillan)
• Bleeding Heart Square, by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)
• Stratton’s War, by Laura Wilson (Orion)

In addition, it’s good to see Rap Sheet contributor Roger “R.N.” Morris making the Ellis Peters longlist with his second Porfiry Petrovich novel (which, I’ll note, was also in contention for this year’s Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award). The four books that appeared on the judges’ longlist but didn’t make the second cut are:

• Last Nocturne, by Marjorie Eccles (Allison & Busby)
• A Mortal Curiosity, by Ann Granger (Headline)
• Inspector Ghote’s First Case, by H.R.F. Keating (Allison & Busby)
• A Vengeful Longing, by R.N. Morris (Faber and Faber)

This year’s Ellis Peters winner will be announced on October 27.