That Old Peculier Prize

Now that the Blogger system seems restored to operational order, I can finally announce the longlist of 18 contenders for this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. They are:

• Fifty Grand, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail)

• Rupture, by Simon Lelic (Picador)

• The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Pan)

• Dark Blood, by Stuart MacBride (Harper)

• Winterland, by Alan Glynn (Faber and Faber)

• The Woodcutter, by Reginald Hill (Harper)

• Blood Harvest, by S.J. Bolton (Corg)

• Still Bleeding, by Steve Mosby (Orion)

• 61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam)

• Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Corgi)

• From the Dead, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)

• Fever of the Bone, by Val McDermid (Sphere)

• Sister, by Rosamund Lupton (Piatkus)

• The Twelve (aka The Ghosts of Belfast), by Stuart Neville (Vintage)

• A Capital Crime, by Laura Wilson (Quercus)

• Random, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)

• The Anatomy of Ghosts, by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)

• A Room Swept White, by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)

Between now and Sunday, June 5, readers are asked to click here and vote for their favorite title from this list. Results of that online voting will determine the half-dozen titles appearing on the shortlist of contenders.

An announcement of the winner should be made during this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, to be held July 21-24 in Harrogate, England.