Theakstons Old Peculier Longlist Announced

Now in its ninth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback over the previous 12 months.

The longlist below will be whittled down to six finalists, and those contenders are to be announced on July 1. From there, readers can cast their votes to determine who among the six shortlisted authors should take home the prize. Votes can be cast online here.

The result of the online vote will be counted alongside the votes of the expert judging panel, the members of which include Val McDermid, David Swillman, the fiction head of co-sponsor WHSmith, and Simon Theakston, executive director of title sponsor T&R Theakston. The winner will receive a cash prize of £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

Here’s the 2013 longlist:

The Guilty One, by Lisa Ballantyne (Piatkus)

Finders Keepers, by Belinda Bauer (Transworld)

Rush of Blood, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)

Dead Scared, by S.J. Bolton (Corgi)

The Affair, by Lee Child (Transworld)

A Foreign Country, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

Safe House, by Chris Ewan (Faber and Faber)

Not Dead Yet, by Peter James (Macmillan)

Siege, by Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)

Prague Fatale, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)

The Rage, by Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)

Birthdays for the Dead, by Stuart MacBride (Harper)

The Dark Winter, by David Mark (Quercus)

The Lewis Man, by Peter May (Quercus)

Gods and Beasts, by Denise Mina (Orion)

Stolen Souls, by Stuart Neville (Vintage)

Sacrilege, by S.J. Parris (Harper)

A Dark Redemption, by Stav Sherez (Faber and Faber)