Peculier Choices, Indeed

Less than two months after an 18-book longlist was broadcast, organizers of the annual Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (to be held this year in Harrogate, England, July 21-24) have announced the shortlist of nominees for the 2016 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. They are:

• Time of Death, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
• Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith (Sphere)
• Tell No Tales, by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)
• Disclaimer, by Renée Knight (Black Swan)
• I Let You Go, by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)
• Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)

The winner will be declared during a special ceremony at the festival on its opening night, July 21. That same event will feature the presentation, to Scottish author Val McDermid, of the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. She will join past winners of that commendation: Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James, Colin Dexter, and Reginald Hill.