Rankin Ranks Number One

During a celebration held last evening in London, Scottish author Ian Rankin was declared the winner of the 2022 British Book Award for crime and thriller fiction. He received said commendation for The Dark Remains (Canongate), a surprise fourth entry in the popular Glasgow-set Jack Laidlaw series created by William McIlvanney. McIlvanney had left that book unfinished when he died in 2015, and Rankin was asked to complete it.

Also competing in this year’s Crime and Thriller category were:

• Girl A, by Abigail Dean (HarperFiction)
• The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday)
• 1979, by Val McDermid (Sphere)
• The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman (Viking)

The British Book Awards, or “Nibbies,” are administered by The Bookseller, a UK magazine reporting on the publishing industry. A complete list of this year’s prize nominees, in multiple categories, can be found here, with just the winners named here.