Hand It to the Fingerprint Champs

This year’s Capital Crime Festival began in London yesterday, September 29, and will continue into tomorrow, October 1. But already news has been made with the announcement of which books and authors have won the festival’s inaugural Fingerprint Awards.

Crime Book of the Year:
The Sanatorium, by Sarah Pearse (Transworld)

Also nominated: 1979, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown); The Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Viper); Girls Who Lie, by Eva Björg Ægisdottir (Orenda); and Slough House, by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)

Thriller Book of the Year:
Razorblade Tears, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)

Also nominated: A Slow Fire Burning, by Paula Hawkins (Transworld); Dead Ground, by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown); The Night She Disappeared, by Lisa Jewell (Cornerstone); and Last Thing to Burn, by Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton)

Historical Crime Book of the Year:
The Shape of Darkness, by Laura Purcell (Bloomsbury)

Also nominated: A Net for Small Fishes, by Lucy Jago (Bloomsbury); Daughters of Night, by Laura-Shepherd Robinson (Pan Macmillan); The Shadows of Men, by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage); and A Comedy of Terrors, by Lindsay Davis (Hodder & Stoughton)

Debut Book of the Year:
Girl A, by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: Greenwich Park, by Katherine Faulkner (Bloomsbury); Welcome to Cooper, by Tariq Ashkanani (Thomas & Mercer); How to Kidnap the Rich, by Rahul Raina (Little, Brown); and Edge of the Grave, by Robbie Morrison (Pan Macmillan)

Genre-Busting Book of the Year:
The Burning Girls, by C.J. Tudor Penguin)

Also nominated: The Other Black Girl, by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Bloomsbury); How to Kill Your Family, by Bella Mackie (HarperCollins); Eight Detectives, by Alex Pavesi (Penguin); and What Abigail Did That Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch (Orion)

Audiobook of the Year: The Girl Who Died, by Ragnar Jónasson, narrated by Amanda Redman (Orenda)

Also nominated: People Like Her, by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan); True Crime Story, by Joseph Knox (Transworld); A Line to Kill, by Anthony Horowitz (Cornerstone); and I Know What I Saw, by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury)

Industry Award of the Year: HarperCollins for Girl A, by Abigail Dean

Lifetime Achievement Award (Posthumous): Thalia Proctor

Books eligible for the Fingerprints were all published in Great Britain in 2021. English actor and author Paul Clayton revealed this year’s winners during a special event on Thursday night.

(Hat tip to Promoting Crime Fiction.)