Revealing Fingerprints

It seems like yesterday—and indeed, it was just a bit over a month ago—that we were announcing the finalists for this year’s Fingerprint Awards, to be presented at London’s 2026 Capital Crime festival. Well, that event has been taking place over the last three days, and we now have the winners of those prizes. They come in eight categories.

Audiobook of the Year:
Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Also nominated: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline); We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion); Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Macmillan); and Artificial Wisdom, by Thomas R. Weaver (Transworld Digital)

True Crime Book of the Year:
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, by Virginia Roberts-Guiffre (Doubleday)

Also nominated: Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet); A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders, by Professor David Wilson (Sphere); and A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children, by Haley Cohen Gilliland (Avid Reader Press)

Debut Crime Book:
Deadline, by Steph McGovern (Macmillan)

Also nominated: Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus); Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph); The Day of the Roaring, by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press); and This Is Not a Game, by Kelly Mullen (Century)

Genre-Busting Book:
Kill Them with Kindness, by Will Carver (‎Orenda)

Also nominated: Little Red Death, by A.K. Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK); Blood Like Ours, by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster UK); Small Fires, by Ronnie Turner (Orenda); and Manhattan Down, by Michael Cordy (Bantam)

Historical Crime Book of the Year:
The Burning Grounds, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill)

Also nominated: The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle); The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Viper); Dangerous, by Essie Fox (Orenda); and Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Century)

Thriller Book of the Year:
Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Century)

Also nominated: The Chemist, by A.A. Dhand (HQ); Human Remains, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK); The Man Made of Smoke, by Alex North (Michael Joseph); and Some of Us Are Liars, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)

Overall Crime Book of the Year:
The Final Vow, by M.W. Craven (Constable)

Also nominated: The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper); Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre); The Good Father, by Liam Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre); and We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

Thalia Procter Lifetime Achievement Award: Trisha Jackson, publishing director for fiction at publisher Pan Macmillan

Publishing Crime Book Campaign of the Year: Pan MacMillan, for The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson