Bringing Out the Prizes in Bristol

Grantchester Mysteries author James Runcie holds forth as the toastmaster at tonight’s CrimeFest “gala awards dinner.”

This third day of CrimeFest 2015 in Bristol, England, found convention-goers turning out in droves to see author Lee Child’s onstage interview with legendary Swedish crime writer Maj Sjöwall (“One of the best one-on-one interviews that they have ever had at CrimeFest,” pronounced Shots contributor Ayo Onatade). Also crowded, though, was its concluding event: this evening’s presentation of five awards for different sorts of excellence in the genre.

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award (for the best unabridged crime audiobook): The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling); read by Robert Glenister (Little, Brown)

Also nominated: Foxglove Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch; read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Orion); Personal, by Lee Child; read by Jeff Harding (Penguin); Moriarty, by Anthony Horowitz; read by Derek Jacobi and Julian Rhind-Tutt (Orion); Want You Dead, by Peter James; read by Daniel Weyman (Macmillan); Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King; read by Will Patton (Hodder & Stoughton); The Son, by Jo Nesbø; read by Sean Barrett (Penguin); and The Hangman’s Song, by James Oswald; read by Ian Hanmore (Penguin)

E-Dunnit Award (for the best crime fiction e-book): A Colder War, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: No Safe House, by Linwood Barclay (Orion); The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons, by Lawrence Block (Orion); Dark Tides, by Chris Ewan (Faber & Faber); Natchez Burning, by Greg Illes (HarperCollins); Hollow Mountain, by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury); Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Thomas Sweterlitsch (Headline); and The Silent Boy, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award (for the best humorous crime novel): Crooked Herring, by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

Also nominated: The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons, by Lawrence Block (Orion); Crime Always Pays, by Declan Burke (Severn House); Bryant & May: The Bleeding Heart, by Christopher Fowler (Bantam); Kill Your Boss, by Shane Kuhn (Little, Brown); and The Accident, by Chris Pavone (Faber & Faber)

The H.R.F. Keating Award (for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction): Late Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock, by Clare Clarke (Palgrave)

Also nominated: Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Fiction, by Pamela Bedore (Palgrave); Nordic Noir, by Barry Forshaw (Pocket Essentials); Euro Noir, by Barry Forshaw (No Exit Press); Crime Scene: Britain & Ireland, by John Martin (Five Leaves); and A Very British Murder, by Lucy Worsley (BBC Books)

Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year:
The Silence of the Sea, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton; Iceland)

Also nominated: The Hummingbird, by Kati Hiekkapelto, translated by David Hackston (Arcadia Books; Finland); The Hunting Dogs, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press; Norway); Reykjavik Nights, by Arnaldur Indriðason, translated by Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker; Iceland); The Human Flies, by Hans Olav Lahlum, translated by Kari Dickson (Mantle; Norway); and Falling Freely, As If in a Dream, by Leif G.W. Persson, translated by Paul Norlen (Doubleday; Sweden)

Congratulations to all of tonight’s winners!

(Photograph © 2015 by Ali Karim)

READ MORE: “The Best Things About CrimeFest 2015”
(Crime Fiction Lover).

Daggers Take Aim

CrimeFest 2015 kicked off yesterday in Bristol, England, and will continue into early Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow evening is expected to bring the announcement of who has won four awards dispensed annually during this convention. But tonight’s festivities concluded with news about shortlisted contenders for five other prizes, to be given out on June 30 by the UK Crime Writers’ Association.

The International Dagger:
• Falling Freely, As If in a Dream, by Leif G.W. Persson,
translated by Paul Norlen (Transworld)
• Camille, by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne (Quercus)
• Cobra, by Deon Meyer, translated by (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Arab Jazz, by Karim Miské, translated by Sam Gordon (MacLehose)
• The Invisible Guardian, by Dolores Redondo, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler (HarperCollins)
• Into a Raging Blaze, by Andreas Norman, translated by
Ian Giles (Quercus)

The Short Story Dagger:
• “Apocrypha,” by Richard Lange (from Sweet Nothing: Stories, by Richard Lange; Mulholland Press)
• “Red Eye,” by Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane (from Face Off, edited by David Baldacci; Sphere)
• “The Hunter,” by Dashiell Hammett (from The Hunter and Other Stories; No Exit Press)
• “Sweet Nothing,” by Richard Lange (from Sweet Nothing)
• “Juror 8,” by Stuart Neville (from OxCrimes; Profile)
• “The Dead Their Eyes Implore Us,” by George Pelecanos
(from OxCrimes)

The Non-fiction Dagger:
• In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile,
by Dan Davies (Quercus)
• A Kim Jong-Il Production, by Paul Fischer (Penguin)
• Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic, by Jill Leovy
(Bodley Head)
• Gun Baby Gun: A Bloody Journey into the World of the Gun,
by Iain Overton (Canongate)
• One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway, by Ǻsne Seierstad (Virago)
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,
by Bryan Stevenson (Scribe)

The Endeavour Historical Dagger:
• Havana Sleeping, by Martin Davies (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Lamentation, by C. J. Sansom (Mantle)
• The Man from Berlin, by Luke McCallin (No Exit Press)
• The Seeker, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
• The Silent Boy, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)
• The Taxidermist’s Daughter, by Kate Mosse (Orion)

The Debut Dagger:
• Dark Chapter, by Winnie M. Li
• Last of the Soho Legends, by Greg Keen
• The Ice Coffin, by Jill Sawyer
• The Pure Drop, by Nigel Robbins
• Lock Me In, by Kate Simants

In addition, Diamond Dagger recipient Catherine Aird presented Lesley Mace with the Margery Allingham Short Story Award for “Game Over.”

Britain, Canada Announce Prize Rivals

Thanks to Janet Rudolph’s Mystery Fanfare, we now have the shortlists of nominees for four annual awards to be handed out on Saturday, May 16, as part of this year’s CrimeFest convention in Bristol, England.

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award
(for the best unabridged crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2014 in both printed and audio formats):

• Foxglove Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch; read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Orion)

• Personal, by Lee Child; read by Jeff Harding (Penguin)

• The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling); read by Robert Glenister (Little, Brown)

• Moriarty, by Anthony Horowitz; read by Derek Jacobi and Julian Rhind-Tutt (Orion)

• Want You Dead, by Peter James; read by Daniel Weyman (Macmillan)

• Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King; read by Will Patton
(Hodder & Stoughton)

• The Son, by Jo Nesbø; read by Sean Barrett (Penguin)

• The Hangman’s Song, by James Oswald; read by Ian Hanmore (Penguin)

E-Dunnit Award
(for the best crime fiction e-book first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2014):

• No Safe House, by Linwood Barclay (Orion)

• The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons, by Lawrence Block (Orion)

• A Colder War, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

• Dark Tides, by Chris Ewan (Faber & Faber)

• Natchez Burning, by Greg Illes (HarperCollins)

• Hollow Mountain, by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury)

• Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Thomas Sweterlitsch (Headline)

• The Silent Boy, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award
(for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2014):

• The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons, by Lawrence Block (Orion)

• Crime Always Pays, by Declan Burke (Severn House)

• Bryant & May: The Bleeding Heart, by Christopher Fowler (Bantam)

• Kill Your Boss, by Shane Kuhn (Little, Brown)

• The Accident, by Chris Pavone (Faber & Faber)

• Crooked Herring, by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

The H.R.F. Keating Award
(for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction first published in the British Isles between 2013 and 2014):

• Dime Novels and the Roots of American Detective Fiction, by Pamela Bedore (Palgrave)

• Late Victorian Crime Fiction in the Shadows of Sherlock, by Clare Clarke (Palgrave)

• Nordic Noir, by Barry Forshaw (Pocket Essentials)

• Euro Noir, by Barry Forshaw (No Exit Press)

• Crime Scene: Britain & Ireland, by John Martin (Five Leaves)

• A Very British Murder, by Lucy Worsley (BBC Books)

* * *

Meanwhile, we also have the five contenders for this year’s Bony Blithe Award for Best Canadian Light Mystery. They are:

• The Corpse with the Platinum Hair, by Cathy Ace (Touchwood)

• Many Unpleasant Returns, by Judith Alguire (Signature)

• Seeing the Light, by E.C. Bell (Tyche)

• Night of the Living Thread, by Janet Bolin (Berkley Prime Crime)

• The Resurrection of Mary Mabel McTavish, by Allan Stratton
(Dundurn Press)

A winner will be announced on May 29 during the Bony Blithe Bash at The Hot House Restaurant in Toronto, Ontario.

Readying Another Start for CrimeFest

I’ve long wanted to attend the annual CrimeFest convention in Bristol, England--at least as long as my colleague Ali Karim has been talking it up to me (which is pretty much since the whole thing began, in 2008). But so far, I haven’t managed to make it over to Great Britain for that event. Maybe someday, if I ever have the money to spare or ever complete the novel I’ve been working on for years, I shall go.

Meanwhile, CrimeFest co-creator Adrian Muller (who I had a wonderful opportunity to talk with in Long Beach during last fall’s Bouchercon) sent along the following brief explanation of what this year’s participants can expect from CrimeFest:

Lee Child, Maj Sjöwall, James Runcie and Sophie Hannah are among the top names set to speak at this year’s CrimeFest convention in Bristol, 14th-17th May. The UK’s biggest crime fiction convention will see over 400 authors, agents, publishers and crime fiction fans from across the globe descend on the city for a jam-packed four days, including over fifty curated panels and speaking events. The international Bristol-based event runs across four days at the Marriott Royal Hotel, and has been named as one of the best festivals in the world by The Guardian. The event has featured in The Independent’s “The 50 Best Festivals” and is one of the most popular dates in the crime publishing calendar.

Lee Child, bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers, will be in conversation with Maj Sjöwall, often considered the founder of Scandinavian crime fiction. Child described the opportunity to interview Sjöwall [as] a “pleasure and privilege.” James Runcie, author of the Sydney Chambers mysteries, recently dramatised for ITV as Grantchester, will be interviewed alongside Catherine Aird, the 2015 recipient of the British Crime Writers’ Association’s Diamond Dagger Award for excellence in crime writing. To celebrate 125 years of Agatha Christie, Sophie Hannah, author of recent Poirot novel The Monogram Murders, and Mathew Prichard, Christie’s own grandson and chairman of Agatha Christie Limited, will be in conversation with John Curran.

Representing his CrimeFest co-hosts Myles Allfrey and Donna Moore, Adrian Muller said: “Every year we are told that the convention was the best one yet, which creates an enormous pressure to maintain the quality for the one to come. But a large part of CrimeFest’s success is due to the enthusiasm our delegates bring to the event. It is amazing how many of them sign up the preceding year without even knowing which authors will be attending. That kind of support is what keeps CrimeFest going.”

The convention also includes a Pitch an Agent strand, a literary agent speed-dating session where unpublished authors can present their ideas in a Dragon’s Den style session. Those wishing to pen their own crime novel can take part in a Crime Writing Day, which includes sessions with agents and editors, optional manuscript assessments and a workshop with bestselling crime writers M.R. Hall and William Ryan.

This year’s panels include “Crime Pays in Audio” with Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman representing narrators of audio books; explorations of sex in crime fiction and the Euro Noir phenomenon with Barry Forshaw; and, in association with the International Thriller Writers, Lee Child battles it out with Chris Ewan, Tom Harper, Zoë Sharp and Yrsa Sigurdardóttir to discover “Brains Or Brawn, Who Kicks Best Ass?”

Sigh. I can’t help envying folks able to attend CrimeFest …