Don’t Forget Guttridge’s Prize

In my coverage late last week of England’s CrimeFest 2016, I neglected to mention that novelist-critic Peter Guttridge won this year’s Margery Allingham Short Story Competition for his unpublished tale, “The Box-Shaped Mystery.” Also shortlisted for the Allingham prize were: “The Blockage,” by Ian Cowmeadow; “Faceless Killer,” by Christine Poulson; and “Safe as Houses,” by Scott Hunter.

The announcement of Guttridge’s success was made on Friday, May 20, during an event at CrimeFest in Bristol.

According to a news release, this competition—named in honor of the author who created sleuth Albert Campion and established in 2013—seeks to choose a yarn that “fits into Margery’s definition of what makes a great story: ‘The Mystery remains box-shaped, at once a prison and a refuge. Its four walls are, roughly, a Crime, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an Element of Satisfaction in it.’” Past winners were Lesley Mace and Martin Edwards.

Championed at CrimeFest

Thanks to the indefatigable Ali Karim, we can now bring you the winners of five different awards given out this evening at CrimeFest.

Audible Sounds of Crime Award (for best unabridged crime audiobook): The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins; read by Clare Corbett, India Fisher, and Louise Brealey (Random House Audiobooks)

Also nominated: Sleep Tight, by Rachel Abbott; read by Melody Grove and Andrew Wincott (Whole Story Audiobooks); Make Me, by Lee Child; read by Jeff Harding (Random House Audiobooks); The Stranger, by Harlan Coben; read by Eric Meyers (Orion); Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith; read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio); Finders Keepers, by Stephen King; read by Will Patton (Hodder & Stoughton); The Girl in the Spider’s Web, by David Lagercrantz; read by Saul Reichlin (Quercus); I Let You Go, by Clare Mackintosh; read by David Thorpe and Julia Barrie (Hachette Audio); and Even Dogs in the Wild, by Ian Rankin; read by James Macpherson (Orion)

Kobo eDunnit Award (for the best crime fiction e-book): The Crossing, by Michael Connelly (Orion)

Also nominated: Broken Promise, by Linwood Barclay (Orion); A Bed of Scorpions, by Judith Flanders (Allison & Busby); A Southwold Mystery, by Suzette A. Hill (Allison & Busby); Dreaming Spies, by Laurie R. King (Allison & Busby); Freedom’s Child, by Jax Miller (HarperCollins); Blood, Salt, Water, by Denise Mina (Orion); and The Silent Boy, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

The Last Laugh Award (for the best humorous crime novel): Bryant & May and the Burning Man, by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)

Also nominated: The Truth and Other Lies, by Sascha Arango (Simon & Schuster); As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, by Alan Bradley (Orion); Mrs. Pargeter’s Principle, by Simon Brett (Severn House); Smoke and Mirrors, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus); The Case of the ‘Hail Mary’ Celeste, by Malcolm Pryce (Bloomsbury); Mr. Campion’s Fox, by Mike Ripley (Severn House); and Savage Lane, by Jason Starr
(No Exit Press)

The H.R.F. Keating Award (for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction): The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: The Sherlock Holmes Book, by David Stuart Davies and Barry Forshaw (Dorling Kindersley); The Man with the Golden Typewriter: Ian Fleming’s James Bond Letters, by Fergus Fleming (Bloomsbury); Crime Uncovered: Detective, by Barry Forshaw (Intellect); Curtains Up: Agatha Christie—A Life in Theatre, by Julius Green (HarperCollins); Criminal Femmes Fatales in American Hard-boiled Crime Fiction, by Maysam Hasam Jaber (Palgrave Macmillan); Crime Uncovered: Anti-hero, by Fiona Peters and
Rebecca Stewart (Intellect); and John le Carré: The Biography, by Adam Sisman (Bloomsbury)

Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year: The Caveman, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce
(Sandstone Press; Norway)

Also nominated: The Drowned Boy, by Karin Fossum, translated by Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway); The Defenceless, by Kati Hiekkapelto, translated by David Hackston (Orenda; Finland); The Girl in the Spider's Web, by David Lagercrantz, translated by George Goulding (MacLehose Press; Sweden); Satellite People, by Hans Olav Lahlum, translated by Kari Dickson (Mantle; Norway); and Dark As My Heart, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by Lola Rogers
(Harvill Secker; Finland)

Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees!

READ MORE: “Living the Dream,” by Martin Edwards (‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’).

Beware! Master Crime Plotters on the Loose

This year’s CrimeFest began in Bristol, England, on Thursday and continues into tomorrow. Last night brought the announcement there of longlisted works in a variety of Dagger Awards categories, and the winners of five other prizes will be reported this evening. In the midst of it all, The Rap Sheet’s dynamic UK correspondent, Ali Karim—powered by periodic glasses of gin—has been sending photographs of the festivities our way. We’ll likely have more shots to share when Ali puts together a wrap-up of CrimeFest 2016, but for now, here are more than a dozen images that give should give you some sense of what it’s like to be attending that Bristol convention.


(Left to right) CrimeFest organizer Myles Allfrey finds a rare free moment to chat with Shots editor Mike Stotter.


Author Michael Grothaus with Kiwi blogger Craig Sisterson.


Mike Stotter poses with crime writers William Ryan and Leigh Russell, and literary agent Oli Munson.


Dagger nominee Martin Edwards with blogger Peter Rozovsky.


Scottish novelist Ian Rankin joins the festivities.


Ruth Dudley Edwards moderates a predictably delightful “humor in crime fiction” panel featuring Mike Ripley, James Runcie, Nev Fountain, and Douglas Lindsay.


Authors Sarah Pinborough and Kevin Wignall.


Shots critic Ayo Onatade with author Robert Wilson.


Peter Guttridge interviews fellow novelist James Naughtie and John le Carré biographer Adam Sisman.


Caroline Todd (who writes the Ian Rutledge series with her son, Charles) and Michael Sears (who, under the nom de plume “Michael Stanley,” pens the Detective Kubu novels with Stanley Trollip).


Barry Forshaw moderates the Brit Noir panel, with guests Alison Bruce, Martin Edwards, Howard Linskey, and Laura Wilson.


Novelists Mick Herron and Sarah Hilary.


Felix Francis (son of Dick Francis) signs one of his own books.


2008 Diamond Dagger winner Andrew Taylor interviews 2016 Diamond Dagger recipient Peter James.

SEE MORE: “Some Pictures from CrimeFest 2016,” by Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders).

Here Be Daggers

During an event held this evening as part of England’s annual CrimeFest, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced its longlists of nominees for nine 2016 Dagger Awards. They are:

CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger:
• Dodgers, by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
• Black Widow, by Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
• After You Die, by Eve Dolan (Harvill Secker)
• Real Tigers, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• Finders Keepers, by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Dead Pretty, by David Mark (Mulholland)
• Blood, Salt, Water, by Denise Mina (Orion)
• She Died Young, by Elizabeth Wilson (Serpent’s Tail)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• The Cartel, by Don Winslow (William Heinemann)
• The English Spy, by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins)
• Bone by Bone, by Sanjida Kay (Corvus)
• Rain Dogs, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)
• Real Tigers, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• The Hot Countries, by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Crime)
• Black-Eyed Susans, by Julia Hearberlin (Michael Joseph)
• Make Me, by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
• Spy Games, by Adam Brookes (Sphere)
• The American, by Nadia Dalbuono (Scribe UK)

CWA International Dagger:
• The Truth and Other Lies, by Sascha Arango;
translated by Imogen Taylor (Simon & Schuster)
• The Great Swindle, by Pierre Lemaître;
translated by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press)
• Icarus, by Deon Meyer;
translated by K.L. Seegers (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Sword of Justice, by Leif G.W. Persson;
translated by Neil Smith (Doubleday)
• The Murderer in Ruins, by Cay Rademacher;
translated by Peter Millar (Arcadia)
• The Father, by Anton Svensson;
translation not credited (Sphere)
• The Voices Beyond, by Johan Theorin;
translated by Marlaine Delargy (Transworld)
• Six Four, by Hideo Yokoyama;
translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davis (Quercus)

CWA Short Story Dagger:
• “As Alice Did,” by Andrea Camilleri (from Montalbano’s First Cases, by Andrea Camilleri; Pan Macmillan)
• “On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier,” by John Connolly (from Nocturnes 2: Night Music, by John Connolly; Hodder & Stoughton)
• “Holmes on the Range: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository,” by John Connolly (from Nocturnes 2: Night Music)
• “Bryant & May and the Nameless Woman,” by Christopher Fowler (from London’s Glory, by Christopher Fowler; Bantam)
• “Stray Bullets,” by Alberto Barrera (from Crimes, by Alberto Barrera Tyszka; MacLehose Press)
• “Rosenlaui,” by Conrad Williams (from The Mammoth Book of the Adventures of Moriarty: The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes’s Nemesis, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; Constable & Robinson)

CWA Non-fiction Dagger:
• The Golden Age of Murder: The Mystery of the Writers Who Invented the Modern Detective Story, by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)
• Sexy Beasts: The Hatton Garden Mob, by Wensley Clarkson (Quercus)
• You Could Do Something Amazing with Your Life (You Are Raoul Moat), by Andrew Hankinson (Scribe)
• A Very Expensive Poison: The Definitive Story of the Murder of Litvinenko and Russia’s War with the West, by Luke Harding
(Guardian Faber)
• Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories: From Lady Chatterley’s Lover to Howard Marks, by Thomas Grant (John Murray)
• John le Carré: The Biography, by Adam Sisman (Bloomsbury)

CWA Debut Dagger (for unpublished writers):
• Dark Valley, by John Kennedy
• Death by Dangerous, by Oliver Jarvis
• The Devil’s Dice, by Roz Watkins
• Hardways, by Catherine Hendricks
• Let’s Pretend, by Sue Williams
• Misconception, by Jack Burns
• A Reconstructed Man, by Graham Brack
• A State of Grace, by Rita Catching
• The Tattoo Killer, by Joe West
• Wimmera, by Mark Brandi

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• Fever City, by Tim Baker (Faber & Faber)
• Dodgers, by Bill Beverly (No Exit Press)
• Mr. Miller, by Charles Den Tex (World Editions)
• The Teacher, by Katerina Diamond (Avon)
• Wicked Game, by Matt Johnson (Orenda)
• Freedom’s Child, by Jax Miller (HarperCollins)
• Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh (Jonathan Cape)
• The Dark Inside, by Rod Reynolds (Faber & Faber)
• The Good Liar, by Nicholas Searle (Viking)

CWA Endeavor Historical Dagger:
• The House at Baker Street, by Michelle Birkby (Pan)
• A Death in the Dales, by Frances Brody (Piatkus)
• A Man of Some Repute and A Question of Inheritance, by Elizabeth Edmondson (Thomas & Mercer)
• Smoke and Mirrors, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• The Last Confessions of Thomas Hawkins, by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Other Side of Silence, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
• A Book of Scars, by William Shaw (Quercus)
• The Jazz Files, by Fiona Veitch Smith (Lion Fiction)
• Striking Murder, by A. J. Wright (Allison & Busby)
• Stasi Child, by David Young (Twenty7Books)

Dagger in the Library (awarded for an author’s entire
body of work):
• R.C. Bridgestock
• Tony Black
• Alison Bruce
• Angela Clarke
• Charlie Flowers
• Elly Griffiths
• Keith Houghton
• Quintin Jardine
• Louise Phillips
• Joe Stein

If past experience is any guide, the winners of these much-celebrated commendations should be broadcast sometime this coming fall.

(Hat tip to Ali Karim.)

Scandi Stars Shine

Half a dozen books and authors are in the running for the 2016 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, according to this announcement in Shotsmag Confidential. They are:

• The Drowned Boy, by Karin Fossum, translated by Kari Dickson (Harvill Secker; Norway)
• The Defenceless, by Kati Hiekkapelto, translated by David Hackston (Orenda; Finland)
• The Caveman, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce (Sandstone Press; Norway)
• The Girl in the Spider's Web, by David Lagercrantz,
translated by George Goulding (MacLehose Press; Sweden)
• Satellite People, by Hans Olav Lahlum,
translated by Kari Dickson (Mantle; Norway)
• Dark As My Heart, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by Lola Rogers (Harvill Secker; Finland)

The Petrona Award takes its name from a long-running blog written by Maxine Clarke, a British “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction,” who died in December 2012. This year’s winner will be declared during a dinner held on May 21 during CrimeFest in Bristol, England.

READ MORE: “The Petrona Award Shortlist 2016,” by Norman Price (Crime Scraps Review).