CrimeFest Pushes Through the Pandemic

This year’s CrimeFest—which was to have taken place in Bristol, England, from June 4 to 7—may have been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped organizers from announcing their nominees for a series of traditional, annual awards—plus a new commendation: the Specsavers Crime Fiction Debut Award. The winners of all these prizes are to be announced via social media on Tuesday, July 7. Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Specsavers Crime Fiction Debut Award:
• The Chemical Detective, by Fiona Erskine (Point Blank)
• Evil Things, by Katja Ivar (Bitter Lemon Press)
• The Conviction of Cora Burns, by Carolyn Kirby (No Exit Press)
• The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (Orion)
• Blood & Sugar, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• To the Lions, by Holly Watt (Raven)

Audible Sounds of Crime Award:
• Big Sky, by Kate Atkinson, read by Jason Isaacs (Penguin
Random House Audio)
• My Sister, the Serial Killer, by Oyinkan Braithwaite, read by
Weruche Opia (W.F. Howes)
• Winter Dark, by Alex Callister, read by Ell Potter (Audibe Studios)
• Blue Moon, by Lee Child, read by Jeff Harding (Penguin
Random House Audio)
• The Family Upstairs, by Lisa Jewell, read by Tamaryn Payne, Bea Holland, and Dominic Thorburn (Penguin Random House Audio)
• The Holiday, by T.M. Logan, read by Laura Kirman (Zaffre)
• The Man with No Face, by Peter May, read by Peter Forbes (Quercus)
• The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, read by Louise Brealey and Jack Hawkins (Orion)

eDunnit Award:
• Worst Case Scenario, by Helen FitzGerald (Orenda)
• Never Be Broken, by Sarah Hilary (Headline)
• The King’s Evil, by Andrew Taylor (HarperFiction)
• The Maltese Herring, by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)
• To the Lions, by Holly Watt (Raven)
• The Border, by Don Winslow (HarperFiction)

H.R.F. Keating Award:
• Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan, by
Ursula Buchan (Bloomsbury)
• The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club, by John Curran (HarperCollins Crime Club)
• Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, by Barry Forshaw (No Exit Press)

Last Laugh Award:
• A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself, by William Boyle (No Exit Press)
• Tidings of Death at Honeychurch Hall, by Hannah
Dennison (Constable)
• Worst Case Scenario, by Helen FitzGerald (Orenda)
• Bryant & May: The Lonely Hour, by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)
• Little Siberia, by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda)
• The Maltese Herring, by L.C. Tyler (Allison & Busby)

Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12):
• The Great Brain Robbery, by P.G. Bell (Usborne)
• The Steam Whistle Theatre Company, by Vivian French (Walker)
• Potkin and Stubbs, by Sophie Green (Bonnier)
• The Garden of Lost Secrets, by A.M. Howell (Usborne)
• The Haven, by Simon Lelic (Hodder Children’s Books)
• Malamander, by Thomas Taylor (Walker)

Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (ages 12-16):
• Beauty Sleep, by Kathryn Evans for (Usborne)
• Theodore Boone: The Accomplice, by John Grisham
(Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Peculiar Peggs of Riddling Woods, by Samuel J. Halpin (Usborne)
• Hey Sherlock! by Simon Mason (David Fickling)
• Heartstream, by Tom Pollock (Walker)
• The Boxer, by Nikesh Shukla (Hodder Children’s Books)