A Full-Bodied Company of Contestants

Organizers of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival—the 20th-anniversary edition, scheduled to take place in Harrogate, England, from July 20 to 23—today announced their 20 contenders for the 2023 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. Here’s the distinguished lineup:

• The Murder Book, by Mark Billingham (Little Brown)
• The Botanist, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
• Into the Dark, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan/Pan)
• The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins)
• The Locked Room, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• The Twyford Code, by Janice Hallett (Viper)
• Bad Actors, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• The Family Remains, by Lisa Jewell (Century)
• Black Hearts, by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
• The Lost Man of Bombay, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Last Party, by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)
• All I Said Was True, by Imran Mahmood (Raven)
• Wrong Place Wrong Time, by Gillian McAllister (Michael Joseph)
• 1989, by Val McDermid (Little Brown)
• The Heretic, by Liam McIlvanney (HarperCollins)
• Blue Water, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
• May God Forgive, by Alan Parks (Canongate)
• Truly Darkly Deeply, by Victoria Selman (Quercus)
• Reputation, by Sarah Vaughan (Simon & Schuster)
• The It Girl, by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster)

From now through Thursday, May 18, readers are invited to vote online for their favorite title among these works. A shortlist of half a dozen finalists will be released on June 15, with this year’s ultimate winner to be crowned on the crime writing festival’s opening night.

Simon Theakston, executive director of the historic Theakston Brewery, which sponsors this annual event, is quoted as saying: “Each year I eagerly await the longlist announcement for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and every year I’m reminded of the phenomenal talent in the crime fiction writing world, whether a returning icon or a rising star. I’m looking forward to a celebratory toast of Old Peculier in July, but for now, we raise a glass to all the exceptional nominees as the shortlist vote is taken to the public.”