Having a Ball in Bristol

Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim--on the scene during this weekend’s CrimeFest in Bristol, England--has not only been keeping us apprised of the awards presented during that convention (see here and here), but he’s also shared a few of his thoughts on the three-day event. He says he’s enjoyed some “fantastic conversations” and “good-mannered interactions,” as well as the “superb hotel facilities providing a very relaxed time for those who read crime thrillers.”

In addition, of course, Ali has been uploading to Facebook a number of photographs. They capture panel discussions and crowds mingling in anticipation of announcements, as well as the many authors and critics attending CrimeFest. We’ve selected some of the best of his pics below, just enough to give you a sense of the convivial atmosphere that reigns at crime-fiction gatherings such as this one.

The Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, home to CrimeFest 2013



Left to right: Novelists Simon Kernick and Martin Walker


Felix Francis, author and son of the late Dick Francis


Poet and crime-fictionist Sophie Hannah


Author John Lawton with American blogger Peter Rozovsky


TV documentary producer Richard Burke, Shots e-zine editor Mike Stotter, and thriller writer Robert Wilson


Writers Stav Sherez and Chris Ewan


Bouchercon board members Marjory Mogg and Jeff Sieger


Glasgow wordsmiths William McIlvanney and Craig Robertson


Novelists Robert Goddard and Stanley Trollip


Barry Forshaw (far left) moderates the International Writers forum with guest authors Roberto Constantini, David Hewson, Derek Miller, and Thomas Enger.


During a panel discussion about the popular BBC-TV series Sherlock, writers/co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat--in the center two seats on stage--entertain the crowd. More on what they said during that session can be learned here.


Nordic novelists Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and K.O. Dahl attend a reception arranged by publisher Severn House.

(All photos © 2013 Ali Karim)

READ MORE: “CrimeFest 2013--Part One,” “Part Two,” and “Part Three,” by Martin Edwards (‘Do You Write Under Your Own Name?’); “CrimeFest 2013,” by Declan Burke (Crime Always Pays); “A Post Post-CrimeFest,” by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (Murder Is Everywhere).

Just Rewards

By all reports, this evening’s awards presentations at CrimeFest 2013 in Bristol, England, have now concluded. Thanks to Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim’s Facebook page, we have the winners of those five much-coveted prizes.

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award (for audiobooks):
Standing in Another Man’s Grave, by Ian Rankin, read by James MacPherson (Orion Audio)

Also nominated: The Black Box, by Michael Connelly, read by Michael McConnohie (Orion Audio); The Racketeer, by John Grisham, read by J.D. Jackson (Hodder & Stoughton); The Lewis Man, by Peter May, read by Peter Forbes (Quercus); and Phantom, by Jo Nesbø, read by Sean Barrett (Random House/Isis)

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award (for humorous crime novels): Killing the Emperors, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Allison & Busby)

Also nominated: The Prisoner of Brenda, by Colin Bateman (Headline); The Corpse on the Court, by Simon Brett (Severn House); Slaughter’s Hound, by Declan Burke (Liberties Press); Bryant & May and the Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler (Doubleday); and The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats, by Hesh Kestin (Mulholland)

The eDunnit Award (for crime-fiction e-books): Bryant & May and the Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)

Also nominated: The Age of Doubt, by Andrea Camilleri (Mantle); Killing the Emperors, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Allison &; Busby); and Dominion, by C.J. Sansom (Mantle)

The H.R.F. Keating Award (for biographical or critical works): British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia, edited by Barry Forshaw (Greenwood World Publishing, 2008)

Also nominated: Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Hodder & Stoughton, 2012); Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks, by John Curran (HarperCollins, 2009); Invisible Ink, by Christopher Fowler (Strange Attractor, 2012); Following the Detectives: Real Location in Crime Fiction, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (New Holland Publishers, 2010); and Talking About Detective Fiction, by P.D. James (The Bodleian Library, 2009)

Petrona Award (for translated crime fiction): Last Will, by Liza Marklund, translated by Neil Smith (Corgi)

Also nominated: Pierced, by Thomas Enger, translated by Charlotte Barslund (Faber and Faber); Black Skies, by Arnaldur Indridason, translated by Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker); and Another Time, Another Life, by Leif G.W. Persson, translated by Paul Norlen (Doubleday)

Congratulations to the winners and other nominees!

READ MORE: “CrimeFest--Day 1,” by Sarah Ward (Crimepieces); “CrimeFest 2: Drop Your Pants, This Is a Fire Drill,” by Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders).

Daggers Seek Their Targets

The British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) today announced its shortlists of nominees for six different Dagger Awards.

The CWA International Dagger:

• Alex, by Pierre Lemaitre,
translated by Frank Wynne (Quercus)
• The Missing File, by D.A. Mishani,
translated by Steven Cohen (Quercus)
• Two Soldiers, by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström,
translated by Kari Dickson (Quercus)
• Ghost Riders of Ordebec, by Fred Vargas,
translated by Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker)
• Death in Sardinia, by Marco Vichi,
translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Collini Case, by Ferdinand von Schirach,
translated by Anthea Bell (Michael Joseph)

The CWA Non-Fiction Dagger:

• Midnight in Peking, by Paul French (Penguin Viking)
• The Boy in the River, by Richard Hoskins (Pan Macmillan)
• Against a Tide of Evil, by Mukesh Kapila, with Damien Lewis (Mainstream)
• A Fine Day for a Hanging, by Carol Ann Lee (Mainstream)
• Injustice, by Clive Stafford Smith (Random House)
• Murder at Wrotham Hill, by Diana Souhami (Quercus)

The CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger:

• The Heretics, by Rory Clements (John Murray)
• Pilgrim Soul, by Gordon Ferris (Corvus)
• The Paris Winter, by Imogen Robertson (Headline)
• Dead Men and Broken Hearts, by Craig Russell (Quercus)
• The Twelfth Department, by William Ryan (Mantle)
• The Scent of Death, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

The CWA Short Story Dagger:

• “Method Murder,” by Simon Brett (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; Constable)
• “Stairway C,” by Piero Colaprico (from Outsiders, edited by Ben Faccini; MacLehose Press)
• “Come Away with Me,” by Stella Duffy (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10)

• “The Case of Death and Honey,” by Neil Gaiman (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10)

• “Ferengi,” by Carlo Lucarelli (from Outsiders)
• “Lost and Found,” by Zoë Sharp (from Vengeance, edited by Lee Child; Corvus)

The CWA Dagger in the Library:

• Belinda Bauer
• Alison Bruce
• Gordon Ferris

• Christopher Fowler
• Elly Griffiths
• Michael Ridpath

(The longlist of contenders for this prize can be found here.)

The CWA Debut Dagger:

• Aine Oomhnaill (Ireland), The Assassin’s Keeper
• Finn Clarke (UK), Call Time
• Sue Dawes (UK), TAG
• Alex Sweeney (UK), Working in Unison
• Marie Hannan-Mandel (USA), Lesson Plan for Murder
• Ron Puckering (UK), Honour or Justice
• David Evans (UK), Torment
• Jayne Barnard (Canada), When the Bow Breaks
• D.B. Carew (Canada), Fighting Darkness: The Killer Trail
• Mike Craven (UK), Born in a Burial Gown
• Emma Melville (UK), The Journeyman
• Joanna Dodd (UK), A Cure for All Evils

The winners of these prizes will be announced during a July 15 dinner at Kings Place in London. Also included in those festivities will be the presentation, to Lee Child, of this year’s Diamond Dagger and an announcement of the nominees for the CWA’s annual Gold, Steel, and John Creasey Daggers.

Firsts From the Fest

CrimeFest 2013 opened its doors earlier today in Bristol, England. Sadly, I won’t be attending that much-heralded mystery- and thriller-fiction convention, though my name will evidently be uttered somewhere along the line: a collection of 20 trivia questions about Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm espionage thrillers that I put together recently will feature in the con’s Criminal Mastermind Quiz.

Fortunately, there are other bloggers attending, and I hope to provide links from this page to some of their reporting over the next three days. Stanley Trollip, one of the two authors behind the Detective Kubu Bengu series, has already filed his first post for Murder Is Everywhere, and Peter Rozovsky of Detectives Beyond Borders has commenced penning what should be a succession of posts from Bristol.

Tomorrow night is set to bring the announcement of who has won this year’s Dagger in the Library Award (the contenders are here), and four other prizes will be handed out on Saturday, June 1, during a “gala dinner” (click here to see the shortlists of nominees).

I’ll try to stay on top of these doings, even if from afar.

’Tis the Season for Back Patting

The last week has been a significant one, at least so far as crime-fiction-related commendations go. Lists of nominees were announced for the 2013 Dagger in the Library Award, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, and of course the 2013 Anthony Awards. Meanwhile, we were let in on the winners of this year’s Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Agatha Awards.

However, there are still more contenders for additional honors. Let’s start here with the shortlists of nominees for four prizes to be handed out on Saturday, June 1, at a “gala dinner” during this month’s CrimeFest (May 30-June 2) in Bristol, England:

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award (“recognizes the best crime audiobook published in both print and audio in 2012”):

• The Black Box, by Michael Connelly; read by Michael McConnohie (Orion Audio)
• The Racketeer, by John Grisham; read by J.D. Jackson
(Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Lewis Man, by Peter May; read by Peter Forbes (Quercus)
• Phantom, by Jo Nesbø; read by Sean Barrett (Random House/Isis)
• Standing in Another Man’s Grave, by Ian Rankin; read by James MacPherson (Orion Audio)

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award (“for the best humorous crime
novel of 2012”):

• The Prisoner of Brenda, by Colin Bateman (Headline)
• The Corpse on the Court, by Simon Brett (Severn House)
• Slaughter’s Hound, by Declan Burke (Liberties Press)
• Killing the Emperors, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Allison &; Busby)
• Bryant & May and the Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler (Doubleday)
• The Iron Will of Shoeshine Cats, by Hesh Kestin (Mulholland)

The eDunnit Award (“for the best crime fiction e-book published in 2012 in both hardcopy and in electronic format”):

• The Age of Doubt, by Andrea Camilleri (Mantle)
• Killing the Emperors, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Allison &; Busby)
• Bryant & May and the Invisible Code, by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)
• Dominion, by C.J. Sansom (Mantle)

The H.R.F. Keating Award (“for the best biography or critical book related to crime fiction e-book published between 2008 and 2012”):

• Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, edited by John Connolly and Declan Burke (Hodder & Stoughton, 2012)
• Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks, by John Curran
(HarperCollins, 2009)
• British Crime Writing: An Encyclopaedia, edited by Barry Forshaw (Greenwood World Publishing, 2008)
• Invisible Ink, by Christopher Fowler (Strange Attractor, 2012)
• Following the Detectives: Real Location in Crime Fiction, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (New Holland Publishers, 2010)
• Talking About Detective Fiction, by P.D. James (The Bodleian
Library, 2009)

* * *

Next, we have the 2013 winners of the Spinetingler Awards, presented annually by Spinetingler Magazine. Readers were asked to vote for the favorite nominees online. Here are this year’s fortunate recipients, with the full lists of contenders available under the category links:

• Best Novel -- New Voice: Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn (Crown)
• Best Novel -- Rising Star/Legend: The Cold Cold Ground, by Adrian McKinty (Seventh Street)
• Best Novella/Short Novel: A Woman and a Knife, by Matthew C. Funk (from Uncle B’s Drive-in Fiction, edited by Elisha Murphy; CreateSpace)
• Best Anthology/Short Story Collection: Roachkiller & Other Stories, by R. Navaez (Beyond the Page)
• Best Short Story on the Web: “The Tractor Thief’s Jacket,” by Gita M. Smith (MudJob, September 2012)
• Best Cover: 18 Days, by Allen Miles (Byker e-book)

* * *

Finally, the online edition of the American Library Association’s Booklist magazine has posted its rundown of “The Year’s Best Crime Novels: 2013.” If it seems, well, a tad early to be broadcasting such a thing, that’s because the calendar employed for this compilation doesn’t jibe with the one you or I usually use; as author Bill Ott explains, these picks “draw from crime fiction reviewed in Booklist since the last Mystery Showcase issue (in this case, from May 1, 2012, through April 15, 2013).” Among Booklist’s top 10 choices are The Andalucian Friend, by Alexander Soderberg, Ghostman, by Roger Hobbs, and Shatter the Bones, by Stuart MacBride, while its selection of the “best crime fiction debuts” includes The Beggar’s Opera, by Peggy Blair, A Good Death, by Christopher R. Cox, and The Thing About Thugs, by Tabish Khair. Again, you’ll find the full lists here.

(Hat tip to Randal Brandt.)

Check Out These Contenders

The British Crime Writers’ Association today announced its longlist of 13 nominees for the 2013 Dagger in the Library Award. As the CWA has explained before, this annual Dagger is given “not for an individual book but for the author’s body of work.” The contenders are:

• Belinda Bauer
• Alison Bruce
• S.J. Bolton
• Peter May
• Gordon Ferris
• Tania Carver
• Elly Griffiths
• Christopher Fowler
• Michael Ridpath
• Jane Casey
• Phil Rickman
• Alex Gray
• Frances Brody

More information about the individual authors--at least most of whom have vied for this prize before--can be found here.

From the names mentioned above, a shortlist of finalists will be selected and the identities of those authors disclosed on May 31 during CrimeFest in Bristol, England. The eventual winner will be announced in the course of the Daggers Gala Dinner on July 15.

Last year’s CWA Dagger in the Library recipient was Steve Mosby.