Scots authors on shortlist for prestigious crime awards

Scottish authors Abir Mukherjee & Helen FitzGerald have been shortlisted for one of the UK’s most prestigious crime novel awards.

Two Scots authors are on the shortlist.

Scottish-Bengali accountant-turned author Abir Mukherjee is vying for the title of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year with Smoke & Ashes, while Glaswegian ex-criminal justice social worker Helen Fitzgerald is shortlisted for Worst Case Scenario.

For Fitzgerald, the shortlisting marks her first appearance on the Theakston list since The Cry, adapted into a major BBC drama starting Jenna Colman, was longlisted in 2013.

Smoke & Ashes is the third instalment in the Wyndham & Banerjee series set in Raj-era India.

The shortlist of six authors also includes My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite , The Lost Man by Jane Harper, Joe Country by Mick Herron and The Chain by Adrian McKinty.

New reading research from Nielsen Book shows that the genre is continuing to soar in popularity, a trend led by younger readers and men

Executive director of T&R Theakston, Simon Theakston, said: “Seeing the huge variety and originality within this shortlist, it comes as no surprise to hear that crime fiction is dominating our lockdown reading habits.

The award is run by Harrogate International Festivals and supported by T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith and the Express, and is open to full length crime novels published in paperback from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2019 by UK and Irish authors.

The public vote for the winner is now open with the champion set to be revealed in a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 23 July marking what would have been the opening evening of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. The annual gathering – which formed part of Harrogate International Festival Summer Season – was cancelled due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The winner will receive £3,000 and an engraved oak beer cask, hand-carved by one of Britain’s last coopers from Theakstons Brewery.

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