CRIME writers who are up for a possible honour have joined a long and it has to be said bloody list.

The authors will have to wait until July to see who has won this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

The long list has been announced today, and a mix of writers old and new will do murderous battle this year.

The multi-nominated Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Reginald Hill and Lee Child will face some of the genre’s newest stars, including Rosamund Lupton, whose debut novel Sister was the fastest-selling debut of 2010; Simon Lelic, whose debut Rupture earned much critical acclaim; and Belinda Bauer, whose debut novel Blacklands led her to be hailed as the woman most likely to lead the fight back against the Scandinavian crime-wave.

A third of this year’s longlist is made up of women, continuing a trend from last year. As well as McDermid, Lupton and Bauer, the list also includes Laura Wilson, nominated for A Capital Crime, SJ Bolton for Blood Harvest and Sophie Hannah for A Room Swept White.

Now in its seventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, in partnership with Asda, and this year in association with the Daily Mirror, was created to celebrate the best in British and Irish crime writing.

The award is the only one of its kind to be largely voted for by the general public.

The poll is open until Sunday, June 5 at theakstons.co.uk and the result of this vote will determine the six titles that are chosen.

This shortlist will be announced on June 27, and the winner will be decided by a panel of judges including this year’s chair Dreda Say Mitchell, the journalist and novelist Henry Sutton, the winner of a Daily Mirror reader competition and Simon Theakston, executive director of T&R Theakston Ltd.

The winner will be revealed by radio broadcaster and festival regular Mark Lawson on the opening night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on July 21.

Simon Theakston said: “I’m delighted to see such a wide range of authors on this year’s long-list. It’s particularly exciting to see many new names emerging who will hopefully continue to fly the flag for British and Irish crime writing for many years to come.”


• The longlist in full:

Blacklands, by Belinda Bauer (Corgi)
From The Dead, by Mark Billingham (Sphere)
Blood Harvest, by S J Bolton (Corgi Books)
61 Hours, by Lee Child (Bantam Books)
Winterland, by Alan Glynn (Faber)
A Room Swept White, by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)
The Woodcutter, by Reginald Hill (Harper Fiction)
Rupture, by Simon Lelic (Picador)
Sister, by Rosamund Lupton (Piatkus)
Dark Blood, by Stuart MacBride (Harper Fiction)
Fever Of The Bone, by Val McDermid (Sphere)
Fifty Grand, by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)
Still Bleeding, Steve Mosby (Orion)
The Twelve, by Stuart Neville (Vintage)
Random, by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
The Holy Thief, by William Ryan (Pan Books)
The Anatomy of Ghosts, by Andrew Taylor (Michael Joseph)
A Capital Crime, by Laura Wilson (Quercus)