It’s that time of the year again. Time for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year shortlist!
And for the first time ever, I’ve actually read ALL SIX books. Considering how much I read in this genre, it always surprises me when it turns out I’ve only read one or two. And until just over a week ago, I’d read half of the shortlist. Then my daughter gave me None Of This Is True for Father’s Day, and I realised I could complete the list. The challenge was on!
I finished William Hussey’s Killing Jericho this morning, so thought it would be a great idea for a roundup of the books and my thoughts.
In no particular order, here are the six shortlisted books
The Last Dance – Mark Billingham
(Sphere, paperback, own copy)
Mark Billingham is no stranger to the Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year shortlist. He won the inaugural award back in 2005 with Lazybones, followed up by a shortlist spot in 2008 with Buried, a second win in 2009 with Death Message, and shortlists in 2010 for In The Dark and 2011 for From The Dead. Taking a year off in 2012 he returned to the shortlist in 2013 with Rush of Blood and 2016 with Time of Death.
The Last Dance marks his eighth(!) appearance on the shortlist, and a new detective, Declan Miller. Can this book make it a hat trick of wins?
I absolutely loved this one. Declan Miller is mourning the death of his wife and possibly back on the job too soon, but has a delightfully dark humour running through it, an intriguing case and some fantastic characters. Roll on book 2 (which is fortunately out now so I don’t need to wait!)
He’s a detective, a dancer, he has no respect for authority – and he’s the best hope Blackpool has for keeping criminals off the streets. Meet Detective Declan Miller. A double murder in a seaside hotel sees a grieving Miller return to work to solve what appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Just why were two completely unconnected men taken out? Despite a somewhat dubious relationship with both reality and his new partner, can the eccentric, offbeat Miller find answers where his colleagues have found only an impossible puzzle?
The Secret Hours – Mick Herron
(Baskerville, ebook ARC, thanks to the publisher for the review copy)
Now I have read a lot of Mick Herron’s books, especially his excellent Slough House series (now on Apple TV and well worth checking out if you haven’t already). The Secret Hours marks his sixth appearance on the shortlist. It’s now almost an annual event since 2017’s Real Tigers, followed by Spook Street in 2018, London Rules in 2019, Joe Country in 2020 and Slough House in 2022.
I’m a huge fan of Mick Herron’s writing, and also loved this book. If you’ve been reading or watching Slow Horses, you know just how good this is. Enough said.
Trying to investigate the Secret Service is like trying to get rid of the stink of dead badger. Hard. For two years the government’s Monochrome inquiry has produced nothing more than a series of dead ends. The Service has kept what happened in the newly reunified Berlin under wraps for decades, and intends for it to stay that way. But then the OTIS file turns up. What classified secrets does it hold? And what damage will it create? All Max Janácek knows is that someone is chasing him through the pitch-dark country lanes and they want him gone.
That’s enough of the regulars. It’s great to see a list with mostly first time shortlistees (is that a word?) on there.
In The Blink of an Eye – Jo Callaghan
(Simon & Schuster, audiobook, Audible subscription)
I reviewed In The Blink of an Eye a while back. Very late to the party, this was a book that everyone in the bookblogging world seemed to be talking about. A twist on the standard police procedural and super topical given the inexorable rise of AI in our lives, AIDE Lock is a fascinating character. On the off-chance you’ve not read this book, here’s my review:
Go read it.
Slightly longer version: I really enjoyed it, you should definitely read it. Like, now. Then grab book 2 as somehow it’s even better than book one. And book one is on the Crime Book of the Year shortlist!
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds. Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye. DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat’s instincts come up against Lock’s logic. But when the two missing person’s cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal. AI versus human experience. Logic versus instinct. With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?
Killing Jericho – William Hussey
(Zaffre, paperback, own copy)
This was the last of the six books I read, and picked it up alongside Mark Billingham’s The Last Dance. I polished both books off in a couple of sittings. I loved the character of Scott Jericho in this – the first Traveller detective (albeit disgraced by the time we meet him) investigating off-the-books a series of delightfully gruesome murders which all appear to be leading back in his direction. It’s always nice to see something new and fresh in the crime writing world and I really enjoyed this book. Very much looking forward to book 2, and will be keeping a close eye on William Hussey going forward. Top stuff!
The gothic, helter-skelter thriller debut that introduces crime fiction’s first ever Traveller detective, Scott Jericho. Scott Jericho thought he’d worked his last case. Fresh out of jail, the disgraced former detective is forced to seek refuge with the fairground family he once rejected. Then a series of bizarre murders comes to light – deaths that echo a century-old fairground legend. The police can’t connect the victims. But Jericho knows how the legend goes; that more murders are certain to follow. As Jericho unpicks the deadly mystery, a terrifying question haunts him. As a direct descendant of one of the victims in the legend, is Jericho next on the killer’s list?
None of This Is True – Lisa Jewell
(Penguin, paperback, own copy)
I’d heard a lot of good things about this book, and Lisa Jewell’s books in general. Like a LOT. I absolutely raced through this one and had to keep stopping to go OH MY GOD WHAT JUST HAPPENED. It’s utterly brilliant, with more twists than a curly wurly. It kept me up well past my bedtime!
Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th birthday. They are, in fact birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for Alix’s series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Alix agrees to a trial interview. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep digging. Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life – and into her home. Soon she begins to wonder who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
Strange Sally Diamond – Liz Nugent
(Simon & Schuster, ebook ARC, thanks to the publisher for the review copy)
Last, but by no means least, and I think the first of the shortlist I read. Sally Diamond is an incredible character and this book will stay with you for a very long time.
Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say. But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally’s life will be thrown into chaos once again…
Blimey. Six fantastic books to choose from. But how to choose? A dancing detective, a disgraced Traveller detective or a holographic AI-powered one? A strange girl, or one who you never know whether they’re telling the truth? Or a spy, operating at the murky edges of our world?
Not long left to choose, and you can vote here.
https://harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com/vote/
Have you read any of them? Which one will you pick?
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