Saturday, July 21, 2012

Mina takes Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel award





Scottish author Denise Mina has taken the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award with her ninth novel The End of the Wasp Season (Orion).
She received the £3,000 gong on the opening night of the annual crime writing festival in Harrogate (19th July), beating a shortlist including S J Watson's bestselling debut Before I Go to Sleep (Transworld).
Simon Theakston, executive director of T&R Theakston, described the novel as “a great example of "tartan noir". “Denise Mina is a fantastically talented writer and The End of the Wasp Season is a thoroughly deserving winner,” he said. “It was a very tough decision this year as all the books on the shortlist were outstanding in different ways but I’m delighted to be able to hand the trophy to Denise, the first woman to have won since 2008, for this hugely atmospheric and haunting book.”
Also shortlisted were Now You See Me by SJ Bolton (Transworld); Where the Bodies are Buried by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown); The Burning Soul by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton); and Black Flowers by Steve Mosby (Orion).

The winning title was decided by public vote and a panel of experts including DI Tom Thorne actor David Morrissey and festival chair Mark Billingham.

Also garlanded on the night was Morse author Colin Dexter, who was the winner of the third Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award.


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