A changing of the guard? Theakston finalists announced

This morning the shortlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, one of the most prestigious awards in crime writing, has been announced.

Six books have made the cut, from a terrific selection of 18 great novels (see longlist here):

• The Facts Of Life And Death, Belinda Bauer, Transworld
• The Axeman’s Jazz, Ray Celestin, Mantle/ Pan Macmillan
• The Outcast Dead, Elly Griffiths, Quercus
• Someone Else’s Skin, Sarah Hilary, Headline
• The Devil in the Marshalsea, Antonia Hodgson, Hodder & Stoughton
• Entry Island, Peter May, Quercus

The Award, now in its 11th year, is open to British and Irish authors. Notable this year is that three of the shortlistees are debutant authors: Antonia Hodgson's Georgian murder mystery set in a 1700s prison, THE DEVIL IN MARSHALSEA; screenwriter Ray Celestin's THE AXEMAN'S JAZZ set in 1919 New Orleans; and Sarah Hilary's chilling and disturbing contemporary thriller SOMEBODY ELSE'S SKIN. 

Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors, and to the longlistees too (a great list of great books). The winner will be announced at the upcoming Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate in July.