Troubled Blood
Robert Galbraith
Little, Brown Book Group
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller, ‘one simply has to turn the pages’. Eligible books in this category are thrillers set in any period and include, but are not limited to, spy fiction, psychological thrillers and action/adventure stories
Shortlist
When She Was Good
Michael Robotham
Little, Brown Book Group
The Nothing Man
Catherine Ryan Howard
Atlantic Books
The Devil and the Dark Water
Stuart Turton
Bloomsbury Publishing
One by One
Ruth Ware
Vintage
We Begin at the End
Chris Whitaker
Bonnier
The Judges 2021
Corinne Turner (Chair)
Corinne has managed and helped develop authors’ literary estates for around 30 years. She is Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and also owns and manages the literary estate of children’s author, Willard Price.
David Headley
David Headley is the managing director of Goldsboro Books, a much admired, leading independent bookseller, based in central London. He is also the managing director of the D H H Literary Agency.
Myles Allfrey
Myles Allfrey is a Kent-based podiatrist with a keen interest in crime fiction. Myles is a sometime book reviewer and co-founder of CrimeFest, the crime-writing convention held in Bristol.
Thanhmai Bui-Van
Thanhmai has been a bookseller, book buyer and now works in sales at Titan Books. Crime fiction has been a constant in her book career and she says, ‘over the years it’s been a pleasure discovering new authors.’
Karen Blewett
Karen worked in the publishing industry for over 20 years, in a variety of senior financial and commercial roles for Dorling Kindersley and Little, Brown. While her day job involved numbers and systems, her first love has always been reading.
Tom Fleming
Tom Fleming is the longstanding deputy editor of Literary Review. He also writes for The Spectator, The TLS and Apollo, among other publications.
Longlist 2021
| Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Cumming | Box 88 | HarperFiction, HarperCollins |
| Robert Galbraith | Troubled Blood | Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group |
| Ryan Gattis | The System | Picador, Pan Macmillan |
| Ian Rankin | Song for the Dark Times | Orion Fiction, The Orion Publishing Group |
| Rod Reynolds | Blood Red City | Orenda Books |
| Craig Robertson | Watch Him Die | Simon & Schuster |
| Michael Robotham | When She Was Good | Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group |
| Catherine Ryan Howard | The Nothing Man | Atlantic Books |
| Stuart Turton | The Devil and the Dark Water | Raven Books, Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Ruth Ware | One by One | Harvill Secker, Vintage |
| Holly Watt | The Dead Line | Raven Books, Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Chris Whitaker | We Begin at the End | Zaffre, Bonnier |
Winner 2020
November Road
Lou Berney
Harper Fiction
Weaving together a love story and a chase thriller set against the backdrop of JFK’s assassination, Lou Berney’s sparse prose creates an atmosphere of jeopardy and terror interwoven with great tenderness and beauty. The period setting is skilfully realised, and the sense of dread laced through the story builds to an overwhelming conclusion.
