This award is for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality first traditionally published in the UK in English during the Judging Period. ‘Best crime novel by a first-time author’ means that the author must not have had a novel of any sort traditionally published before under any name whatsoever. In the case of novels with more than one author, all the authors must meet this requirement.
| Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Eva Björg Ægisdóttir | The Creak on the Stairs | Orenda |
| Susan Allott | The Silence | Borough, HarperCollins |
| Emma Christie | The Silent Daughter | Welbeck Publishing |
| Catherine Cooper | The Chalet | HarperFiction, HarperCollins |
| Ben Creed | City of Ghosts | Welbeck Publishing |
| Judi Daykin | Under Violent Skies | Joffe Books |
| Egan Hughes | The One That Got Away | Little Brown, Sphere |
| S W Kane | The Bone Jar | Thomas & Mercer |
| Rob McInroy | Cuddies Strip | Ringwood Press |
| Stephanie Scott | What’s Left of Me Is Yours | Orion, Weidenfeld |
| Stephen Spotswood | Fortune Favours the Dead | Headline, Wildfire |
| John Vercher | Three-Fifths | Pushkin Press |
| S R White | Hermit | Headline |
Edwin Buckhalter (Chair)Edwin Buckhalter is the son of a London bookseller, growing up in the book trade, and founding Severn House Publishers in 1974. Having sold the company in 2017 and ostensibly retired, he still reads widely and avidly, especially his first love of crime fiction, while devoting much time as a trustee of an orchestra and not enough time to watching cricket.
Susan MoodySusan Moody was born and brought up in Oxford. Her first crime novel, Penny Black, was published in 1984. She has written a number of suspense thrillers. Susan spent two years as Creative Writing Tutor at Bedford Prison and is a former Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association.
Karen RobinsonKaren Robinson was the Supplements Editor of The Sunday Times. She also writes, on property, education, books, travel and food.
Teddy HayesTeddy moved to London in 1996 from Ohio, and began writing a detective series of novels and producing his own plays as well as feature films. He started publishing his novels about Devil Barnett, a black CIA hitman-turned-private-detective in Harlem. The first novel Blood Red Blues was published in 1997. In 2019, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Equal Arts Foundation in the U.K.
Cynthia Harrod-EaglesCynthia Harrod-Eagles is a British writer of romance and mystery novels. She normally writes under her own name but also uses the pseudonyms Emma Woodhouse and Elizabeth Bennett. She wrote her first novel in 1972 while still at university.
Set in Newcastle, The Man on the Street features Jimmy, a homeless veteran grappling with PTSD, who thinks he hears a murder while sleeping rough. When Carrie appears, concerned for her dad’s disappearance, Jimmy and a cast of homeless and equally idiosyncratic friends take up the task of investigating betrayal and corruption.
