gervase_fen: (Default)
So the long lists have been announced, and unlike last year the lists themselves are a manageable 10 per category. Both Mrs Fen and myself were cheered to see Stuary Turton's "Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" on both the Gold and the New Blood slates. Abir Mukherjee's "A Necessary Evil" clearly struck a chord, being selected for the Gold, Historical  and Steel categories - his first novel, "A Rising Man", won the Historical Dagger last year, and was one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

"Merlin at War" made the Historical dagger longlist, although I suspect that "Prussian Blue" owns this category this year. Mick Herron makes it three years in a row with nominations in both the Gold and Steel lists : I thought "London Rules" was as good as those previous contenders (and winner) if just a bit too obvious a set-up for the next book to come in the Slow Horses series. Congratulations also to Matthew Sweet, who I'm sure has a good chance with "Operation Chaos" in the Non Fiction category.

Ngaio Marsh is nominated for the first time, as far as I can tell, since 1957's "Off with his Head", for the first three chapters of "Money in the Morgue".  Josephine Tey (my current go-to audiobook obsession for my train journey) is also competing in the Historical category, kind of, as the heroine of Nicola Upson's "Nine Lessons".

Missing in action - no M L Rio, alas, and nothing at all for the current Girl on the Train / Gone Girl wannabe "The Woman at the Window".  I was also surprised by the absence of last year's Gold winner, Jane Harper, whose "Force of Nature" has been as well-reviewed as "The Dry" was.



gervase_fen: (ermine)
Here are this year's shortlists in the categories that I'm particularly interested in:

Goldsboro Gold Dagger, Best Crime Novel of the Year:
Black Widow, Chris Brookmyre
Blood Salt Water, Denise Mina
Dodgers, Bill Beverly
Real Tigers, Mick Herron

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Thriller of the Year:
Make Me, Lee Child
Rain Dogs, Adrian McKinty
Real Tigers, Mick Herron
The Cartel, Don Winslow
The English Spy, Daniel Silva

John Creasey (New Blood Dagger), Debut of the Year
Fever City, Tim Baker
Dodgers, Bill Beverly
Freedom's Child, Jax Miller
The Good Liar, Nicholas Searle
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh

Endeavour Historical Dagger
The House at Baker Street, Michelle Birkby
The Other Side of Silence, Philip Kerr
A Book of Scars, William Shaw
The Jazz Files, Fiona Veitch Smith
Striking Murder, A J Wright
Stasi Child, David Young

Winners to be announced Tuesday, 11th October.  There are, compared to last year, some properly short shortlists here, and a crossover with this year's Booker longlist.

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