Alice Slater, Megan Davis and Stig Abell up for debut award at CrimeFest

Alice Slater, Megan Davis and Stig Abell are among those shortlisted for the £1,000 Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award at this year’s CrimeFest.

The award and festival were launched in 2008 to honour the best crime books released in the UK in the previous year. Alice Slater is shortlisted for the debut award for Death of a Bookseller (Hodder & Stoughton), alongside Megan Davis’ The Messenger (Zaffre) and Natalie Marlow’s Needless Alley (Baskerville). Also in contention are Jo Callaghan for In the Blink of an Eye (Simon & Schuster), Stig Abell for Death Under a Little Sky (Hemlock Press / HarperCollins) and Jenny Lund Madsen for Thirty Days of Darkness (Orenda Books). 

Adrian Muller, co-host of CrimeFest, said: “The Specsavers Debut Novel Award has become one of the most highly anticipated awards of the genre, and we’d like to thank Specsavers for their on-going support in celebrating new talent.” Currently, Specsavers will be sponsoring the prize until 2025, after renewing its sponsorship in 2022.

Other categories include the CrimeFest H R F Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book, the Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel, the E-Dunnit Award for best crime fiction e-book, the Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (aged 12-16) and the Best Crime Novel for Children (aged eight to 12). This year also features the CrimeFest Best Adapted TV Crime Drama Award, which celebrates dramas based on a book screened in 2023.

The winners of the 2024 CrimeFest Awards will be announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on 11th May at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel. All category winners will receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Muller continued: “We are proud to be one of the few genre awards that recognise and celebrate children, and young adult crime fiction. This category has really boomed in recent years. The top-selling female author of crime fiction in the UK last year was Holly Jackson, and we’re thrilled to host Holly and fellow author, Robin Stevens, at talks for state schools in Bristol this May. The genre is a fantastic gateway into reading.”

The full shortlists can be found below.

The 2024 CrimeFest Award Shortlists in full:

Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award
- Stig Abell, Death Under a Little Sky (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)
- Jo Callaghan, In the Blink of an Eye (Simon & Schuster)
- Megan Davis, The Messenger (Zaffre)
- Jenny Lund Madsen, Thirty Days of Darkness (Orenda Books)
- Natalie Marlow, Needless Alley (Baskerville)
- Alice Slater, Death of a Bookseller (Hodder & Stoughton)

The H R F Keating Award 
- M, J, F & A Dall’Asta, Migozzi, Pagello & Pepper, Contemporary European Crime Fiction: Representing History and Politics (Palgrave)
- Lisa Hopkins, Ocular Proof and the Spectacled Detective in British Crime Fiction (Palgrave)
- Kate Jackson, How to Survive a Classic Crime Novel (British Library Publishing)
- Steven Powell, Love Me Fierce in Danger: The Life of James Ellroy (Bloomsbury Academic)
- Nicholas Shakespeare, Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (Harvill Secker)
- Adam Sisman, The Secret Life of John Le Carré (Profile Books)

The Last Laugh Award
- Mark Billingham, The Last Dance (Sphere)
- Elly Griffiths, The Great Deceiver (Quercus)
- Mick Herron, The Secret Hours (Baskerville)
- Mike Ripley, Mr Campion’s Memory (Severn House)
- Jesse Sutanto, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (HQ)
- Antti Tuomainen, The Beaver Theory (Orenda Books)

The E-Dunnit Award
- Rachel Abbott, Don’t Look Away (Wildfire)
- Jane Casey, The Close (HarperCollins)
- Martin Edwards, Sepulchre Street (Head of Zeus)
- Christina Koning, Murder at Bletchley Park (Allison & Busby)
- Laura Lippman, Prom Mom (Faber & Faber)
- Craig Russell, The Devil’s Playground (Constable)

Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults
- Jennifer Lynn Barnes, The Brothers Hawthorne (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
- Nick Brooks, Promise Boys (Macmillan Children’s Books)
- Ravena Guron, This Book Kills (Usborne Publishing)
- Ravena Guron, Catch Your Death (Usborne Publishing)
- Karen M McManus, One of Us is Back (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
- Elizabeth Wein, Stateless (Bloomsbury YA)

Best Crime Fiction Novel for Children
- A M Howell, Mysteries At Sea: Peril on the Atlantic (Usborne Publishing)
- Lis Jardine, The Detention Detectives (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
- Beth Lincoln, The Swifts (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
- Marcus Rashford, The Breakfast Club Adventures: The Ghoul in the School (Macmillan Children’s Books)
- Robin Stevens, The Ministry of Unladylike Activity 2: The Body in the Blitz (Penguin Random House Children’s UK)
- J T Williams, The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Portraits and Poison (Farshore)

The Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama
- ‘Dalgliesh’ – series 2, based on the books by P D James, Dalgliesh
- ‘Reacher’ – series 2, based on the books by Lee Child, Jack Reacher books
- ‘Shetland’ – series 8, based on the books by Ann Cleeves, Shetland books
- ‘Slow Horses’ – series 3, based on the books by Mick Herron, Slough House books
- ‘The Serial Killer’s Wife’ – based on the book by Alice Hunter, The Serial Killer’s Wife (Avon)
- ‘Vera’ – series 12, based on the books by Ann Cleeves, Vera Stanhope books