Jackson, Gran and Willingham bag awards at CrimeFest 2023

Holly Jackson, Sara Gran and Stacy Willingham have won prizes at the 16th CrimeFest awards, honouring the best crime books released in the UK last year. 

Willingham won the £1,000 Specsavers Début Crime Novel Award for A Flicker in the Dark (HarperCollins), a psychological serial killer thriller with a “shocking” twist. The novel is also due to be adapted for television.  

Best Crime Novel for Children, aged between eight and 12, was given to Sharna Jackson for The Good Turn (Puffin) and the Best Crime Novel for Young Adults, aged between 12 and 16, went to Jackson’s cat-and-mouse thriller, Five Survive (Electric Monkey). 

The eDunnit Award, for the best e-book, went to Gran for The Book of the Most Precious Substance (Faber & Faber), an “absorbing” occult thriller combining intrigue and magic. 

The Last Laugh Award was awarded posthumously to Christopher Fowler for Bryant & May’s Peculiar London (Doubleday). Fowler died earlier this year aged 69. 

Martin Edwards won the H R F Keating Award, for the best biographical or critical book on crime fiction, for his The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators (Collins Crime Club). 

The Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama, now in its second year at the festival, was awarded to series one and two of “Slow Horses”, based on the novels by Mick Herron. 

Adrian Muller, co-host of CrimeFest, commented: “We are proud to be one of the few genre awards that celebrate e-books, humour, children’s and young adult novels. Our inclusive awards reflect the values of our convention as accessible and open to all. These awards are a true celebration of the crime genre, which continues to entertain and enlighten so many readers of all ages. We would like to thank Specsavers for its ongoing support in celebrating new talent.”