Khan and Galbraith lead 2023 Capital Crime Award shortlists

Capital Crime launched the second ever Fingerprint Awards with Kate Atkinson, Vaseem Khan and Robert Galbraith among those shortlisted.

The prizes are designed to champion the very best in crime writing from across the globe published in 2022,  voted for by readers.

The categories include Crime Novel of the Year, Thriller Novel of the Year, Historical Crime Novel of the Year, Debut Novel of the Year, Audiobook of the Year and Genre-Busting Book of the Year.

Lisa Jewell and Elly Griffiths lead the Crime Book of the Year shortlist with The Family Remains (Cornerstone) and Bleeding Heart Yard (Quercus) respectively. They are joined by M W Craven, author of The Botanist (Little, Brown), Ruth Ware, of The It Girl (Simon & Schuster UK) and Anthony Horowitz for The Twist of a Knife (Cornerstone).

On the Thriller Novel of the Year shortlist are two Quercus titles: A Good Day to Die by Amen Alonge and Truly Darkly Deeply by Victoria Selman against S&S UK publications Kellye Garrett’s Like a Sister, Jack Jordan’s Do No Harm and Penguin’s offering Gillian McAllister’s British Book Award-shortlisted Wrong Place Wrong Time.

Khan and Anna Mazzola are both shortlisted for the Historical Crime Novel of the Year for The Lost Man of Bombay (Hodder & Stoughton) and The Clockwork Girl (Orion), alongside the critically acclaimed Atkinson’s Shrines of Gaiety (Transworld). Also shortlisted are Miss Aldridge Regrets (HQ) by Louise Hare and A Fatal Crossing (Cornerstone) by Tom Hindle.

Hindle’s first book is also shortlisted for the Debut Crime Novel of the Year, alongside Death and the Conjuror (Head of Zeus) by Tom Mead, Wahala (Transworld) by Nikki May, That Green-Eyed Girl (Penguin) by Julie Owen-Moylan and The Maid (HarperCollins) by Nita Prose.

The Genre-Busting Novel of the Year shortlist is for a book “that defies traditional genres and boundaries of crime fiction”, organisers said. It features Suicide Thursday (Ordenda) by Will Carver, Francesca May’s Wild and Wicked Things (Little, Brown), The Houses of Ashes (Zaffre) by Stuart Neville, The Cartographers (Orion) by Peng Shepherd and The Skeleton Key (Hodder & Stoughton) by Erin Kelly.

The latter is also nominated for Audiobook of the Year shortlist alongside Galbraith’s Ink Black Heart (Little, Brown), The Twyford Code (Viper Press) by Janice Hallett, Better the Blood (S&S UK) by Michael Bennett and One Last Secret (HQ) by Adele Parks.

The shortlists were devised by the Capital Crime advisory board featuring authors, bloggers, journalists and leading industry figures, with five nominees for each category.

Readers can vote for their preferred winners in each category on the Capital Crime website by 7th August. The winners will be then announced on 31st August, at a special ceremony as part of Capital Crime 2023, at the festival’s new base at the Royal Leonardo Hotel, in central London.

In addition, two further categories will be selected by the advisory board: the Industry Award of the Year recognising the best marketing campaign, editorial work, or publishing strategy, and the Thalia Proctor Lifetime Achievement Award marking an outstanding contribution to the crime writing industry.

Capital Crime co-founder and Goldsboro Books m.d. David Headley, described it as "a spectacular year for crime fiction". He added: “We set up the Fingerprints Awards to celebrate the very best of international crime writing, and crucially, to celebrate the readers who make everything we do worthwhile – and possible.

“We had some very lively discussions narrowing down the shortlists – now to the readers to pick the winners.”

The full programme for Capital Crime 2023 was announced last month with headliners including Richard Osman, Richard Armitage, Dorothy Koomson, Sally Wainwright, Yomi Adegoke, Peter James and Joanne Harris. 

The inaugural Fingerprint Awards took place last year.