McDermid, Hallett and Mukherjee shortlisted for Fingerprint Awards

Crime novelists including Val McDermid, Janice Hallett and Abir Mukherjee have been shortlisted for the inaugural Fingerprint Awards.

The awards, which recognise the best titles in the crime genre and most of which are voted for by readers, are held as part of the Capital Crime Festival co-organised by Goldsboro Books owner and agent David Headley. 

Shortlisted for the Crime Book of the Year is McDermid’s 1979 (Little, Brown), Mick Herron’s Slough House (John Murray Press) and Hallett’s debut, The Appeal (Viper), which won the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger earlier this year. Also in the running is fellow debut novelist Sarah Pearse with The Sanatorium (Transworld) and Eva Björg Ægisdóttir for her second novel, Girls Who Lie (Orenda).

Lisa Jewell and Paula Hawkins have made the cut for Thriller Novel of the Year with The Night She Disappeared (Cornerstone) and A Slow Fire Burning (Transworld) respectively, while Gold Dagger-winning M W Craven is in the running for Dead Ground (Little, Brown).

Multi-award winner author Mukherjee is among those shortlisted for the Historical Crime Novel of the Year for The Shadows of Men (Vintage), his latest Wyndham & Banerjee novel, alongside Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan).

Two other categories will be selected solely by the Capital Crime advisory board, comprised of authors, bloggers, journalists and industry figures. The categories are 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.

"My vision for Capital Crime was always to make it a festival for readers and what better way to celebrate the readers who make it all worthwhile than to give them the power to decide the winners of the Fingerprint Awards?" Headley said. "Narrowing down the incredible body of work published last year to six categories of five books [each] was no mean feat but with the well-informed advisory board we’ve gathered together, I’m confident that these shortlists represent the very best of crime and thriller writing from around the world."

Readers can vote for their preferred winners here by 19th September. The winners will be announced at 7.30pm on 29th September.

Capital Crime will be hosting pitch-an-agent sessions with David Headley (D H H), Emily Glenister (DHH), Camilla Bolton (Darley Anderson) or Phillip Patterson (Marjaq).The slots are open to all unrepresented ticket holders working on their crime novel (completed novels or full synopsis preferred) as part of the Next Generation of Voices afternoon takeover at the festival this autumn. To apply for a slot, contact info@capitalcrime.org.

The shortlists in full:
Crime Book of the Year 2021
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse (Transworld)
1979 by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Viper)
Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdottir (Orenda Books)
Slough House by Mick Herron (John Murray Press)

Thriller Book of the Year 2021
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins (Transworld)
Dead Ground by M W Craven (Little, Brown)
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell (Cornerstone) 
Knife Edge by Simon Mayo (Transworld)
Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean (Hodder & Stoughton)

Historical Crime Book of the Year 2021
A Net for Small Fishes by Lucy Jago (Bloomsbury)
The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell (Bloomsbury)
Daughters of Night by Laura Shepherd Robinson (Pan Macmillan) 
The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage) 
A Comedy of Terrors by Lindsay Davis (Hodder & Stoughton)

Debut Book of the Year 2021
Girl A by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins)
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner (Bloomsbury) 
Welcome to Cooper by Tariq Ashkanani (Amazon Publishing)
How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina (Little, Brown)
Edge of the Grave by Robbie Morrison (Pan Macmillan)

Genre-Busting Book of the Year 2021
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (Bloomsbury)
How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie (HarperCollins) 
The Burning Girls by C J Tudor (Penguin Books)
Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi (Penguin Books)
What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (Orion)

Audiobook of the Year 2021
People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan)
The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jónasson (Orenda Books) 
True Crime Story by Joseph Knox (Transworld) 
A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz (Cornerstone) 
I know what I Saw by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury)