Three Scots in running for crime-writing award
Author Val Mcdermid is one of three Scottish authors in the running for a top crimewriting prize.
The Fife writer’s novel Insidious Intent – the latest instalment in her Carol Jordan and Tony Hill series – has been shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award.
Mcdermid, 62, previously picked up the title in 2006 for The Torment Of Others. She is joined by fellow Scots Denise Mina, with THE Long Drop – winner of last year’s Mcilvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the year – and Abir Mukherjee, for his debut novel A Rising Man. Mina has also won the Theakston’s Prize twice before, in 2012 and 2013.
The other three authors shortlisted are Mick Herron, for Spook Street; Stav Sherez, for The Intrusions, and Susie Steiner, for Persons Unknown. The winner will be announced on 19 July, the opening night of the 16th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. The author will receive£3,000, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel.
The winner will be decided by a panel of judges and a public vote online.