Longlist For Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year 2025
Thursday 24th April 2025: Harrogate International Festivals announced today the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2025, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty-first year.
The longlist, selected by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers & podcasters and representatives from within the industry, showcases innovative, original and entertaining stories, with global bestsellers and exciting new talent competing for the coveted award. Readers are now encouraged to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner crowned on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July.
3 former winners - 2023 champion M.W. Craven, Chris Whitaker and Chris Brookmyre - feature on the longlist, with fan favourite Elly Griffiths nominated for a tenth time.
Six talented authors receive their first longlisting, including rising star Marie Tierney nominated for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award in 2024.
The longlist includes 3 illustrious alumni of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, renowned for championing emerging talent: Abir Mukherjee, Stuart Turton and Stuart Neville.
The longlist features writers from across the UK, including Newcastle, Birmingham, Sussex, Bath and Oxfordshire, with 3 Scottish authors, Chris Brookmyre, Alan Parks and Abir Mukherjee, and 2 from Ireland, Jane Casey and Stuart Neville.
Representing the very best in storytelling, the longlist showcases a thrilling range of crime fiction subgenres, from gritty court room dramas and twisty psychological thrillers to enthralling historical mysteries and dystopian chillers.
The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is:
The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere)
Our Holiday by Louise Candlish (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey (HarperFiction, Hemlock Press)
The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown Book Group, Constable)
The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas (Penguin Michael Joseph)
The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books, Quercus Fiction)
Estella’s Revenge by Barbara Havelocke (Hera Books)
Redemption by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction)
Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books)
The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (Cornerstone, Century)
The Kill List by Nadine Matheson (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction)
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker)
Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster UK)
To Die in June by Alan Parks (Canongate)
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books, Zaffre)
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books)
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion, Orion Fiction)
The longlist in more detail:
Three former winners are vying for top honours at this year’s Awards, including 2023 champion M.W. Craven, who is longlisted for his adrenaline-fuelled US-set thriller The Mercy Chair, alongside Chris Whitaker for All the Colours of the Dark, a million-copy bestseller exploring the aftermath of a childhood kidnapping, and Chris Brookmyre for the highly original thriller, The Cracked Mirror, which sees a hard-bitten homicide detective and an old lady who has solved multiple murders in her sleepy village, crack an impossible case. Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive tenth longlisting for The Last Word, a murder mystery set at a writers' retreat.
Three alumni of the Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, supporting fresh talent are longlisted this year. Abir Mukherjee is nominated for Hunted, a timely thriller about two parents desperately tracking down their children who are suspected of terrorist atrocities, along with ‘King of Belfast Noir’ Stuart Neville for chilling serial-killer thriller Blood Like Mine and Stuart Turton for The Last Murder at the End of the World, an ingenious dystopian thriller about a murder in an island paradise inhabited by the last humans on earth. They are joined by Marie Tierney who is longlisted for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award, the Festival’s newest initiative to platform rising stars of the genre, in 2024.
Along with Tierney, the five other hugely talented writers longlisted for the first time include Claire Douglas, nominated for intricately plotted psychological thriller The Wrong Sister, Barbara Havelocke for Estella’s Revenge, a twisty gothic retelling of ‘Great Expectations’ and Ellery Lloyd for The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, an ingenious mystery set in the art world. They are up against two writers who are also lawyers, Nadine Matheson, longlisted for her gripping thriller exploring themes of race, class and justice, The Kill List, and Ruth Mancini for The Woman on the Ledge, about a duty solicitor representing a young woman framed for murder.
Showcasing the dazzling range of crime fiction subgenres, Louise Candlish’s psychological thriller Our Holiday where a feud between second home-owners and locals turns murderous, acclaimed Irish writer Jane Casey’s gripping DS Maeve Kerrigan novel A Stranger in the Family, Imran Mahmood’s powerful court-room drama about how far parents will go for their child in Finding Sophie, Jack Jordan’s propulsive Nevada-set revenge thriller Redemption, and Alan Parks’ gritty Glasgow noir To Die in June, complete the 2025 longlist.
Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said:
“We are delighted to announce the 2025 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The award is a vital platform for recognising and celebrating British crime writing talent both new and established, and once again our Awards Academy have selected another thrilling crop of books for our longlist. Now it’s time for readers to have their say, and we encourage everyone to get involved and vote for their favourites!
Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:
“Congratulations to all of the extremely talented writers longlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Anyone who loves riveting storytelling is in for a treat with this year’s longlist, which showcases the incredible depth and range of British crime fiction. Readers are very much at the heart of this award as they help to determine the outcome, and we’re very excited to see who the fans will vote for to reach the shortlist.”
The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 24 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com
Voting closes on Thursday 15 May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 5 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.
