TWO Irish authors have made the longlist for a prestigious annual prize devoted to crime writers.
Jane Casey and Liz Nugent are among 18 authors in the running for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024.
Dublin-born Casey, who now lives in southwest London with her husband, who is a criminal barrister, and their two children, has written twelve crime novels for adults and three for teenagers.
She is longlisted for her latest book The Close, which is the tenth novel in her critically acclaimed Maeve Kerrigan series.
Fellow Dubliner Liz Nugent, who worked in film, theatre and television before becoming a full-time writer, is nominated for her 2023 novel Strange Sally Diamond.
Nugent’s four previous novels – Unravelling Oliver, Lying in Wait, Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties – have all been bestsellers which have won her four Irish Book Awards.
The longlist in full:
The Last Dance by Mark Billingham
The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre
In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan
The Close by Jane Casey
The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves
Fearless by M W Craven
The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron
Killing Jericho by William Hussey
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
Conviction by Jack Jordan
A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh
The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason
Past Lying by Val McDermid
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver
You Can Run by Trevor Wood
Now in its twentieth year, the Crime Novel of the Year longlist has been voted for by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee.
The longlist will now be whittled down to a shortlist selected by public vote, with the overall winner due to be announced at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on Thursday, July 18.