one of Europe’s leading crime
writing conventions, has announced the winners of the final CrimeFest Awards.
It’s a historic year for the
annual awards as the convention ends after 17 years; the first convention was
hosted in 2008.
The awards honour the best crime
fiction and non-fiction books released in the UK in the last year, and feature
the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award, which offers a £1,000
cash prize.
This year the Specsavers Debut
Crime Novel Award goes to the Japanese author and journalist, Akira Otani
(and
translator Sam Bett) for
The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber), a
no-holds-barred queer gangland thriller.
Award judge Dame Mary Perkins,
co-founder of Specsavers, which sponsors the award, said: “I read many crime
thrillers mainly at night before going to sleep. However, I could not do that
with
The Night of Baba Yaga.
Totally gripping and, quite frankly, violent,
but a book which I had to read in one go - not in bits. So - quite
different to the usual scenarios I read. It's set in Japan and certainly
paints a different picture to "cherry blossom" ones. Congratulations
to Akira Otani for introducing her writing to us here in the UK.”
Akira Otani said: “I'm immensely
grateful to have been chosen for this prestigious award. For someone writing in
a minor language like Japanese, there's no greater joy than seeing your work
translated and shared with a wider audience of readers. I also offer my
sincerest thanks to the translator, Sam Bett, for bringing this novel into
English. This prize is for both of us.”
The winner of the CrimeFest
H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book features goes
to Mark Aldridge with
Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness (HarperCollins).
CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award for
best humorous crime novel is awarded to
Mike Ripley for Mr Campion’s Christmas
(Severn House).
The CrimeFest E-Dunnit Award for
the best crime fiction e-book goes to the American novelist and playwright,
Jean Hanff Korelitz with The Sequel (Faber).
The CrimeFest Best Crime Novel
for Children (aged 8 - 12)
goes to Sufiya Ahmed for her World War Two
adventure
set in Cairo,
Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury).
The Best Crime Fiction for Young
Adults (aged 12-16)
goes to Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis,
the sequel
to the Waterstone’s prize winning Thieves’ Gambit.
Adrian Muller said: “We are proud
of the role our awards has played championing categories that were previously
not recognised on the awards circuit. However, it’s our work championing
children’s and Young Adult crime fiction that we’re most proud of.
“Crime fiction is recognised as a
gateway into reading, and has the important ability to hook young readers,
helping forge a life-long reading habit. There’s countless research on the
benefits of reading, from improved mental and physical health, enhanced
cognitive abilities, and personal growth. It improves focus, empathy and
understanding, as well as reduces stress. It’s a gift to any young person on
their journey through life.
“As CrimeFest closes, we would
like to take this opportunity to challenge the Crime Writers’ Association to
incorporate children’s and Young Adult categories into their famed Dagger
awards going forward. It is vital the future generations of readers, and the
authors that serve them, get the recognition and platform they deserve.”
Leading British crime fiction
reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the
members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest
judging panels.
In partnership with the
independent Max Minerva’s Bookshop and participating publishers, CrimeFest
gifts thousands of pounds of crime fiction books for children and young adults
to school libraries.
This year also featured the
Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama, which celebrates
dramas based on a book screened in 2024. The award is named in honour of
Thalia, a CrimeFest team member and a much-loved figure in the world of crime
fiction.
The winner show is Slow Horses
(series 4) based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron on Apple TV+. It’s
the third year in a row Herron has won the award, beating hit shows including
Apple TV’s Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen,
the BBC’s Moonflower
Murders based on the books by
Anthony Horowitz, and the BBC’s
The
Turkish Detective based on the Inspector Ikmen books by Barbara Nadel.
Mick Herron said: “Thalia would
be delighted to know of this award being given in her name. She was a great
friend to crime-writers, a great boon to the community, and is often remembered
when groups of us gather. I'm proud to have known her, and I'll be proud to
have this on my shelf.
Thank you, Thalia, thank you, CrimeFest, and thank you
all.”
CrimeFest readers established the
shortlist and the winning TV show.
The 2025 CrimeFest Awards were
announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on Saturday 17 May at the
Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel,
compered by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA)
chair
and author, Vaseem Khan.
Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest was
one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with
circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days.
The final celebratory event saw
long-standing friends attend, led by blockbuster author Lee Child, who attended
with his brother
and co-Reacher author, Andrew Child.
The final CrimeFest also saw
exclusive talks from the actor and screenwriter
Mark Gatiss on his upcoming TV
series for UKTV's U&alibi channel Bookish, the TV writer Chris
Chibnall with his debut novel, Death at the White Hart, and a tribute to
John le Carré, featuring his two sons,
the film producer Simon Cornwell and
novelist, Nick Harkaway.
CrimeFest was created following
the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left
Coast Crime convention.
Established in 2008, it follows the egalitarian format
of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors
and readers alike.
All category winners received a
Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.
Eligible titles were submitted by
publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish
the shortlist and the winning title.
The 2025 CrimeFest Award in full:
SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL
AWARD
- Akira Otani (and translator Sam
Bett) for
The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber & Faber)
eDUNNIT AWARD
- Jean Hanff Korelitz for The
Sequel (Faber & Faber)
H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
- Mark Aldridge for Agatha
Christie's Marple:
Expert on Wickedness (HarperCollins)
LAST LAUGH AWARD
- Mike Ripley for Mr
Campion's Christmas (Severn House)
BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR
CHILDREN (aged 8-12)
- Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie
Raja:
Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury Education)
BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR
YOUNG ADULTS (aged 12-16)
- Kayvion Lewis for Heist
Royale
(Simon & Schuster Children's Books)
THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR
BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA
- Slow Horses (series
4), based on the Slough House books
by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)
The 2025 CrimeFest Award Shortlist in full:
SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD
- Tom Baragwanath for Paper
Cage (Baskerville)
- Tasha Coryell for Love
Letters to a Serial Killer (Orion Fiction)
- C. L. Miller for The
Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (Pan Macmillan)
- Akira Otani (and translator Sam
Bett) for The Night of Baba Yaga
(Faber & Faber)
- Tracy Sierra for Nightwatching (Viking)
- Claire Wilson for Five by
Five (Michael Joseph)
eDUNNIT AWARD
- Martin Edwards for Hemlock
Bay (Head of Zeus)
- Laurie R. King for The
Lantern's Dance (Allison & Busby)
- Jean Hanff Korelitz for The
Sequel (Faber & Faber)
- Bella Mackie for What A
Way To Go (The Borough Press)
- Liz Moore for The God of
the Woods (The Borough Press)
- Peter Swanson for A Talent
for Murder (Faber)
H.R.F. KEATING AWARD
- Mark Aldridge for Agatha
Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness
(HarperCollins)
- Jem Bloomfield for Allusion
in Detective Fiction
(Palgrave Macmillan)
- Ashley Bowden for Female
Detectives in Early Crime Fiction 1841-1920
(Fabula Mysterium Press)
- Dan Coxon & Richard V.
Hirst for Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction (Dead
Ink)
- Sara Lodge for The
Mysterious Case of the Victorian Detective
(Yale University Press)
- Lynda La Plante for Getting
Away With Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen (Zaffre)
LAST LAUGH AWARD
- Cathy Ace for The Case of
the Secretive Secretary
(Four Tails Publishing Ltd.)
- DG Coutinho for The Light
and Shade of Ellen Swithin
(Harvill Secker)
- Bella Mackie for What A
Way To Go (The Borough Press)
- Orlando Murrin for Knife
Skills for Beginners (Transworld)
- Mike Ripley for Mr
Campion's Christmas (Severn House)
- Antti Tuomainen (and translator
David Hackston) for
The Burning Stones (Orenda Books)
BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR
CHILDREN (aged 8-12)
- Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie
Raja: Undercover Codebreaker
(Bloomsbury Education)
- Natasha Farrant for The
Secret of Golden Island
(Faber & Faber)
- A.M. Howell for Mysteries
at Sea: The Hollywood Kidnap Case
(Usborne Publishing)
- M. G. Leonard for The
Twitchers: Feather (Walker Books)
- Beth Lincoln for The
Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)
- Nicki Thornton for The
Floating Witch Mystery (Faber & Faber)
BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR
YOUNG ADULTS (aged 12-16)
- H.F. Askwith for A
Cruel Twist of Fate
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)
- Denise Brown for It All
Started With a Lie (Hashtag Press)
- A.J. Clack for Lie or Die (Firefly
Press)
- Amie Jordan
for All the Hidden Monsters (Chicken House)
- Kayvion Lewis for Heist
Royale
(Simon & Schuster Children's Books)
- Karen M. McManus for Such
Charming Liars
(Penguin Random House Children's UK)
THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR
BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA
- Bad Monkey, based on the
book by Carl Hiaasen (Apple TV+)
- Dalgliesh (series 3),
based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books
by P.D. James (Channel 5)
- Lady in the Lake based
on the book
by Laura Lippman (Apple TV+)
- Moonflower Murders based
on the book by Anthony Horowitz (BBC)
- Slow Horses (series
4), based on the Slough House books
by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)
- The Turkish Detective,
based on the Inspector Ikmen books
by Barbara Nadel (BBC)
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