A Northern Ireland author is in the running for one of the most coveted prizes in literature after being named on the longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2022.
Blood Ties, by Londonderry’s Brian McGilloway, will compete with some of the top debut authors and literary icons in the genre for the UK and Ireland wide honour. The award is now in its eighteenth year.
Brian McGilloway’s 2020 novel, The Last Crossing, was nominated in 2021 and was highly commended at the prestigious ceremony.
The prolific author, a former English student at Queen’s University, who went on to become Head of English at St Columb’s College in Derry, has also penned the critically acclaimed Inspector Benedict Devlin Mysteries and Lucy Black series.
Others to have been nominated this year include two time winner Mark Billingham, who won the inaugural award in 2005 and was honoured again in 2009. His latest novel Rabbit Hole is one of 18 novels to make the cut.
Denise Mina will also be looking to snatch her third win for The Less Dead while Chris Brookmyre, who won the 2017 prize, is in the running again with The Cut
Brian McGilloway is hoping to take home the award with his novel Blood Ties, the latest instalment in his Ben Devlin series.
It follows Devlin as he tries to uncover how the blood of a long dead murder victim ended up on the body of the man convicted of her death, over a decade after she died.
Voting is open to the public now, with a shortlist to be announced in June and the winner revealed at the first night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (July 21-24).
