Bala author Clare Mackintosh has been longlisted for the UK’s most prestigious crime writing prize

Her novel The Last Party is in the running for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, featuring Welsh detective DC Ffion Morgan.

The search for the best crime novel of the past year is now underway as the public are invited to vote for their favourites to reach the next stage.

The winner of the prestigious award will be announced at the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival on July 20, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary.

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The longlist includes twenty outstanding authors competing for the UK and Ireland’s most coveted crime fiction writing Award.

Clare scooped the prize in 2016 for her first thriller, I Let You Go.

I Let You Go was a stunning debut and went on to become a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller as well as the fastest selling debut thriller of 2015.

It has now sold more than a million copies, and Clare’s books are published in 40 countries.

Clare recently joined forces with fellow bestselling novelists Lisa Jewell and Louise Candlish for a tour of ‘the borders’.

They entertained sell out audiences in Oswestry, the Wirral and Mold, as well as visiting twelve bookshops in the area to sign copies for fans and to thank booksellers and managers for their support.

Reaching nearly 600 people  and selling even more copies, the tour was a huge success and greatly appreciated by the booksellers who organised the events.

Caroline Johnson at Mold Bookshop, who organised a sell out event at Beaufort Park Hotel and who initially came up with the idea of the tour with Clare Mackintosh, said: "What a fantastic evening, it has taken me all weekend to come back down from the clouds.

"Clare, Louise and Lisa were absolutely brilliant, the rapport between them was amazing and they were very entertaining. The feedback has been wonderful."

 

If readers missed Clare and her fellow authors on tour, they can catch Clare at the Monty Lit Fest in Powys, on 11th June,