A Burning Ambition

It’s that time of year again, when the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award shortlist is announced, and this year the boy Connolly done good. For lo! John Connolly’s THE BURNING SOUL is one of the six titles shortlisted for the Peculier, with the full shortlist as follows:

NOW YOU SEE ME by SJ Bolton;
WHERE THE BODIES ARE BURIED by Christopher Brookmyre;
THE BURNING SOUL by John Connolly;
THE END OF THE WASP SEASON by Denise Mina;
BLACK FLOWERS by Steve Mosby;
BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by SJ Watson.

  If you’re of a mind to exercise your franchise today, you can clickety-click on the link above, as the Old Peculier is decided in part by a public vote. Which isn’t something I necessarily agree with, I have to say. Democracy is perfectly fine for deciding who gets to run the country, but for the important stuff, such as the best crime novel of the year, I’d much prefer if the decision was taken by an unaccountable elitist cabal. But that’s just me.
  Meanwhile, and sticking with shortlists, Gene Kerrigan’s THE RAGE has been longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger - a rather impressive achievement, and not the first time Gene Kerrigan has been in the frame for a Dagger. I don’t pretend to understand how the Daggers work - every year they seem to rumble on for as long as the fall of Communism, with novels being nominated in multiple categories, and from different years - but it’s a prestigious place to find your name nonetheless, and I’m particularly pleased for Gene.
  Finally, hearty congrats to Steve Mosby, who was not only shortlisted for the Peculier yesterday, but who last night won the CWA Dagger in the Library. I’m not entirely sure that giving the boy Mosby a big shiny knife is the best idea the CWA has ever had, but there you go, it’s done now and we can only hope it doesn’t give him any ideas. Oh, right …