We are thrilled to announce that two Blake Friedmann authors have been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2020: NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY by Will Carver (Orenda Books, 2019) and RED SNOW by Will Dean (Point Blank, 2019). The award celebrates the best in crime fiction from UK and Irish crime authors.
You can cast your vote here.
About NOTHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED TODAY
Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today.
That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another.
Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe; it becomes a movement. A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.
How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?
'Heavy gusts of bedsit nihilism usher in this strange mystery... Weirdly page-turning.' — The Times, November Pick
'Unlike anything else you'll read this year.' Heat, 4 Starred Review
'Readers will be shocked and gripped by its sheer originality and ingenious plot... Carver has penned a pitch-black thriller. Cements him as one of the most exciting authors in Britain. ' — The Express, Starred Review
Will Carver lives in Reading, though his younger years were spent in various parts of West Germany. He is the author of five other thrillers, published by Penguin Random House and Orenda Books, and his new novel is out this summer. Will likes to work his body as much as his mind and runs his own fitness and nutrition company, though he prefers to talk about his writing more than how he consumes adequate protein as a vegan.
About RED SNOW
RED SNOW is the eagerly awaited follow-up to DARK PINES, selected for ITV's Zoe Ball Book Club and Winner of the Best Independent Voice Award at the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards 2019.
TWO BODIES. One suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? And who’s really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?
TWO COINS. Black Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man's eyes. The hashtag #Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.
TWO WEEKS. Tuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who’s to say the Ferryman will let her go?
'A complex plot, suffused with the nightmarish quality of Twin Peaks, and a tough-minded, resourceful protagonist add up to a stand-out read.' — The Guardian
‘Dean masterfully ramps up the tension and claustrophobia throughout the story’s sinister series of events before delivering an unexpected and satisfying finale. Tuva is a wonderful creation and Dean’s series is not to be missed.’ — Daily Express
‘It's great. You get snow, ice, Swedishness, murder and liquorice!’ – Marian Keyes
Will Dean grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at the LSE, and working many varied jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes. The fourth book in the Tuva Moodyson series will be published in 2021 alongside his first standalone thriller.