Whistleblowing

Many congratulations to RJ Ellory whose A Simple Act of Violence was awarded the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award at Harrogate on Thursday night.

While he’s an established seller and previous Richard and Judy bookclub pick, this was Ellory’s first major prize win in the UK and it’s heartening to see him recognized for what is, for me, his finest work to date.

The jacket blurb makes it sound like a fairly standard police procedural in which a Washington DC Detective investigates a series of killings where the victims don’t appear to have official identities. But don’t be deceived, as from this starting point Ellory fashions a bold and provocative exploration of the CIA’s covert operations in Nicaragua in the 1980s (and it’s this side of it which seems even more timely and relevant following today’s disclosures by Wikileaks). Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay it is that it makes a great companion piece to Don Winslow’s magisterial 2005 novel, The Power of the Dog.

And it was another excellent year for the festival, a three-day celebration of crime writing at which the authors, as is tradition, socialise (and drink) freely with the festival-goers.

My other highlight of the weekend was the Saturday lunchtime event for debuts, hand-picked and generously hosted by Val McDermid, which featured Belinda Bauer (Blacklands), Stuart Neville (The Twelve), Attica Locke (Black Water Rising) and Liam McIlvanney (All the Colours of the Town), four authors whose highly impressive first novels all promise a vibrant future for contemporary crime writing.