Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year

So, this happened. To put it into context, first this happened. Then, on Thursday night, Mark Lawson and Simon Theakston presented me with The Barrel, the biggest crime fiction award in the UK. As I told The Guardian, I was gobsmacked. Thank you to everyone who voted for me, and to the judges who included Alison Graham (Columnist of the Year) and Ann Cleeves who said, "For a debut novel it was astounding. Although the subject matter is really quite bloody and violent, there are no gratuitous descriptions – instead she has this dreadful sense of horror, but it is done delicately and subtly. It always stops just as your imagination takes over.”

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