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Discover the opening chapters of this year’s shortlisted titles for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.
These exclusive extracts offer the perfect introduction to the books competing for the prize, giving you a flavour of the gripping plots, unforgettable characters and thrilling suspense before casting your vote.
About the Book
Ali Dawson is a police officer working on crimes so old, the joke goes, that they are not only cold but frozen.
What most people don’t know is that the team travels back in time to complete their research – a process pioneered by the mysterious Italian physicist, Serafina Pelligrini. So far the team has only ventured a few years back but Ali’s boss has a new assignment for her.
He wants her to step back to 1850, the heart of the Victorian Age, to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of Tory MP Isaac Templeton. To prepare for the challenge ahead, Ali researches the Victorian era. She learns that Cain Templeton was part of a sinister group called The Collectors, the rumour being that you had to kill a woman to become a member.
Duly prepared, she arrives in London in January 1850, at the peak of the so-called mini ice age, to start her journey in a house used by artists, with a dead woman at her feet.
Soon she finds herself in extreme danger. Even worse – she appears to be stuck, unable to make her way back to the present, to her life and to her son, Finn.
Read the first chapter: The Frozen People – Chapter 1
About the author
Elly Griffiths is a multi-award-winning author and a No. 1 bestseller. She has written twenty-seven crime novels for adults; four for children, and a volume of short stories. Her books for adults include the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Brighton Mysteries and the Detective Harbinder Kaur series, as well as The Frozen People, the first book in the Ali Dawson Mysteries.
Elly’s many accolades include the CWA Dagger in the Library, the Edgar Award, the Fingerprint Award for Crime Novel of the Year and the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award, as well as being shortlisted multiple times for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year Award.
Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband and their cat, Pip.
Buy the Book
About the Awards
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award celebrates excellence, originality, and the very best in crime fiction by UK and Irish authors. A highlight of the literary calendar, it is recognised as one of the most prestigious accolades in the genre.
Each year, a longlist of 18 titles is carefully selected by a panel of industry experts. The public is then invited to take part in two key stages of the voting process: first, to help determine the shortlist of six novels from the longlist, and later, to help choose the overall winner from the shortlist. In both stages, the public vote is combined with the judging panel’s decision to reach the final outcome. The winner will be announced at the Opening Ceremony of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which will next take place on Thursday 23 July 2026.
The winner will receive a £3,000 cash prize and a hand-engraved oak beer cask, crafted by one of Britain’s last remaining coopers at Theakston’s Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire. Past winners include Mark Billingham, Denise Mina, Lee Child, Val McDermid, M.W. Craven, Jo Callaghan and 2025’s winner, Abir Mukherjee.