Tonight, at the the opening night party of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Denise Mina was presented the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for her novel THE END OF THE WASP SEASON. TEOTWS is her ninth novel.
When a notorious millionaire banker hangs himself, his death attracts no sympathy. But the legacy of a lifetime of selfishness is widespread, and the carnage most acute among those he ought to be protecting: his family.
Meanwhile, in a wealthy suburb of Glasgow, a young woman is found savagely murdered. The community is stunned by what appears to be a vicious, random attack. When Detective Inspector Alex Morrow, heavily pregnant with twins, is called in to investigate, she soon discovers that a tangled web of lies lurks behind the murder. It’s a web that will spiral through Alex’s own home, the local community, and ultimately right back to a swinging rope, hundreds of miles away.
The End of the Wasp Season is an accomplished, compelling and multi-layered novel about family’s power of damage-and redemption.
The other finalists consisted of:
Now You See Me by SJ Bolton (Transworld)
Where the Bodies are Buried by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
The Burning Soul by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
Black Flowers by Steve Mosby (Orion)
Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson
The winner was picked by the public, but the finalists were selected by a panel consisting of acclaimed BAFTA-nominated actor David Morrissey, Festival Chair and previous two-time award winner Mark Billingham, Daily Mirror Books Editor Henry Sutton, Asda Fiction Buyer Ruth Lewis and executive director of title sponsor T&R Theakston Simon Theakston.