Career of Evil Shortlisted for Crime Novel of the Year

Career of Evil written by J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith has been shortlisted for Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year!

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Career of Evil, written by J.K. Rowling as Robert Galbraith, has made it past the second to the last elimination hurdle to the 2016 shortlist for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The list has gone from 18 down to the final six that the winner will be chosen from.

Third in the Cormoran Strike series, Rowling has said that Career of Evil is “the darkest in the series” and the most enjoyable book she’s ever written. It wasn’t until a couple months after publication of the first novel of the series in 2013 that Rowling’s use of a pen name was leaked and sales exploded.

If you’re wondering about whether or not her Harry Potter fame is what’s really responsible for the acclaim for the novels, I actually read The Cuckoo’s Calling before the pseudonym was known and I think that the quality of the writing and plot stands for itself. The series is being adapted for a major new television series for BBC One, we’ll see how it turns out and if it’s another blockbuster in her pocket.

The award is in its 12th year and targets British and Irish authors who published in paperback from May 1, 2015 to April 18, 2016. The winner receives a £3,000 prize (about $4,300 US) and a handmade, engraved oak beer cask. This sounds like an odd addition to the prize if you don’t know that Theakstons is a British brewer especially known for its beer Old Peculier. They describe the reason for association with crime novels on the crime festival website:

"“The striking initial taste sensation soon developed into something magnificent as the full flavour of the beer opened out in all its glory with rich warming fruity full bodied resonance before mellowing into a deeply satisfying finish. […] The perfect Crime novel does not have the ‘whodunit’ on page one. After a gripping opening scene the reader is drawn into the story with all its facets, experiencing, the characters, the plotting, the scenes and only at the end of the book, when the conclusion has been reached, the reader will then experience the satisfaction of the mystery solved. The parallels between drinking Old Peculier and good crime novel became immediately obvious!”"

The award ceremony will take place July 21st July on the opening night of the 14th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate in the United Kingdom. The jokes are flying about Robert Galbraith making a public appearance for the award, including some giggleworthy tweets from Rowling herself.

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The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges, but there will also be public voting from July 1-15. There’s no mention of how much weight the public’s opinion will have, but you will be able to vote for your favorite author here when it opens to the public.