Now Adrian McKinty’s thriller The Chain has won Britain’s most prestigious crime novel award, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. It’s the second year in a row that a Belfast author has won the prize, after Steve Cavanagh became the first Irish author to win the award, for Thirteen. The news was revealed in a virtual awards ceremony on what would have been the opening night of Harrogate’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. We’re all trying to find our own coping mechanisms and for me crime fiction is sometimes that but sometimes a busman’s holiday, hence sci fi.”McKinty studied philosophy at Oxford University before emigrating to the US to become a high school English teacher. His books have won the Edgar Award, the Ned Kelly Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award and have been translated into over 20 languages.

Source: The Irish Times July 23, 2020 18:11 UTC