Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival: Criminal masterminds to head to Yorkshire later this month

The best of the perenially popular genre will be celebrated later this month at one of the world's biggest crime writing festivals when hordes of authors, publishers and fans descend on Harrogate and hole up at the Old Swan Hotel.Now in its 20th year with a "killer" lineup including Lee Child, Ann Cleeves and Jeffery Deaver, seminars, onstage interviews and ‘Whodunnit?’ themed author dinners, it looks like it will top last year's 17,000 ticket sales.It was the brainchild of Simon Theakston, joint MD of brewers T&R Theakston Ltd, back in the early 2000s when support for the arts was being cut. He wondered how he could marry a festival with its famous Old Peculier ale - and decided they'd make a perfect match. "It was special beer requiring a special kind of marketing approach," he said.Masham's unique "peculier" status, meaning it had its own ecclesiastical court and governed its own affairs, dates back to the 14th century. "People from York went to collect tithes (from Masham) but kept getting bumped off on the way back," says Simon, who compares drinking a pint of Old Peculier to reading a crime novel, with its characterful contents and "satisfactory conclusion"."I gave a commitment to the organisers that we would back them for the first few years to allow it to become established.. (It did) with the incredible industry of Sharon Canaver (chief executive of Harrogate International Festivals) and the boundless energy and contacts of (author) Val McDermid. From very modest beginnings we grew slowly but surely, year after year, to where the festival is the biggest of its kind anywhere."We have literally authors from all over the world coming to Harrogate."It is a really extraordinary collection of the great and good in the world of crime writing. We have had them all, it is just a joy to be part of."Simon says being a judge means he's developed a strong interest in crime fiction: "What's particularly interesting to see is how the genre has developed. The quality of the writing and the plots just get better every year."According to Nielsen BookData in 2022 sales of Crime Thriller and Adventure books reached a decade high.Ditto the festival, curated this year by Vaseem Khan, whose latest thriller is Death of a Lesser God, the fourth in the Malabar House series. "It's going to be topping 17,000 (tickets) this year and when you look back at the first year where we sold 2,000 tickets you can see how much it has grown," said Simon.This year four women - Fiona Cummins, Elly Griffiths, Gillian McAllister and Ruth Ware have been shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award, alongside Doug Johnstone and MW Craven. The winner will be announced on the opening night of the festival on July 20. Voting at https://harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com/vote/ closes on July 13.