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. That was the Eureka moment! 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!” – Simon Theakston

Theakston Old Peculier has been the title sponsor of the Crime Writing Festival and the Crime Novel of the Year Award almost from day one. The status of the Festival in the world of publishing grows in stature year after year, greatly enhanced by the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the most wanted accolade in crime fiction.