Stuart Turton (born 1980)[1] is an English author and journalist. His first novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018) was a bestseller internationally and won a number of awards including the First Novel Award at the 2018 Costa Book Awards.[2] His books have sold over one million copies in the US and UK.[3]

Stuart Turton
Born1980 (age 43–44)
Widnes, England
OccupationAuthor, journalist
NationalityEnglish
GenreMystery fiction
Crime fiction
Years active2000–present
Website
stuturton.com

Early life edit

Turton was born and raised in Widnes, England and educated at The University of Liverpool, where he received a BA (Hons) in English and Philosophy.[4] After graduating, he spent a year working as a teacher in Shanghai,[5] before becoming a technology journalist in London. He moved to Dubai to become a travel journalist, living there for three years until he returned to London to write his first novel.

Career edit

Turton's debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (released in the US as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle[6]) won the First Novel Award at the 2018 Costa Book Awards[7] and has sold in 28 languages.[8] Since publication, it has sold over 200,000 copies[9] in the UK. In an interview given to The Guardian, he described writing the book as "just awful".[1]

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle received a number of other accolades. It won Best Novel in the 2018 Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards.[10] That same year, it was shortlisted for a New Writers' Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards,[11] Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards,[12] and longlisted for a New Blood Dagger and Gold Dagger at the Crime Writers' Association Awards.[13]

Val McDermid selected Turton to appear on her New Blood panel at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.[14] In 2019, it was shortlisted for Best Debut Novel at the Strand Magazine Critics Awards[15] and longlisted for the Glass Bell Award.[16] The Japanese edition of the novel, translated by Kazuyo Misumi and published in 2019, was shortlisted for the Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of the Decade (2010-2019).[17]

Turton's second novel, The Devil and the Dark Water, was published in October 2020.[18] It won the 2020 Books Are My Bag Fiction Award,[19] and was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Dagger at the Crime Writers' Association Awards.[20] It was Waterstones Thriller of the Month,[21] and selected for Between the Covers, a seven-part book TV programme on BBC Two hosted by Sara Cox.[22] It has sold in 20 countries.[23] The Japanese edition of the novel, translated by Kazuyo Misumi and published in 2022, was nominated for the 2023 Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mystery Fiction in Translation.[24][25]

In December 2020 it was announced that Netflix had bought the rights to a seven-part series adaptation of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, produced by BBC Studios-owned House Productions, and to be created and written by Sophie Petzal. But in January 2023 Netflix canceled its planned adaptation.[26]

In April 2021, The Devil and the Dark Water was optioned for television by Urban Myth. It will be written by Howard Overman, with Turton serving as an executive producer on the project.[27]

In November 2020, Turton signed a contract to write two more "high-concept" mystery novels for Bloomsbury. The first of these will be called The Last Murder at the End of the World.[3] He has described them as "nuts".[28]

Bibliography edit

Novels edit

  • The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (2018)
  • The Devil and the Dark Water (2020)[29]
  • The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024): ISBN 9781526665089)[30]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Flood, Alison (7 January 2019). "Costa first novel award winner recalls 'awful' time writing his book". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. ^ Bloomsbury.com. "The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Turton, Stuart (28 March 2024). The Last Murder at the End of the World: The dazzling new high concept murder mystery from the author of the million copy selling, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (1st ed.). Raven Books.
  4. ^ Turton, Stuart (11 January 2019). "Stuart Turton on Widnes: 'It was famous for its smell. On bad days, the air punched you in the nose'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Long march to mutual understanding". The Independent. 20 November 2003. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Is the name any sort of homage to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo". goodreads.com. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Costa Book Awards | Behind the beans | Costa Coffee". www.costa.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Recent Successes | Marsh Agency". Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  9. ^ Illingworth, Harry (22 August 2019). "Some excellent news: @stu_turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle has now sold over 200,000 copies in the UK alone! What a bloody brilliant achievement and huge congratulations also to @Alison_Edits and @BloomsburyRaven on phenomenal work". @harryillers. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Books Are My Bag Readers Awards". National Book Tokens. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Shortlists". National Book Awards. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  12. ^ "2019 Fiction Debut Book of the Year | British Book Awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  13. ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  14. ^ "New Blood". Harrogate International Festivals. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  15. ^ "And the Nominees Are... The Nominees for the 2019 Strand Critics Awards | Strand Magazine". Strand Mag. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  16. ^ Books, Goldsboro (23 July 2019). "The Home of Signed First Editions". Goldsboro Books. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  17. ^ "2010年代海外本格ミステリ ベスト作品選考座談会" [Best Translated Honkaku Mystery of 2010s]. Giallo (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: Kobunsha. 23 July 2021.
  18. ^ "The Devil and the Dark Water". Bloomsbury.com. Bloomsbury. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  19. ^ "Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2020". National Book Tokens. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  20. ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Books of the Month | Waterstones". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Celebrity authors and panellists announced for Between The Covers". BBC.co.uk. BBC. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  23. ^ "The Devil and the Dark Water". D H H literary agency. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Mystery Writers of Japan is pleased to announce a new award for Mystery Fiction in Translation". www.mystery.or.jp. Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc. 27 April 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  25. ^ "第76回日本推理作家協会賞受賞作決定". www.mystery.or.jp (in Japanese). Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  26. ^ "Netflix Cancels 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' Adaptation After Two Years in Development (Exclusive)". Variety. 17 January 2023. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023.
  27. ^ Hackett, Tasmin (16 December 2020). "Netflix UK picks up Turton's Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle". The Bookseller. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Raven Books acquires two more from Turton in 'major' deal | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  29. ^ Turton, Stuart (2020). The Devil and the Dark Water. Raven Books. ISBN 978-1-4088-8964-0.
  30. ^ "The Last Murder at the End of the World (publisher's announcement)". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 21 February 2024.

External links edit