Ruth Ware‘s The It Girl has been shortlisted for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award.

The “fiendishly twisty” (Elly Griffiths) novel fought off stiff competition in the 18-strong longlist.

Huge congratulations to Ruth.

See the full shortlist here and cast your vote for The It Girl before 13th July. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival at Harrogate International Festivals on 20th July.

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realises that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide… including a murder.

The It Girl is out now in paperback. Grab your US copy here and your UK copy here, or, better, via your local bookshop or Bookshop.org.

Follow Ruth on Instagram @ruthwarewriter and Twitter @RuthWareWriter.