The winner of the prize, which rewards ‘compelling storytelling with brilliant characterisation and a distinct voice that is confidently written and assuredly realised’ will be announced at Goldsboro Books on Monday 16th September. The prize, which is judged by the independent’s founder and MD David Headley, and his team, sees the winner awarded a £2,000 and a beautiful, handmade, engraved glass bell.
Congratulations, Mike!

The intergalactic adventure starts at home with Harriet, who discovers that her hearing aid can do more than she ever bargained for when she finds an alien in her room. Discovering that her family secretly work for an intergalactic agency, Harriet becomes the Earth’s first line of defence as she is revealed to be the only one who can understand aliens from across the universe, and it’s all thanks to her hearing aid.
Knights Of will be publishing this hilarious and heartfelt debut in October 2019. You can pre-order your out of this world copy right here.

It's been a tough year for empty-nester Jen in her seaside Devon town; her kids have left for pastures new and her husband's left for another woman.
Home alone with her eccentric home-brewing father and a Jack Russell, she is just getting her life back on track when her job at the local museum is threatened by her first love and nemesis, Councillor David Barton, who intends to sell the beautiful old building to a pub chain. But help is at hand from her colleagues: Jackie, a former Greenham Common warrior; Tish, a flamboyant historian; and Carol, mega-flirt. Plus newcomer and former campaigner, Tom. Who happens to be a widower. And quite sexy. And also the owner of a Jack Russell.
The key to saving the day and putting the town back on the tourist map could lie just within reach - when reaching for a cold gin and tonic, that is. Mother's Ruin to some, gin is the making of Jen when she comes together with her friends and family to save the museum and open an artisan distillery in the basement.
With its debauched local history of smuggling, can gin be the town's saviour and bring love back into Jen's life?
Download your copy here.
The Rebel Bicycle Club, by Gabrielle Kent, is the new stand-alone in the Knights and Bikes series. Buy your copy here.
Adventure awaits Demelza and her best friend in the whole world, Nessa, as they embark on a whole new adventure, solving mysteries, fending off bullies and celebrating the greatest friendship of all time.
When an unexpected guest arrives in Penfurzy, Nessa and Demelza go out of their way to help them, entering a world of ancient myth and legend.
Facing ghosts and monsters, and Conan the bully who just keeps getting in the way at the worst possible moment.
Adrian Magson’s Rocco and the Echoes of War is the first in the Inspector Lucas Rocco series, that has been re-released by The Dome Press, complete with a revised edit and a brand, spanking, new cover! The title is out now in eBook and you can grab your copy here.
France, 1963.
It's a time of great change in France, not least for Inspector Lucas Rocco. As part of a nationwide 'initiative' to broaden police operations, he finds himself moved from the Paris metropolis to a small village. His new patch might be rural, but it's certainly not uneventful: on his first day, he finds a murdered woman wearing a Gestapo uniform lying in a British military cemetery.
When the body is removed by order of a magistrate from the police mortuary before Rocco can finish his investigation, he realises he's up against a formidable enemy. An enemy who will go to any lengths - even murder - to stop his investigation.

Harry Tate has one rule: you don't abandon your friends. When he learns that former colleague Rik Ferris has had a breakdown and disappeared, allegedly in possession of highly sensitive secrets from MI6's archives, he agrees to look for him and, if possible, bring him back in. But where to begin? Rik could be anywhere in the world.
All Harry knows is, if he doesn't find Rik, others will be sent out instead. And they won't play by the same rules. What Harry doesn't know is that Rik is being held prisoner and tortured for information relating to a high-level mole in the British establishment. If he doesn't tell his captors what he knows, it will result in a devastating cyber attack designed to bring the UK to its knees.
Terminal Black will be published by Severn House on the 31st October 2019 and you can pre-order your copy here.
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The prize is voted for by the public, and if you fancy casting your vote, it really is very simple:
- Go to the link here
- Choose two books from the longlist, from two different publishers (one of them being The Closer I Get, obviously…)
- In the comments section, write “Vote” along with your two choices
- A review for at least one of the books must be included.
And that’s it! Simples!