The Bannerman Shortlist

Full disclosure: Colin Batrouney is a friend of a friend and we used to live in the same apartment block (I once suspected him of pinching my volumes of Mitford letters which mysteriously disappeared at that time -- if they did end up in your possession, Colin, I'll take them back, no questions asked...)

The Bannerman Shortlist has a cracker of a premise. Six novels are shortlisted for a prestigious prize, but the current heir to the Bannerman fortune has vanished without a trace (much like my Mitford books). While we follow the mystery of Gideon Bannerman's disappearance through the efforts of his lifelong best friend, and Chair of the prize, Tasha Moubray, we also meet each of the six short-listed authors and glimpse their works. So in a way this book is like one of those collections of linked short stories that I adore.

Batrouney has researched the behind the scenes machinations of awards committees, and as I suspected, the eventual winner ends up being a compromise when the prize givers are stubbornly split on the merits of other titles. However, who ends up winning isn't really the point, it's the diverting, moving, amusing and shocking journey along the way that makes this such a satisfying novel. One author, mired in grief, wants to withdraw from the list; a debut author is terrified; a popular author is distracted by a personal discovery that drives the possibility of winning (always remote) completely out of his head.

For me, The Bannerman Shortlist was marred only by a consistently eccentric use of commas, whether because of the author or an editor I'm not sure. But please don't let that quibble put you off. The Bannerman Shortlist is a terrific book.