30th June 2026
Brindle Books Ltd is delighted to announce that Crime Wave at Tangents by Roderick Easdale has been nominated for the 2026 Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for Comic Literature.
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| Crime Wave at Tangents by Roderick Easdale |
The nomination marks a remarkable second successive appearance on the prize nomination list for Easdale's Tangents series. His debut novel, Summer at Tangents, was nominated for the 2025 Bollinger Wodehouse Prize, establishing the fictional village of Tangents as a place where comedy, confusion and poor decision-making flourish in equal measure.
Now, with Crime Wave at Tangents, Easdale returns readers to the increasingly eventful community, where criminal activity appears to be spreading at a rate that local authorities find deeply concerning and literary judges apparently find highly entertaining.
Here at Brindle Books, we are absolutely thrilled. Having one Tangents novel nominated for the Bollinger Wodehouse Prize was wonderful. Having a second nominated suggests either a growing appreciation for Roderick Easdale's comic genius or a serious containment failure in the village of Tangents. We are choosing to believe the former.
The news was greeted enthusiastically throughout Brindle Books headquarters, where celebrations reportedly included tea, biscuits and several minutes of dignified cheering before matters got completely out of hand.
Roderick Easdale responded to the announcement with characteristic modesty.
"It is an enormous honour," he said. "I am particularly pleased that the judges have once again agreed to visit Tangents, although I feel obliged to apologise for what they found when they got there."
The Bollinger Wodehouse Prize for Comic Literature celebrates the finest humorous writing and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious awards in comic fiction. To receive a nomination once is a significant achievement; to receive nominations in consecutive years suggests that the residents of Tangents have developed an impressive commitment to causing trouble.
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| Author Roderick Easdale |
The nomination also arrives ahead of the publication of the third novel in the series, Terror at Tangents, which will be released later this year. Readers can therefore look forward to discovering what fresh chaos, confusion and questionable judgement await the long-suffering inhabitants of the village.
Industry observers have noted that most fictional communities are content with the occasional mystery or minor scandal. Tangents, by contrast, appears determined to experience every conceivable catastrophe while remaining oddly cheerful about the whole thing.
Whether Crime Wave at Tangents ultimately claims the prize remains to be seen. For now, we are celebrating a second consecutive nomination and preparing for the publication of Terror at Tangents with a mixture of pride, excitement and a growing suspicion that the village should perhaps invest in a larger police station.
You can find out more, read a sample, or buy a copy by clicking HERE