Il était une fois mon meurtre, the French translation of my debut novel If I Die Before I Wake, is up for a crime fiction prize.

The award - the Prix du Bureau des Lecteurs - is brand new, and being held in association with the French radio station RTL. Eight novels are in the running to be named the best crime novel from the Folio Policier imprint.

Currently a panel of readers are working their way through the books and will vote on their favourites later this summer.

The other titles my novel is up against are:

• Prémices de la chute by Frédéric Paulin

• L’homme de la plaine du Nord by Sonja Delzongle

• Le disparu de Larvik by Jorn Lier Horst

• Noyade by J.P. Smith

• Une deux trois by Dror Mishani

• Le loup d’Hiroshima by Yûko Yuzuki

• Unité 8200 by Dov Alfon