A ghostly thriller set in the haunted tunnels of Preston is up for an international accolade in The Dead Good Reader Awards.

Cold Bath Street by Preston-born A.J. Hartley has been nominated in The Wringer Award, for “the character who’s been put through it all”. The book was published by UCLan Publishing, and Associate Professor of Publishing and Head of UCLan Publishing, Debbie Williams, said, “Given that the main character, Preston, is killed on the first page, I think it’s a good fit.”

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Read more: Ghostly thriller set in Preston’s tunnels has launched

The book will be up against other titles from large publishers like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, who are all based in the South.

Debbie continued, “This is a big deal to us as we’re a small indie publisher and the students did so much of the amazing work. It would be wonderful to see a northern not-for-profit publisher win it with a book set in Preston. Previous shortlisted books have gone on to sell millions of copies, so it would really put Preston on the map.”

The shortlist will be decided by the public. You can nominate Cold Bath Street on the Dead Good Books website by scrolling down to The Wringer Award and entering the character’s name (Preston Oldcorn) and the author’s name (A.J. Hartley). Nominations close on Monday 21 May.

Have you read the book? Will you be voting? Let us know in the comments below.