A report from Chiswell Street : THE CRIME WRITERS’
ASSOCIATION
www.MysteryThriller.co.uk DAGGER AWARDS 2004
© 2004 Ali Karim
So here I
am again in the heart of the City of London to celebrate the best of the best
in the world of Crime, Mystery and Thriller Fiction. As the rain came down, I
tugged the lapel of my raincoat and braved the journey with the other 290
guests headed to The Brewery [the venue that has played host for the last three
years for the CWA Daggers]. The format is a luncheon in the King George III
Room with a private bar and a blood red carpet. We have a treat this year with
Greg Dyke [being the after-lunch speaker] former Director General of the BBC
[who resigned in the aftermath of the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction debacle
earlier this year], who incidentally has a biography currently on the
bookshelves entitled ‘Inside Story’.
This is the
first Dagger Awards Luncheon to be sponsored by the BCA and they will be
announcing the winner of their own Mystery Thriller People’s Choice award. Book
Club Associates are a strong advocate of the genre, and have been welcomed by
the CWA to support the most prestigious awards in the UK crime fiction
calender.
The CWA has
also formed a partnership with the National Library for the Blind to promote
their activities and help to raise funds. One result is that the Foyle
Foundation is providing finance which will enable all the winning books in the
Dagger Awards to be converted into Braille. It is believed that this is the
first time that a series of major awards has been made available in this
format. Crime writing being one of the most popular genres, the CWA is
particularly pleased to bring it to a wider audience in this manner. Peter
White - BBC disability correspondent and long-term supporter of the NLB - would
speak at the luncheon.
I arrived
early and grabbed a cold beer and met up with Mick Jecks the current chair and
thanked him for my invite. I chatted with Danuta Reah, Janet Laurence and Zoe
Sharp who helped organise this event devoting time and energy to ensure it all
ran smoothly.
I noticed
that The Daggers have been a truly international affair when I scanned the
table lists and seating plans and smiled at the significant numbers of American
colleagues who had come across the atlantic for the event.
The first
hour was spent mingling with the assembled. I really enjoy meeting up with old
friends [especially this year, because I have been so busy] and catching up
with what has been happening within the genre. Maxim Jakubowski and I chatted about
the launch of ‘Behind the Mask’ in autumn 2005 – the next book by Thomas Harris
about the early life of Hannibal Lecter. Maxim apart from being a critically
acclaimed novelist and anthology editor is also the owner of Murderone
Bookstore in Charing Cross and he told me that he planned to open the shop at
midnight again on the eve of the release of ‘Behind the Mask’. I told Maxim
that I would be there to sample his Chiati and Fava Beans yet again.
I then met
up with American uber-sellers Karin Slaughter and Jeff Deaver and congratulated
them on the tremendous achievments of scaling the UK Charts. Jeff indicated
that ‘Garden of Beasts’ [the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger nominated thriller
based in wartime Germany] had not done as well in the USA. I suggested that was
due to the European flavour he had injected into the work. Jeff Deaver recently
got to the No 1 slot in terms of paperback sales with his last Lincoln Rhyme
thriller ‘The Vanished Man’, and had his head-spinning collection of short
story work ‘Twisted’ as well ‘Garden of Beasts’ out on release.
I then had
a chat with Simon Kernick who was excited by his upcoming thriller ‘A Good Day
to Die’ and I congratulated him on his recent Barry Award nomination at
Bouchercon – the second so far as he was shortlised in 2003 also. I reminded
him that it took John Connolly three years before he finally won a Barry so he
mustn’t lose heart!
I had a
drink with Henry Jefferys [Hodder UK] who had a proof of Blood Memory by one of my favourite authors Greg Iles. Greg is over
in the UK next week and I planned an interview with him as I have followed his
diverse thrillers since his novel Spandau Phoenix. Henry was very excited and had
brought the ARC of Blood Memory for
me personally – so I bought him a drink for his trouble.
I then met up with Jim Kelly who has recently
published his debut The Water Clock in
the US and I had been most impressed by his follow up Firebaby. Jim was again nominated for a Dagger and I wished him
well. The real acheivement in my book is the nomination, because the shortlists
were fierce and I wondered what a difficult task it would be for the judges to
select a winner from some truly memorable novels.
Then I
popped outside had bumped into Val McDermid as well as Jenni Murray from the BBC
accompanied by a very well looking Mike Ripley in top jovial form.
When I
returned I mingled some more and took some pictures with my partner in crime
Shots Editor-in-Chief Mike Stotter. We noticed Richard Reynolds of Heffers
Bookshop Cambridge and thanked him for the sponsorship of www.shotsmag.co.uk – Richard is the
crime-buyer and one of the most knowlegable people in the genre. The only
problem is I end up expanding my TBR [To be Read pile] each time we meet. Then
Jeff of CADS, David Stuart Davies of Sherlock Magazine, Red Herrings, Mike and
I [of Shots] had a chat with Adrian Muller who was organising Left Coast Crime
2005 [to be held in Bristol UK] next year, which was great news for us
Europeans – and with Mike Connelly being GoH at Harrogate in 2005 – what a
great year lined up [and that was without consideration to Hannibal Lecter
coming to a bookstore!].
Mike Jecks
then announced for all of us to take our seats as the luncheon was about to be
served. I was on table twelve [Journalists] – and my dining partners were the
thriller writer Zoe Sharp, Mark Lawson and Robyn Read from the BBC, John
Dugdale, Janet Lawrence, Left-Coast-Crime Man Adrian Muller and my old friends
Liz and Myles.
Luncheon
was started with a Tomato Quiche [which helped soak up some of the wine that
started to flow in my direction]. I was careful this year as at the Lunch last
year I managed to spill a big glass of red-wine over Zoe – and she was very
good natured about the incident when I reminded her. Zoe is a novelist that is
launching in the US and I predict will be a big name in the genre as she
is gathering a large following. She has published so far KILLER INSTINCT, RIOT ACT, HARD KNOCKS, FIRST DROP and I
would check out www.zoesharp.com because
if you like your thrillers fast and traced with gunfire, Zoe’s your writer.
I asked her about the genesis of her character Charlie Fox 'The idea of a tough, self-sufficient heroine who
didn't suffer fools gladly and could take care of herself is one I've had lying
around for quite a few years. Things have improved a lot recently, but at that
time the vast majority of female characters in books and films were only good
at looking decorative and screaming while they waited to be rescued by the men!
'I decided early on that Charlie
Fox was going to be very different. She arrived almost as a full-grown
character and I never thought of her by any other name. At the start of the
first book, Killer Instinct, she is a self-defence instructor with a slightly
shady military background and a painful past.
'In Riot Act Charlie has moved on
to working in a gym, and by the time she's involved in the events of 'Hard
Knocks' she is in training for her new career - as a bodyguard. It was the
perfect choice for an ex-Special Forces trainee who never found herself quite
in step with life outside the army that rejected her.
'There are some who might feel
that Charlie is a bit too hard at times, but she's been made that way by events
in her life and, as you find out during the course of the series, things are
not about to get any easier. She's a fighter and a survivor, and I get the
feeling that if I met her I'd probably like her a lot. I'm not so sure she'd
say the same about me...
I
had first bumped into Zoe a few years back at Bodies in the Bookshop and we
carried out a short interview, and her insight made me explore her work. Then
last year I spilled a glass of wine over her at the 2003 Daggers, so this year
I was extra careful. We chatted about her missing Bouchercon 2003 in Las Vegas
due to an appendix operation, but she had throughly enjoyed Bochercon 2004 in
Toronto. We both were coming to Bouchercon 2005 in Chicago – My excuse was I
need to meet up with my dear friends Jon, Ruth and Jennifer Jordan
[www.crimespreemag.com] as well as the excellent companion George Easter who
tirelessly works at www.deadlypleasures.com
– as well as the myriad other friends and contacts within the US Crime /
Mystery and Thriller community.
The
main course was lamb and I have to admit that The Brewery serves an excellent
lunch and the wine provided was eminantly quaffable.Over the luncheon, I discussed with Mark Lawson and Robyn Read
how much I enjoyed BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and apprecaited the support they
gave the genre. Both of who were big readers within the genre.
And
naturally we talked a great deal about books, and I even mentioned my high
regard for Dennis Lehane’s work, especailly his astounding ‘Shutter Island’.
The
desert [strawberry cheesecake] came far too quickly for me, as I talked so much
and was followed by coffee and the main event was scheduled to kick-off.
Michael
Jecks then took the podium and we all hushed as he warmly welcomed us all to
the 2004 CWA Dagger Awards. He told everyone that this year was the biggest
attendance with 290 people at the ceremony. Mike himself is very well known in
the genre for his historical crime novels, and I am amazed at how he maintains
his output while chairing The CWA at the same time, and this year has seen some
major changes. The first being the hugely positive step of involving Book Club
Associates as one of the main sponsors of the event and with their bookclub www.MysteryThriller.co.uk this can only stimulate interest in the
genre.
Mike then
introduced our ‘after lunch’ speaker – Greg Dyke former Director General of the
BBC, who felt welcome amongst the crime writing fraternity as he’d just
released his own book ‘Inside Story’. His speech was hugely entertaining
and peppered with wit as he made cautious reference to the US elections and the
Iraqi WMD affair which resulted him leaving the BBC. He also indicated that he
was a big reader of Crime / Mystery fiction and during his time in broadcasting
was involved in commisioning the Poirot Mysteries as well as the Ruth Rendell
Inspector Wexford Mysteries for TV. His speech was very funny and informative.
He apologised that he had to leave, and would miss out on the award ceremony as
he had a prior engagement with the Police Federation.
The next
speaker to the podium was Peter White - BBC disability correspondent and
long-term supporter of the National Library for the Blind. Peter who also is
visually impaired, spoke at length at how Braille books had been so important
to him as a child and how they are still and why he works so hard to try and
raise money to get more books available for the blind. Anyone interested in
making a donation to this important charity should check the website :-
http://www.nlbonline.org/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=140200&page_id=56&menu=28#content
Peter then
told us a tale about one of his pet hates, the stereotype that the blind always
have a guidedog. He was on the Tube one night when a fellow traveller asked him
where his guide-dog was. Somewhat irriated he said ‘Oh no! I must have left him
on the train’ but the traveller took him seriously and called a railway officer
and before long, a whole section of the underground had been halted as a search
ensued to look for a lost guide-dog. Feeling guilty he confessed that he had
played a ‘joke’ and was told not to do it again. His message was for everyone
to look beyond the stereotype.
After the
speechs we then launched into the award ceremony.
LEO HARRIS AWARD
The Leo
Harris Award is for the best contribution to the CWA monthly bulletin, Red
Herrings over a twelve-month period, chosen by the current editor, David Stuart
Davies.
It is named
after Leo Harris, who edited Red Herrings from 1987 until his death in 1997. As
a memorial to his time in the editor’s chair, Leo’s wife Jane instigated the
award. Since her death, Leo’s daughter, Rosalind Dick has continued to fund it
and she will present the winner with their cheque for £150.
The winner
was Joan Lock who remarked that the award was a very nice surprise even though
she no longer contined with her column!
CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Nominated
and judged by librarians and awarded to a body of work, not just a single
title.
£1500 prize
money, sponsored by Random House.
The Award
was presented by Susan Sandon, Publisher with CHA Division, Random House.
The
shortlist comprised :-
Mark
Billingham
Christopher Brookmyre
Jim Kelly
Alexander McCall Smith
Stuart Pawson
Andrew Taylor
The winner
was Alexander McCall Smith who was
born in Zimbabwe in 1948 and educated there and in Scotland. He is married with
two daughters and lives with his wife in Edinburgh. An internationally-known
Professor of Medical Law, he was until very recently also a member of the
International Bioethics Commission of UNESCO and vice-chairman of the Human
Genetics Commission for the UK.
He has written more than 50 titles, from reference works to children’s
titles. ‘The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’ series, set in Botswana, was first
published in 1988 by Polygon, a small Edinburgh-based publishing house.
Word-of-mouth promotion led to a quiet growth of sales which exploded into five
million copies in English and 31 languages world-wide. Six titles are currently
available (now as Abacus paperbacks), the most recent being ‘In the Company of
Cheerful Ladies’. In addition, a new
series was launched by Polygon in August 2003 (‘Portuguese Irregular Verbs’)
and this too is a UK best-seller.
‘These tales have given the genre a new lease of life. The
heroine, Precious Ramotswe, is a wholly original character whose approach to
detective work is both ingenious and humane. We gain an insight into a country
that is in transition and the old and the new exist together, while the gentle
humour and wit of the writing appeal to readers who would not normally read
crime novels. McCall Smith writes beautifully, at a measured pace, giving you
the time and space to consider what his characters (and what characters!) are
saying and thinking and why. And all are carried along by a woven fabric of
story - crimes to solve, puzzles to unravel, questions to be asked and
answered, people to be remembered and moved on.’
Unfortuntaly Professor Alexander McCall Smith was unable to
be present due to a long-standing prior engagement. However he had sent a
letter which was to be read in the event he did win. In the letter he thanked
everyone who had supported him and would donate his prize money to start a
short story competition in Botswana to stimulate literacy.
CWA DEBUT DAGGER
For
unpublished authors of fiction.
£250 prize
money, sponsored by Orion.
This was
presented by Malcom Edwards, Managing Director, Orion who thanked Kat Mitchell
for her efforts in organising this catorgory where unpublished writers submit a
synopsis and sample chapter [3,000] words for a proposed novel. Previous
winners have received publishing contracts and the award is the first step of
the ladder for many.
Short list comprised :-
Paula Bouwer (Eire) - ‘George Trenque and the Old School Tie’
Kenneth Carlisle (UK) - ‘The Gardener’
Fay Cunningham (UK) - ‘Sleeping Dogs’
Jim Doherty (USA) - ‘An Obscure Grave’
Tom Flynn (Australia) - ‘Cheap
Day Return’
Ellen Grubb (UK) - ‘The Doll Makers’
Jude Larkin (Australia) - ‘Dead Meat’
Andrew Murphy (Northern Ireland) - ‘Redman’s Revenge’
Louise Penny (Canada) - ‘Still Life’
Phyllis Smallman (Canada) - ‘Margarita Nights’
Germaine Stafford (Italy) - ‘Fallen Women’
Otis Twelve (USA) - ‘Sometimes a Prozac Notion’
Eugene Wang (USA) - ‘Murder in
Crowded Hours’
Geoffrey D West (UK) - ‘Deadly Contact’
It is so exciting to see these new talents arrive, and how
truly international the Daggers have become.
The winner
was Ellen Grubb with her work
entitled ‘The Doll Makers’
CWA MYSTERY THRILLER BOOK CLUB SHORT STORY DAGGER
£1500 prize
money, sponsored by www.MysteryThriller.co.uk.
This was presented by Peter White, disability correspondent for the
BBC.
Shortlisted
were :-
Mark Billingham - ‘Dancing
Towards the Blade’ from Men from Boys
- Heinemann
Mat Coward - ‘Persons Reported’ from Green for Danger - Do-Not Press
Jeffery Deaver - ‘The Weekender’ from Twisted - Hodder & Stoughton
Val McDermid - ‘The Consolation Blonde’ from Mysterious Pleasures -
Little, Brown
Don Winslow - ‘Douggie
Doughnuts’ from Men from Boys -
Heinemann
A genuinely surprised Jeff Deaver was called to the Podium
to receive the award. He was not lost for words as he thanked his agent, publisher
and many of his colleagues. He said he had the best people in the business
supporting him.
If you’ve
not read Deaver – Shame on you!
Jeffery
Deaver is the author of fourteen suspense novels. His books have been
translated into a dozen languages. Deaver was born in Chicago, attended the
University of Missouri, and received his law degree from Fordham University in
New York. In 1990 he quit practicing law to write full time. He lives in
California and Virginia.
Jeffery
Deaver loves writing short stories. 'All bets are off,' he says. 'Short stories
are like a sniper's bullet. Fast and shocking. I can make good bad and bad
badder, and most fun of all, really bad seem good.' And that is exactly what he
does in these seventeen superb short stories. This is collection of short
stories that is instantly gripping and impossible to put down, taking your
breath away time and time again. Nothing is as it seems in the twisted world of
Jeffery Deaver.
CWA ELLIS
PETERS HISTORICAL DAGGER
£3000 prize
money, sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers, Headline,
and the Time Warner Book Group.
This was
presented by Marion Donaldson, of Headline.
Short list
Barbara Cleverly - ‘The Damascened Blade’ - Constable &
Robinson
Marjorie Eccles - ‘The Shape of Sand’ - Allison & Busby
Tom Franklin - ‘Hell at the Breech’ - Flamingo
Janet Gleeson - ‘The Thief-Taker’ - Transworld
Matthew Pearl - ‘The Dante Club’ - Vintage
Steven Saylor - ‘The Judgement of Caesar’ - Constable &
Robinson
Laura Wilson - ‘The Lover’ - Orion
The winner
of this award was Barbara Cleverly’s ‘The Damascened Blade’, as announced at a
reception at The House of St Barnabas-in-Soho, Greek Street, London W1, on
Tuesday, October 19th. Ms Cleverly was presented with her Dagger at the lunch.
Barbara Cleverly - ‘The Damascened Blade’ - Constable &
Robinson
‘An
evocative and exciting book very much in the tradition of golden age crime.
Politics, revenge, intrigue and murder amongst a memorable cast of characters
set on the North West Frontier of India in 1922.’
Barbara Cleverly was born in the north of England and is a
graduate of Durham University. She has spent her working life in Suffolk and
Cambridgeshire, where she now lives. She has one son and five stepchildren.
‘The Damascened Blade’ is her third novel featuring Joe
Sandilands, who is based on a relation of Ms Cleverly’s husband - Brigadier
Harold Richard Sandilands (1876-1961), a daring soldier, who served in India at
different periods throughout his career.
The New York Times named
‘The Last Kashmiri Rose’, the first Joe Sandilands novel, as one of the best
mystery books of 2002. She was
inspired to write it by being short listed for the CWA Debut Dagger in 2000.
She followed up her initial success with ‘Ragtime in Simla’. Constable & Robinson
have recently published the fourth title in the series, ‘The Palace Tiger.’
CWA JOHN
CREASEY MEMORIAL DAGGER
For first
books by unpublished writers.
£1000 prize
money, sponsored by BBC Audiobooks.
The award
was presented by Jan Paterson of BBC Audiobooks.
Short list comprised :-
Denise Hamilton - ‘The Jasmine Trade’ - Orion
Mark Mills-
‘Amagansett’ - Fourth Estate
Catherine Shaw - ‘The Three Body Problem’ - Allison &
Busby
Stav Sherez
- ‘The Devil’s Playground’ - Penguin Michael Joseph
The winner
was Mark Mills- ‘Amagansett’ - Fourth Estate
A great
cheer went up as Mark had many of his friends and supporters in the audience.
‘A very
well written and atmospheric novel, set on Long Island in 1947. A fisherman
finds the body of his lover in his nets...’
Mark Mills
is a screenwriter whose film credits include The Reckoning, an adaptation of
Barry's Unsworth's ‘Morality Play’. ‘Amagansett’ is his first novel. He is
currently researching his next novel, set in a colonial community in Java in
the late nineteenth century.
Amagansett,
a small fishing town near the tip of Long Island, off the east coast of
America, is a place Mark Mills knows well, having visited it repeatedly over
the past 15 years. Generations have followed the same calling as their
forefathers, fishing the dangerous Atlantic waters but the stability of the
local community is shattered when the body of a beautiful New York socialite
turns up in the fishermen’s nets. The story is set in 1947 and captures the
life of a community whose way of life is disappearing, its demise hastened by
war in Europe and the incursions of wealthy city dwellers in search of a
playground.
CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
For the
best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond.
£2000 prize
money, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.
The award
was presented by Zoë Watkins of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd
Short list :-
Jeffery Deaver - ‘Garden of Beasts’ - Hodder & Stoughton
Dan Fesperman - ‘The Warlord’s Son’ - Transworld
Joseph Finder - ‘Paranoia’ - Orion
Mo Hayder - ‘Tokyo’ - Transworld
Stephen
Leather - ‘Hard Landing’ - Hodder
& Stoughton
Adrian McKinty - ‘Dead I May
Well Be’ - Serpent’s Tail
Daniel Silva - ‘The Confessor’ - Penguin
It was announced that Joseph Finder - ‘Paranoia’ was highly
commended – which I was delighted by, because I found this highly entertaining
thriller one of my best reads of 2004.
The winner however was Jeff Deaver again!
‘Cat and
mouse chase through Berlin in the run up to the 1936 Olympics. Evocative of the
period, unrelenting pace with a tension that never lets up. This is a new
departure for Deaver which keeps his trademark twists. A real page-turner.’
Jeffrey Deaver was born in Chicago, attended the University of Missouri and received his law degree from Fordham University, New York. In 1990, he quit practising law to write full-time and is the author of 14 suspense novels in a dozen languages. He lives in California and Virginia.
Paul
Schumann, a German-American living in New York in 1936, is a hit-man known for
his brilliant tactics and for taking only ‘righteous’ jobs. But when a hit goes
wrong and Schumann is nabbed, he’s offered a stark choice: kill Reinhard Ernst,
the man behind Hitler’s rearmament scheme and walk free forever, or be sent to
Sing-Sing and the electric chair. Set in Berlin in the year of the pre-war
Olympics, the novel is packed with fascinating period detail. There is plenty
of action as Schumann stalks Ernst and is himself pursued by the entire Third
Reich security apparatus.
I spoke to Jeff
Deaver afterwards and congratulated him for this double-win at the Daggers and
he was most gracious and again genuinely surprised.
I would also recommend Joe
Finder’s Paranoia to those not familiar with his work :-
‘Industrial
espionage in a high-tech environment which Q would envy is the basis for this
fresh and engrossing thriller. Exciting to the very last line.’
Joseph Finder writes extensively on espionage and international affairs
for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. He lives in
Boston, USA, with his wife and daughter.
His novel ‘Paranoia’ is an acid portrayal of how people act in the modern
corporate environment. It taps into basic wish-fulfillment fantasy
about ambition and success and post-Enron disillusionment with big
business. The story centres on a
bright young executive who is appalled at the way that the departure of a
colleague, leaving the company after many years’ loyal service, is allowed to
go unnoticed by senior management. He plots revenge against the company by
accessing a secret slush fund and throwing a lavish leaving party for his
wronged colleague. Caught out, he does a deal with his employers: in exchange
for not facing embezzlement charges and jail, he must infiltrate a high-tech
rival company. As he becomes a rising star in his new job, his loyalties are
divided and ultimately he seeks to break the bonds with his former employers.
CWA MYSTERY THRILLER BOOK CLUB GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
£2000 prize
money, sponsored by www.MysteryThriller.co.uk.
This was
presented by Christian Friege, Chief Executive of BCA.
Short
listed:
John Dickie - ‘Cosa Nostra: A History of the
Sicilian Mafia’ -Hodder & Stoughton
Rebecca Gowers - ‘The Swamp of Death: A True Tale of
Victorian Lies and Murder’ - Hamish Hamilton
Steve Holland - ‘The Trials of Hank Janson: The True Story
Behind the Censorship and Banning of Hank Janson’s Books in the UK’ - Telos
Publishing
Mende Nazer /Damien Lewis
- ‘Slave: The True Story of a Girl’s Lost Childhood and her Fight for Survival’
- Time Warner
Sarah Wise - ‘The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in
1830s London’ - Jonathan Cape
This resulted in a tie with John Dickie - ‘Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia’ sharing
the award with Sarah Wise -
‘The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London’
‘Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia’
‘An examination of the origins of the Sicilian Mafia. A
thorough, well-informed and well-written book that explains the rise of the
Mafia and its culture.’
‘Cosa Nostra’ is the first
book in English to tell the complete story of the Sicilian Mafia. Through
face-to-face interviews with protagonists on both sides of the law and academic
research, Dickie has put together a gripping study that demolishes
preconceptions about the Mafia. Their roots are not, as it has been supposed,
lost in Sicily’s murky, peasant past. The beginnings of Cosa Nostra are modern
and urban. The first noted Mafia activity took place around Palermo just after
Italian unification in 1860.
Dickie follows the Mafia from
its inception through to its arrival in America, its persecution under
Mussolini and rebirth after the war, its influence finally extending beyond
Sicily into Italian national politics and culminating in the indictment of
Andreotti, seven times Prime Minister, for colluding with organised crime. The
story continues right up to the present day with the near defeat of the Mafia
following the murder of anti-Mafia judge Falcone and the frustrating though
familiar tale of the lack of political will needed to finish the job.
John Dickie is both an
academic cultural historian and an advertising copywriter and researcher for
several major international companies. He is Senior Lecturer in Italian at UCL
and has written many articles and a previous academic book on Italy, ‘Darkest
Italy’ and edited another, ‘Disasters in Italy since 1860.’
Sarah Wise
- ‘The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London’ - Jonathan Cape
‘A fascinating insight into the history of English
bodysnatching and murder but most importantly setting it firmly in the social
history of the time.’
Sarah Wise’s first book is a
fascinating historical investigation that illuminates a macabre episode in
1830s London and brings the capital’s underclass roaring back to life. Towards
the end of 1831, the authorities unearthed a series of crimes in East London
that appeared to echo the notorious Burke and Hare killings in Edinburgh three
years earlier. After a long investigation, it became known that a group of body
snatchers were supplying the anatomy schools with fresh ‘examples’ for
dissection. The case became known as ‘The Italian Boy’ and caused a furore
which led directly to the passing of controversial legislation and marked the
demise of body snatching in Britain.
Sarah Wise is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to The
Guardian, The Independent on Sunday Review and The Times. She completed an MA
in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College, London in 1996.
MYSTERY THRILLER BOOK CLUB PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Voted for
by members of www.MysteryThriller.co.uk.
Prize of an
engraved glass bowl and a Dagger, sponsored by the BCA.
This was a
new award presented by Christian Friege, Chief Executive of BCA and voted by
the members of the BCA Thriller and Mystery Bookclub
Short
listed:
Harlan
Coben - ‘Just One Look’ - Orion
Michael
Connelly - ‘The Narrows’ - Orion
Reginald
Hill - ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ - HarperCollins
Val
McDermid - ‘The Torment of Others’ - HarperCollins
James
Patterson - ‘Third Degree’ - Headline
Karin Slaughter
- ‘Indelible’ - Century
A delighted Reg Hill came to the podium to accept the award,
he remarked rather cheekily that as Jeff Deaver had the best team in the
business, he’d thank his team who he thought were also the best team in the business.
Reginald Hill has been widely published in both England and the United States. He received Britain's most coveted mystery writers' award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger, as well as the Golden Dagger for his Dalziel-Pascoe series. He lives with his wife in Cumbria, England.
Yorkshire coppers Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe are investigating the
suicide of prominent businessman, Pal Maciver. It seems to be a clear-cut case:
he shot himself while sitting at his desk in his locked study. But things are
not quite what they seem. When Pascoe digs deeper, he finds threads going back
to another, almost identical death - that of Maciver's father. And even more
disturbing: Pascoe's boss, Detective Superintendent Dalziel, was the officer on
that case.
With Dalziel checking his every move, Pascoe is forced to lead his own
investigation, plunging into the past to uncover truths about the Maciver
family, particularly Pal's relationship with his step-mother, the beautiful and
enigmatic Kay Kafka. He soon realizes that the implications of Maciver's death
stretch far beyond the borders of Yorkshire. And when a key witness, exotic
hooker Dolores - Lady of Pain - disappears, the death takes on a far more
complicated and mysterious face.
And finally
we came to the last and most prestigious award for the afternoon
CWA MYSTERY THRILLER BOOK CLUB GOLD AND SILVER
DAGGERS
For the top
crime novel of the year, and the runner-up.
£3000 and
£2000 prize money, sponsored by www.MysteryThriller.co.uk.
Again the
dapper Christian Friege, Chief Executive of BCA stepped up to the podium to
announce the two winners.
Short list
John Harvey - ‘Flesh and Blood’ - Heinemann
Mo Hayder -
‘Tokyo’ - Bantam
Val
McDermid - ‘The Torment of Others’ - HarperCollins
James W Nichol - ‘Midnight Cab’ - Canongate
Sara
Paretsky - ‘Blacklist’ - Hamish
Hamilton
Laura Wilson - ‘The Lover’ – Orion
The Silver Dagger was awarded to John Harvey who was greeted
to a large cheer by the London crowd. And if you’ve not read Harvey, man are
you missing a master of the genre!
‘A finely tuned police
procedural that is told with subtlety and delicacy. It ranges through Britain
sociologically and topographically, peopled with engaging and fully-rounded
characters. The human face of crime fiction.’
John Harvey - poet, dramatist
and occasional broadcaster - is the author of ten Charlie Resnick novels, the
first of which, ‘Lonely Hearts’, was named by The Times as one of the '100 Best
Crime Novels of the Century.'
In ‘Flesh and Blood,’ retired Detective Inspector
Frank Elder is haunted by the past and in particular by the unsolved
disappearance of a 16-year-old girl in 1988. Two men convicted a year later for
the brutal rape and murder of another young girl are his prime suspects. When he
hears that one of the men has been released early
from prison, he returns to the scene of the
crime. When the man breaks parole, disappears and yet another young girl is murdered,
Elder’s involvement becomes crucial. The criminal still in prison seems to be
able to wield frightening power
over his ex-partner even from his prison cell and the new murder has all the
hallmarks of their earlier crimes. Taunted by postcards from the killer, Elder
battles with his own demons as he and his family are inexorably drawn into the
heart of the crime
And the Gold went to CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger winner Sara
Paretsky who was unable to be present due to a conflict in schedule. She sent a
letter which not unusually had a political slant and her worreis about the
current political environment in the world and in the USA. Her novel is based
upon the murky politics of today’s America.
‘A powerful piece of Chicago gothic that engages with the
important issues of our time. The author’s empathy with the downtrodden and
deprived is delivered through the medium of powerfully evoked characterisation
in a wide ranging and ambitious plot.’
Sarah Paretsky was brought up in rural Kansas and now lives
in Chicago. After a variety of jobs ranging from dishwashing to marketing, she
now writes full-time. She is a founder and past President of Sisters in Crime,
an advocacy group for women in the thriller field, and in 2002 she won the CWA
Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement.
Called in to investigate
reports of an intruder at derelict Larchmont Hall in wealthy New Solway, V.I.
Warshawski stumbles into a deeper mystery of murder and betrayal. After turning
up a dead journalist in an ornamental pond, she begins to piece together a dark
puzzle that stretches back to the McCarthy years and has links to the history
and intrigues of two of Chicago’s most powerful families. Slowly, Larchmont
offers up its secrets - political, financial and sexual. Meanwhile, V.I. finds
herself involved in the case of a young boy whose possible terrorist
connections make him a target in the wake of 9/11 - and not just for the US
government. As cases collide with shocking consequences, it seems someone is
desperate for the past to stay buried. The question is who, why and what
lengths they will go to in order to stop V.I. from finally bringing the truth
to light?
So after the awards there was
time to re-mingle, drink some more beer and talk to friends and colleagues.
After which a group headed to
a local hostelry where we toasted the winners and applauded all the
shortlisted. Mike Stotter and I mingled and spent a pleasant evening talking to
our friends and colleagues.
I spent a great deal of time
talking to Geoff Bradley [Publisher of CADS Magazine] – who is a veritable mine
of information about the golden age. We shared similar reading patterns, and
spent a few hours talking about writers of our youth such as Dornford Yates,
Ian Fleming, James Hadley Chase, Robert Bloch, Hammond Innes, Alistair
MacLean, D L Sayers, Agatha Christie,
Leslie Charteris, Ellery Queen et. al and we finally came to the same
conclusion that right at the very top resides Geoffrey Household – who
wrote the definative golden age thriller - ‘Rogue Male’ a precurser to the
anti-hero who peppers contempary work.
Never read ‘Rogue Male’? –
Shame on you!
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/house.htm
Not heard about CADS? – Shame
on you!
CADS
E-mail: Geoffcads@aol.com
Editor/Publisher: Geoff Bradley
Sample issue: £5 (UK) or £6.50 or $10
(USA/Canada) airmail. Please make cheques payable to G.H. Bradley.
Address: CADS, 9 Vicarage Hill, South
Benfleet, Essex, SS7 1PA England
A British crime mag, edited by Geoff Bradley
More Info :-
http://www.gaslightbooks.com.au/mystmags/CADS.htm
So after that delightful chat
with my friend Geoff of CADS a group of us headed toward Covent Garden and
banqueted at a Sushi Bar until the early hours.
Another great event hosted by
The Crime Writers Association and I pass my thanks for their hospitality.
There’s some great books out
there – please check out the shortlisted as well as the winners. Well done to
all the writers shortlisted!