I was really pleased to see Matt Rees winning the Debut Dagger for The Bethlehem Murders. I haven't written about that novel on here yet - I'll be writing about the series to date when I've read the second - but The Bethlehem Murders really is a superb novel. When I read it, I thought it "a cut above" and made a note to watch out for this author.
Many will be pleased to see Frances Fyfield winning the Duncan Lawrie Dagger. (ScotKris will be one of them, so I hope he'll have some comments later.) I'm pleased that Roger (R.N.) Morris was on the shortist and achieved that recognition for A Vengeful Longing as I have enjoyed his Porfiry Petrovich series very much and look forward to more.
Talking to another crime fiction aficionado earlier today, he said about the Steel Dagger, "You couldn't put a cigarette paper between them". I haven't read Child 44 yet, but this win for Tom Rob Smith, along with his shortlisting for the Desmond Elliott Prize confirms the hype. Child 44 just got a big bump up my TBR pile.
I'm sure that Martin Edwards will be over the moon about his win for the Short Story. I am not a fan of short stories, but this win has me wanting to read Martin's, especially when I read the synopsis. Said the judges, "A subtle, insidious, and disturbingly creepy tale of how an Englishman in Venice finds himself offered the job of apprentice to a bookbinder with unusual methods".
Congratulations to all the winners and those who made it to the shortlists.
A very interesting list of winners, and ''Well Done'' to all of them. I'm particularly pleased to see Frances Fyfield come out on top - I have been an admirer of her work for many years now and this may be the extra push needed to persuade booksellers to be more pro-active in promoting her. I thought Blood from Stone to be head and shoulders above most books I had read in the preceding six months or so; it has a fascinating premise and, as this prize shows, deserves recognition by a wide readership.
Posted by: ScotKris | 11 July 2008 at 11:41