Author Gillian Flynn wins Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2007 for `Sharp Objects`

05-Jul-2007 • Literary

American author Gillian Flynn has won the 2007 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award for his novel "Sharp Objects". The result was announced at the CWA Dagger Awards black tie dinner at the Four Season Hotel, Park Lane in London on 5 July.

Other nominees for the award included:
THE FAITHFUL SPY by Alex Berenson. Random House.
THE WOODS by Harlan Coben. Orion.
CITY OF LIES by RJ Ellory. Orion
THE INTRUDERS by Michael Marshall. HarperCollins
THE NIGHT FERRY by Michael Robotham. Little, Brown
TRIPTYCH by Karin Slaughter. Random House

Elsewhere, author Peter Temple has become the first Australian to win the world's richest crime fiction award. Temple has picked up the $47,000 Duncan Lawrie Dagger in London for his eighth crime novel, The Broken Shore. The Broken Shore is a murder mystery about police-Indigenous relations and child sexual abuse in coastal Victoria.

In awarding the prize, the British Crime Writers Association said: "This is a well-written crime novel with excellent characterisation, mingled with a subtle exploration of contemporary Australian landscape and mores. This is a first-class read with a sympathetic, engrossing police protagonist," it said in a statement.

South African-born Temple says he did not expect to win the gong, formerly called the CWA Gold Dagger. It's fairly difficult to win it and over the years, the galaxy of stars have won," he said. "It's rather nice to have come all the way from Oz and to win it. No Australian has ever been short-listed for it."

The prize for the best crime novel translated into English has gone to French historian, archaeologist and writer Fred Vargas for the second year running for his Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand.