Hammett Prize Winner

THE TURNAROUND NAMED WINNER OF NORTH AMERICAN HAMMETT PRIZE

The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers announced that The Turnaround by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown), has been named the winner of the organization's annual HAMMETT PRIZE for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing.

The winning title was chosen by a group of three distinguished outside judges: Harvey Finkel, owner of the Clinton Book Shop (Clinton, NJ); author John Matteson, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for biography for Edenís Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father; and journalist Carolyn Wakeman, whose latest book, co-written with San San Tin, is No Time for Dreams: Living in Burma under Military Rule. The judges selected from among five finalists nominated from the hundreds of crime books published in 2008. These five titles were selected by the organization's nominations committee headed by Deen Kogan.

Other books nominated for the 2008 HAMMETT PRIZE were Leading Lady, by Heywood Gould (Five Star); The Finder: A Novel, by Colin Harrison (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux) City of the Sun: A Novel, by David Levien (Doubleday); and South by South Bronx, by Abraham Rodriguez (Akashic).

Mr. Pelecanos received a bronze trophy, designed by West Coast sculptor, Peter Boiger. The award ceremony took place Sunday evening, October 4, in Baltimore, during the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Trade Show banquet.

Read an excerpt from The Turnaround, HERE.