Los Angeles Times Book Prizes: 2010

The L.A. Times  Book Prizes were awarded last night at the Los Angeles Times Building. One of my favorite books published in 2009, Stuart Neville's The Ghosts of Belfast (Soho Press) won the award for Mystery/Thriller. This category was judged by Sarah Weinman, Oline Cogdill, and Dick Adler.  Here's their citation:

"Stuart Neville’s stunning debut novel delivers an inspired, gritty view of violence’s aftermath and the toll it takes on each person involved – especially on one haunted, redemption-seeking ex-IRA hitman. Along the way, Neville condenses the fear and hate that has troubled Northern Ireland, still under the thumb of decades of domestic terrorism, for decades." 

Exactly!!!  Can't wait for Neville's next novel.

The Finalists wrote great books, too, but only one could win.

• Megan Abbott, Bury Me Deep (Simon & Schuster)
• David Ellis, The Hidden Man (Putnam)
• Attica Locke, Black Water Rising (HarperCollins)
• Val McDermid, A Darker Domain (HarperCollins)
• Stuart Neville, The Ghosts of Belfast (SOHO Press)

 For the complete list of the 2010 LA Times Book Prizes, go HERE.

And, in case you didn't know, this weekend is the Los Angeles Festival of Books in association with UCLA. Lots of mystery panels and talks... it's a carnival of books, book people, fans, you name it.