Fesperman Does Dash Proud

War correspondent-turned-novelist Dan Fesperman has picked up the 2007 Hammett Prize for his thriller The Prisoner of Guantánamo (Knopf). This commendation (in the shape of a “Thin Man,” designed by sculptor Peter Boiger) is given out annually by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers. The announcement of Fesperman’s win was made this evening during the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) Bookseller Sales Conference, which was being held--conveniently--in Baltimore, Maryland, Fesperman’s hometown.

Also nominated for this year’s Hammett were Ghost Dancer, by John Case (Ballantine); Dark Companion, by Jim Nisbet (Dennis McMillan); The Crimes of Jordan Wise, by Bill Pronzini (Walker); and Four Kinds of Rain, by Robert Ward (St. Martin’s Minotaur).

An interview with Fesperman, in which he talks about the writing of Prisoner, can be found at the Powell’s Books Web site.

Last year’s Hammett Prize recipient, by the way, was Alibi, by Joseph Kanon.

(Hat tip to Jiro Kimura’s The Gumshoe Site.)