Making Hammett Proud

Thanks go to Janet Rudolph for alerting me to today’s announcement by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers (IACW) of its nominees for the 2010 Hammett Prize. The Hammett, named of course in honor of author Dashiell Hammett, is given out annually “for literary excellence in the field of crime-writing.” Without further ado, the list of nominees, please ...

• Bury Me Deep, by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
• Devil’s Garden, by Ace Atkins (Putnam)
• The Long Fall, by Walter Mosley (Riverhead)
• The Manual of Detection, by Jedediah Berry (Penguin)
• The Way Home, by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)

Pelecanos won the Hammett last year with his 2008 novel, The Turnaround, so I’d say that somebody else will probably wind up with the IACW/NA’s latest “Thin Man” trophy, designed by sculptor Peter Boiger. Who that will be, though, is anybody’s guess. It’s both a strong and interesting list of nominees.

This prize will be presented during the Bloody Words X Mystery Conference in Toronto, Canada, to be held from May 28 to 30.