Clements Nabs the Ellis Peters Award

During an event held tonight in the library at the headquarters of publisher Little, Brown on London’s Victoria Embankment, the 16th-century thriller Revenger (John Murray), by Rory Clements, was named the winner of the 2010 Ellis Peters Historical Award for crime fiction. Critic Barry Forshaw made the announcement, which was followed by an emotional speech by author Clements.

(Left) Rory Clements with his agent, Teresa Chris, during tonight’s event.

The runner-up for this award was Heartstone (Mantle), by C.J. Sansom. Also shortlisted for the commendation were Washington Shadow (John Murray), by Aly Monroe; Heresy (HarperCollins), by S.J. Parris; The Anatomy of Ghosts (Michael Joseph/Penguin), by ; and To Kill a Tsar (John Murray), by Andrew Williams.

Sponsors of this year’s Ellis Peters Historical Award were the British Crime Writers’ Association, the Estate of Ellis Peters, Headline Book Publishing Company, and the Little, Brown Book Group. Clements will receive £3,000 as part of his prize.

(Photograph by Ali Karim.)

READ MORE: “Thoughts on the 2010 Ellis Peters Award,” by Uriah Robinson (Crime Scraps).