That’s It, Hammett Up

Now, this comes as a surprise. The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers has given its 2008 Hammett Prize to the least familiar title on its list of nominees: The Outlander, by Canadian Gil Adamson (House of Anansi Press). She received her bronze trophy at a ceremony today in Toronto, during the annual Bloody Words mystery convention.

Also nominated for this year’s Hammett were: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins); End Games, by the late Michael Dibdin (Pantheon); Dahlia’s Gone, by Katie Estill (St. Martin’s Press); and Stalin’s Ghost, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster). Had any of those authors’ work been chosen for the Hammett, no one would’ve blinked an eye. But Adamson? She’s a poet and short story writer, and The Outlander--a woman-on-the-run tale set in Alberta, Idaho, and Montana in 1903--is her first novel.

The Hammett marks quite a start to her new career, if I may say so.

(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)