Judge declares A Simple Act of Violence the work of 'a true master of crime fiction'
Alison Flood
guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 July 2010
Ellory, who pronounced himself "completely and utterly gobsmacked and speechless" at his win, beat some of Britain's best crime authors, from Ian Rankin to Val McDermid, to be named winner of the £3,000 Theakstons Old Peculier crime novel of the year award in Harrogate.
"I had absolutely no hope. I've only ever won prizes in France and America and I've been nominated endless times in England but have never won," he said this morning. "I think it's because I don't really fit into that category of current British police procedurals that seem to be prevalent in the literary tastes of British readers."
Set in Washington DC during the mid-term elections, his winning novel sees Detective Robert Miller investigating a series of horrific killings where the victims do not officially exist. "I don't write books which start with a dead body and a chief inspector struggling with drink," said Ellory. "The two best descriptions which have ever been levelled at me are that I write human dramas which have crime as a central issue, but are more to do with its consequences on bystanders. And in France one newspaper journalist said I wrote slow motion thrillers, which I thought was a great description."
Judge Simon Theakston called A Simple Act of Violence "a most impressive, fascinating and surprising book and a worthy winner". "A fast-paced thriller, each page seems to bring about a new twist and take you deeper into a world that could only have come from a true master of crime fiction," he added. Ellory was selected by a judging panel that also included Radio 4 broadcaster Jenni Murray, the Guardian's John Dugdale and comedian and journalist Natalie Haynes, with a public online vote accounting for a 20% share of the final decision.
Alison Flood's full piece at The Guardian.
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