Other Daggers
Overview
Diamond
Duncan Lawrie
International
Historical
Non-Fiction
New Blood
Library
Debut
Short Story
Overview
Diamond
Duncan Lawrie
International
Historical
Non-Fiction
New Blood
Library
Debut
Short Story
Nick Stone has won the 2006 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for his novel Mr Clarinet, published by Michael Joseph, with the Penguin paperback out in September. This dagger and the £2000 prize money are awarded for the best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond. The award was presented by Corinne Turner, Managing Director of the sponsor, Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.
It was a job Miami private investigator Max Mingus found hard to refuse: $10 million to locate billionaire's son Charlie Carver - missing now for over three years.
Young Charlie disappeared on the island of Haiti, where over the decades scores of children have vanished. In a country dominated by voodoo, rumours abound of black magic and a mythical figure called 'Mr Clarinet', who for years has been tempting children away from their families.
But could the truth be even more shocking than the legend? To find out, Max will have to succeed where previous detectives have not only failed - but where some have died. And suddenly, this job isn't all about finding Charlie or his killers for the money - it's just about staying alive ...
Nick Stone
The Judges’ comments:
Judges’ comments: ‘A tour de force with brilliantly described scenes, this is taut, compelling and well-plotted, with emotional commitment, freshness and originality.’
Nick Stone was born in Cambridge in 1966. His father is the historian Norman Stone, and his mother descends from one of Haiti’s oldest families, the Aubrys – some of his later relatives actually worked for Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier, Haiti’s most notorious dictator. Nick spent his early years in Haiti, before returning to England in 1971 to finish his schooling.
As a teenager, he took up boxing and fought in the National Amateur League, but gave it up when he won a place to read history at Cambridge. It was during a year spent in Haiti in the mid-nineties that the plot for ‘Mr Clarinet’ first began to take shape. He is married and lives in London.
Corinne Turner (Non-Judging Chair) - Managing Director, Ian Fleming Publications
Seraphina Granelli - Manager of Libertas, with a background in bookselling management including Waterstones
Michael Jecks - medievalist, writer and past Chair of the CWA
Mike Stotter - journalist, reviewer and editor of SHOTS magazine
Zoë Watkins - publications’ manager for works Ian Fleming publications
Gordon Wise - literary agent at Curtis Brown, former publishing director of John Murray
The other shortlisted novels were:
Michael Connelly - The Lincoln Lawyer - Orion
Jo-Ann Goodwin - Sweet Gum - Bantam Press (Transworld)
Mo Hayder - Pig Island - Bantam Press (Transworld)
Daniel Silva - The English Assassin - Penguin
Martyn Waites - The Mercy Seat - Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)
David Wolstencroft - Contact Zero - Hodder & Stoughton