I am delighted to hear from
Rap Sheet’s Jeff Pierce that author Ron Currie has been awarded the 2026 Dashiell
Hammett Prize for his novel The Savage
Noble Death of Babs Dionne - awarded by the North
American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers. All the books on the nominations shortlist were/are great works, and all of them deserve to be sampled.
El
Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
The
Lizard by Domenic Stansberry (Molotov)
The
Big Empty by Robert Crais (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Party
of Liars by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)
I recall
how much I enjoyed Ron Currie’s crime novel, writing at the time -
This extraordinary crime thriller set in Northern Maine caught me completely
by surprise; but once I cracked the spine - the narrative would not release its
grip until the elegiac climax. Recommend by debut novelist Travis Kennedy, I was curious due to Whyte Python
authors’ enthusiasm. However, as I had not heard about the author Ron Currie
before, nor read any other reviews or word-of mouth – my expectations were low
– hence the surprise when I clung to the narrative as if it were a life-raft.
Ostensibly a criminal family saga, set
over generations of French Catholic Immigrants to the [north-eastern] American
state of Maine – Currie’s novel details how the crime boss, a tough woman in
her Sixties, the eponymous Babs
Dionne finds herself in the cross-hairs of the Canadian Mafia.
Read the Full Review HERE
