Harvey “Gobsmacked”

Screenwriter, poet, broadcaster and crime fictionist John Harvey has been awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger by the Crime Writers’ Association (UK).

The Cartier Diamond Dagger is awarded for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing. It will be presented by M. Arnaud Bamberger of Cartier at a champagne reception at London’s Savoy Hotel in May.

Recognized as one of the masters of British crime fiction, Harvey has written almost one hundred books, including his latest, Gone to Ground, which will be published in Britain in February 2007 by William Heinemann.

Harvey is best known for the Charlie Resnick novels, including Lonely Hearts, which was named as one of the Hundred Best Crime Novels of the Last Century by the London Times.

According to a release issued by the CWA, Harvey was surprised when he was told he’d won the Cartier. “My reaction to hearing I was to be the recipient of the next Diamond Dagger? Gobsmacked. Absolutely, totally taken by surprise. And then, of course, delight. It was all I could do not to waltz out into the street and accost any stray passers-by with the news. Instead, I calmed myself down with a strong cup of coffee, phoned my editor at Random House, and relaxed under a small tide of congratulatory e-mails and phone calls. It is a terrific honour, coming, as it does, from my fellow scribblers and scriveners, whose judgement I value perhaps above all others -- and to see my name added to a list which includes so many leading exponents of the craft.”

As Harvey suggests, the list of Diamond Dagger award winners is impressive, indeed. Recipients in the award’s 22-year history include Eric Ambler, Lawrence Block, Leslie Charteris, Colin Dexter, Dick Francis, Reginald Hill, P.D. James, Elmore Leonard, Peter Lovesey, Ed McBain, Sara Paretsky, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Julian Symons and Margaret Yorke.