Yesterday, Hilary Mantel became the first author to win both the Costa Book of the Year and Man Booker Prize in the same year when Bring Up the Bodies took the £30,000 (US$47,073) Costa prize, which recognizes "the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the U.K. and Ireland." The inaugural £3,500 Costa Short Story Award was won by Avril Joy.
Chair Dame Jenni Murray said the decision was not a difficult one for the judges. "I would like to tell you there was blood on the floor. But there was absolute unanimity. She simply stood head and shoulders--more than head and shoulders--above the rest; she stood on stilts."
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Finalists have been named for the 2013 Dilys Winn Award, presented annually by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association to the mystery titles member booksellers most enjoyed selling. The winner will be announced at Left Coast Crime in March. This year's Dilys Winn shortlisted books are:
Granddad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill (Minotaur)
Broken Harbor by Tana French (Viking)
Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam)
The Expats by Chris Pavone (Crown)
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson (Morrow)
