Australian author Peter Temple has picked up the world's richest prize for crime writing at a glittering awards ceremony in London. Temple won the UK Crime Writers Association's prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, also known as the Gold Dagger, claiming STG20,000 ($A47,400) in the process. The Ballarat-based author was awarded the prize for his eighth novel, The Broken Shore. Temple, the first Australian to be nominated for the award, beat off competition from six other authors. His award-winning book has earned rave reviews from critics, including those at the Washington Post newspaper, which described it as "an exceptional blending of first-rate crime fiction and a literary sensibility". The Broken Shore has been published in 12 countries and has won several prizes, including the Australian Book Industry Association's Fiction Book of the Year and the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel. Other finalists competing for the Gold Dagger included Giles Blunt's Fields of Grief, James Lee Burke's Pegasus Descending, Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects, Craig Russell's Brothers Grimm and CJ Samson's Sovereign. Previous winners are a who's who of crime fiction authors, including Patricia Cornwell, Dick Francis, Ian Rankin, John Le Carre and Ruth Rendell. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=277120
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