The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime writers is delighted to announce that Rose by Martin Cruz Smith (Random House) has been named the winner of the organization's sixth annual HAMMETT PRIZE for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing. The winning title was chosen by a group of three distinguished outside judges: popular and prolific science fiction author and scholar C. J. Cherryh; Andre Schiffrin, Director of The New Press; and John Hollander, critic and poet, who is Sterling Professor of English at Yale University. The judges selected from among five finalists nominated from the hundreds of crime books published in 1996. These five were chosen by the organization's nomination committee headed by Lise McClendon. Other books nominated for the HAMMETT PRIZE were The Poet by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown); Buzz Cut by James W. Hall (Delacorte); Innocent Graves by Peter Robinson (Viking); and Damaged Goods by Stephen Solomita (Scribner). Smith will receive a bronze trophy, designed by West Coast sculptor, Peter Boiger, whose falcon-headed thin man is designed to symbolize Dashiell Hammett's literary spirit. The award presentation will take place on May 2 at 7:30pm, during the organization's annual members' reception at New York's Murder Ink bookstore. - # RARA-AVIS: To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" # to majordomo@icomm.ca