Robert Harris won the prize for best thriller of the year with his novel An Officer and a Spy depicting the Dreyfus Affair.
Mr Harris was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller last weekend at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.
The book retells the story of Alfred Dreyfus, a French-Jewish soldier who was wrongly convicted of treason. He was imprisoned on Devil’s Island in solitary confinement and became a scapegoat for the French military, as well as a symbol of antisemitism in France.
The story focuses on the role of Georges Picquart, an officer who originally took part in the arrest, who began asking questions once he suspected foul play.
As part of the Specsavers Crime thriller awards ceremony, Mr Harris was also inducted into the CWA’s Hall of Fame along with Denise Mina and ITV television programme Midsomer Murders.
The author previously won the £25,000 Walter Scott prize for historical fiction for the same novel.
