The Hercule Poirot Prize was established in 1998 by Knack Weekend to give Flemish thriller authors a boost. The honors list includes Jef Geeraerts, Pieter Aspe and Luc Deflo. This year, Benny Baudewijns will be the laureate. The jury chose him over former winners such as Wouter Dehairs, Toni Coppers, Jos Pierreux and Bavo Dhooge.
The winning crime novel “The Buchinsky Incident” is set in the middle of the Cold War. In the story, the Soviet troops did not stop in 1945 after the capture of Berlin. They push on beyond Brussels, raising the Iron Curtain in Flanders and making Brussels a divided city. Against this background, a detective tries to solve the murder of a girl in Prussia in 1935.
Baudewyns received the Hercule Poirot Prize during the Boektopia book fair in Kortrijk. The prize includes a check for 5,000 euros and a personalized pen from Montblanc.
The prize for the best thriller debut of last year was also awarded during Boektopia. That award is called the Fred Braeckman Prize and goes to Dieter Rogiers, for “Bot knife”.
2023-10-28 17:54:00
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