Il était une fois mon meurtre, the French translation of my debut novel If I Die Before I Wake, has won a crime fiction prize! I am over the moon.

The award - the Prix du Bureau des Lecteurs - is brand new, and was held in association with the French radio station RTL. Eight novels were in the running to be named the best crime novel from the Folio Policier imprint.

A panel of 100 readers worked their way through the books over the summer.

Congratulation to the seven other brilliant titles my novel was up against:

• Prémices de la chute by Frédéric Paulin

• L’homme de la plaine du Nord by Sonja Delzongle

• Le disparu de Larvik by Jorn Lier Horst

• Noyade by J.P. Smith

• Une deux trois by Dror Mishani

• Le loup d’Hiroshima by Yûko Yuzuki

• Unité 8200 by Dov Alfon