J.C. Sasser’s Gradle Bird has won the Southern Book Prize after competing with fiction staple John Grisham’s Camino Island and many others in the category of Mystery, Thriller and Suspense. Notable past winners of the Southern Book Prize, in various categories, include Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees and Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot.