GALENA — Award-winning Delaware County novelist Robin Yocum has been named a finalist for the 2021 Dashiell Hammett Award for his mystery, “The Sacrifice of Lester Yates.”

The announcement was made recently by the North American chapter of the International Association of Crime Writers, which sponsors the award. Yocum is one of five finalists.

“It’s a little humbling to be a finalist for the Hammett, which has such a rich history and an impressive list of past winners and finalists,” Yocum said.

Yocum is known for his fiction set in the Ohio River Valley. “The Sacrifice of Lester Yates” is his sixth novel.

“The Sacrifice of Lester Yates” is the sequel to “Favorite Sons,” which was named the 2012 USA Book News Book of the Year for Mystery/Suspense. His novel, “A Brilliant Death,” was a finalist for both the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Silver Falchion Award for best mystery.

The award is named for famed crime novelist Dashiell Hammett, who penned such classic novels as “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Thin Man.”

Yocum, a former reporter with the Columbus Dispatch, operates Yocum Communications, a public relations and marketing firm in Galena.

The other finalists are S. A. Cosby for “Razorblade Tears”; William Deverell for “Stung”; James Kestrel for “Five Decembers”; and Colson Whitehead for “Harlem Shuffle.”