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Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Kirkus Prize · 2026 · Winner
Award History
| Award | Year | Status | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction | 2026 | Winner | “The jurors praised Colloff's exposure of a criminal justice system that is all too happy to look the other way in cutting deals that can have devastating consequences.” |
About This Book
Pamela Colloff's debut tells the story of Paul Skalnik, a serial con man and jailhouse informant whose testimony helped send Jim Dailey to death row for the 1985 murder of 14-year-old Shelly Boggio, despite no forensic evidence linking Dailey to the crime. Winner of the 2026 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction.
About the Author
Pamela ColloffAmerican
Pamela Colloff is an American journalist who writes about criminal justice. She is a senior reporter at ProPublica and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, and spent many years at Texas Monthly. Her reporting on the jailhouse informant Paul Skalnik became her first book, Catch the Devil, which won the 2026 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction.
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