Dagger Delights

 

The Crime Writers Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, the premier literary crime-writing awards in the United Kingdom, announced this year's shortlists. There are four Daggers which are not nominated by publishers: the Debut Dagger for unpublished works; the Dagger in the Library, nominated by librarians; the Publishers’ Dagger, nominated by an industry committee; and the Diamond Dagger for a lifetime contribution to crime writing, nominated by CWA members. Winners in all categories will be announced in a virtual live ceremony on Thursday, July 1. Here are the finalists:

CWA GOLD DAGGER

• S A Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland (Headline, Headline Publishing Group)
• Ben Creed: City of Ghosts (Welbeck Fiction, Welbeck Publishing Group)
• Nicci French: House of Correction (Simon & Schuster)
• Robert Galbraith: Troubled Blood (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)
• Elly Griffiths: The Postscript Murders (Quercus)
• Thomas Mullen: Midnight Atlanta (Little, Brown, Little, Brown Book Group)
• Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier)

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

• Robert Galbraith: Troubled Blood (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)
• Michael Robotham: When She Was Good (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)
• Catherine Ryan Howard: The Nothing Man (Atlantic Books)
• Stuart Turton: The Devil and the Dark Water (Raven Books, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Ruth Ware: One by One (Vintage, Harvill Secker)
• Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier Books UK)

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

• Eva Björg Ægisdóttir: The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda), Translator: Victoria Cribb
• Ben Creed: City of Ghosts (Welbeck Publishing)
• Egan Hughes: The One That Got Away (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)
• S W Kane: The Bone Jar (Thomas & Mercer, Amazon Publishing)
• Stephen Spotswood: Fortune Favours the Dead (Wildfire, Headline)
• John Vercher: Three-Fifths (Pushkin Press)

CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER

• John Banville: Snow (Faber)
• Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Chris Lloyd: The Unwanted Dead (Orion Fiction, The Orion Publishing Group)
• Michael Russell: The City Under Siege (Constable, Little, Brown Book Group)
• David Stafford: Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons (Allison & Busby)
• Ovidia Yu: The Mimosa Tree Mystery (Constable, Little, Brown Book Group)

CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

• Sue Black: Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin)
• Becky Cooper: We Keep the Dead Close (William Heinemann, Penguin)
• Andrew Harding: These Are Not Gentle People (MacLehose Press, Quercus)
• Debora Harding: Dancing with the Octopus (Profile Books Limited)
• Nick Hayes: The Book of Trespass (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• Ben MacIntyre: Agent Sonya (Viking, Penguin)

CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

• Fredrik Backman: Anxious People, translated by Neil Smith (Michael Joseph, Penguin)
• Roxanne Bouchard: The Coral Bride, translated by David Warriner (Orenda Books)
• Yun Ko-eun: The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler (Serpent's Tail)
• D A Mishani: Three, translated by Jessica Cohen (Riverrun, Hachette Book Group)
• Mikael Niemi: To Cook a Bear, translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner (MacLehose Press, Quercus)
• Agnes Ravatn: The Seven Doors, translated by Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books)

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

• Robert Scragg: ‘A Dog Is for Life, Not Just for Christmas’ in Afraid of the Christmas Lights, edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds Group)
• Elle Croft: ‘Deathbed’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)
• Dominic Nolan: ‘Daddy Dearest’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)
• Victoria Selman: ‘Hunted’ in Afraid of the Christmas Lights, edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds Group)
• Clare Mackintosh: ‘Monsters’ in First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books (The Dome Press)
• James Delargy: ‘Planting Nan’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)

CWA PUBLISHERS DAGGER

• Faber & Faber
• Head of Zeus
• Michael Joseph
• No Exit Press
• Raven 
• Viper

CWA DEBUT DAGGER

• Ashley Harrison – The Looking Glass Spy
• Fiona McPhillips – Underwater
• Biba Pearce – Rough Justice
• Hannah Redding – Deception
• Edward Regenye – Lightfoot
• Jennifer Wilson O’Raghallaigh – Mandatory Reporting

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

• C L Taylor
• Peter May
• Lisa Jewell
• James Oswald
• Denise Mina
• LJ Ross