Delectable Daggers

The UK's Crime Writers’ Association  unveiled the winners for the 2025 Dagger Awards, in a ceremony held at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. The 2025 awards include two new categories: The Twisted Dagger, which celebrates "psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail"; and The Whodunnit Dagger, for books that "focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, including cozy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries." Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series, was previously announced as this year’s recipient of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Congrats to all the winners and finalists!

 

GOLD DAGGER:  Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion)

Other Finalists:

• A Divine Fury by D V Bishop (Macmillan)
• The Bell Tower by R J Ellory (Orion)
• The Hunter by Tana French (Penguin Books Ltd)
• Guide Me Home by Attica Locke (Profile Books Ltd)
•  Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER:  Dark Ride by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)

Other Finalists:

• Nobody's Hero by M W Craven (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)
• Sanctuary by Garry Disher (Viper/Profile Books)
• Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)
• Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster)
• City in Ruins by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)

JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER:  All Us Sinners by Katy Massey (Little, Brown /Sphere)

Other Finalists: 

• Miss Austen Investigates by Jessica Bull (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)
• Knife River by Justine Champine (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)
• Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton) 
• A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder by Gay Marris (Bedford Square Publishers)         
• Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)

HISTORICAL DAGGER:  The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West  (Orenda Books)

Other Finalists:

• A Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
• The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
• Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield (Aries / Head of Zeus)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER:  The Night of Baby Yaga by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett

Other Finalists:

• Dogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis
• Going to the Dogs by Pierre Lemaitre (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne
• The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö (Zaffre) tr.  Kristian London  
• Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton
• Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes

GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION:  The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Circus)

Other Finalists:

• Unmasking Lucy Let by Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz (Seven Dials)   
• The Lady in the Lake by Jeremy Craddock (Mirror Books)   
• Framed by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Hodder & Stoughton)  
• The Criminal Mind by Duncan Harding (PRH/Michael Joseph)   
• Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming (Quercus)   

SHORT STORY DAGGER:  "A Date on Yarmouth Pier" by J.C Bernthal in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

Other Finalists:

• "The Glorious Twelfth" by S.J Bennett in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
• Why Harrogate?" by Janice Hallett in Murder in Harrogate, edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)
• "City Without Shadows" by William Burton McCormick in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
• "A Ruby Sun" by Meeti Shroff-Shah in Midsummer Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
• "Murder at the Turkish Baths" by Ruth Ware in Murder in Harrogate, edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)

WHODUNNIT DAGGER:  The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl by Lisa Hall, (Hera Hera)

Other Finalists:

• A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett, (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
• Murder at the Christmas Emporium by Andreina Cordani,(Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
•  Good Place to Hide a Body by Laura Marshall, (Hodder & Stoughton )
• A Matrimonial Murder by Meeti Shroff-Shah, (Joffe Books)
• Murder at the Matinee, by Jamie West, (Brabinger Publishing)

TWISTED DAGGER:  Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra: (PRH/ Viking)

Other Finalists:

• Emma, Disappeared by Andrew Hughes (Hachette Books Ireland)
• Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)
• The Stranger In Her House by John Marrs (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)
• The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Look In The Mirror by Catherine Steadman (Quercus)

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY:  Richard Osman

Other Finalists:

• Kate Atkinson
• Robert Galbraith
• Janice Hallett
• Lisa Jewell
• Edward Marston

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER:  Orenda Books

Other Finalists:

• Bitter Lemon Press
• Faber & Faber
• Pan Macmillan
• Simon & Schuster

EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGER:  Ashland by Joe Eurell

Other Finalists:

• Bahadur Is My Name by Loftus Brown, 
• Funeral Games by Shannon Chamberlain
• Soho Love, Soho Blood by Hywel Davies
• he Fifth by Shannon Falkson,
• Murder Under Wraps by Catherine Lovering