Delectable Daggers

 

 

The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) revealed the shortlists for the prestigious 2026 Dagger Awards, celebrating the very best in crime writing. This year’s longlists showcase the breadth of talent from internationally bestselling authors to emerging debuts.The winners will be announced at the CWA gala dinner awards night on July 2.

Hear are the shortlists in full: 

CWA KAA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year

• King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Headline)        
• The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
• Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson (Penguin Random House/Michael Joseph)
• The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan (Hodder Fiction).
• The Frozen by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press)          
• The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year

• The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books/Viper)
• King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Big Empty by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster UK)
• A Sting in her Tale by Mark Ezra (Bedford Square Publishers/ No Exit Press)
• Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W Ihli (Pan Macmillan/ Pan)
• The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)
• We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins Publishers)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

• Shadow of The Bridge: The Delphi Murders and The Dark Side of The American Heartland by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus Books/Pegasus Crime)          
• The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB by Gordon Corera (HarperCollins/ William Collins)
• The Murder Game by John Curran (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
• Murderland by Caroline Fraser (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
• That Dark Spring by Susannah Stapleton (Pan Macmillan/Picador)
• The Illegals by Shaun Walker (Profile Books)

Historical Dagger

• A Granite Silence by Nina Allan (Quercus/riverrun)
• Barvick Falls by Rob McInroy (Tippermuir Books)
• The Devil's Draper by Donna Moore (Fly on the Wall Press)
• Gunner by Alan Parks (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
• The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan/Mangle)
• A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

• Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse (Faber) translated by Florian Duijsens
• The Lake by Jørn Lier Horst  (Penguin Random House) translated by Anne Bruce
• Red Water by Jurica Pavicic (Bitter Lemon Press) translated by Matt Robinson
• Big Bad Wool by Leonie Swann (Allison & Busby) translated by Amy Bojang
• The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston
• Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Pushkin Press) translated by Jim Rion

Whodunnit Dagger for Best Traditional Mystery

• The Christmas Cracker Killer by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Little Secrets by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns Publishing UK/self-published)
• Etiquette for Lovers & Killers by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
• A Queer Case by Robert Holtom (Titan Books)
• A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
• Bad Influence by CJ Wray (Orion Fiction)

Twisted Dagger for Best Psychological Suspense

• What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah  (HarperCollins/HQ Ficiton)
• Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke (Penguin Random House UK/Harvill)
• Some of Us are Liars by Fiona Cummins (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)
• Scenes From A Tragedy by Carole Hailey (Atlantic Books/Corvus)
• The Bodies by Sam Lloyd (Transworld/Bantam)
• We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Fiction)       

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger

• The Peak by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins Publishers)
• The Lost Detective by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine)
• The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
• The Vanishing Place by Zoë Rankin (Profile Books/Viper)
• Coram House by Bailey Seybolt (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)
• Holy City by Henry Wise (Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger

• "Split Your Silver Tongue" by SA Cosby in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
• "The Karpman Drama Triangle" by Denise Mina in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
• "Full Circle" by Abir Mukherjee in Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club (Severn House)
•  "The Apple Falls Not Far" by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)
•  "Strangers on a School Bus" by Peter Swanson in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
• ‘Waiting" by Michael Wood in Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me (Telos Publishing)
  

Emerging Author

• Ill Met By Murder by Rod Cookson,
• The Man Who Fit the Case by Sophia Georghiou
• Just a Simple Wedding by Kate Koester
• The Fixer by Lorna Mathew,
• The Madam of Morningside by Rebecca McFarland
• Blind Side of the Sun by Michael Nikitin
• The Pattern of Absence by Melisssa Smith

Dagger in the Library for Body of Work

• Paula Hawkins
• JD Kirk  
• Clare Mackintosh             
• Freida McFadden             
• Abir Mukherjee
• Tim Sullivan  

 Best Crime & Mystery Publisher

• Bitter Lemon Press
• Faber & Faber
• No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
• Pan Macmillan
• Simon & Schuster
• Viper (Profile Books)