The Daggers are Declared

 

The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) revealed the winners of the prestigious 2026 Dagger Awards, celebrating the very best in crime writing. Congrats to all!

Diamond Dagger (previously announced):  Mark Billingham

CWA KAA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year:  The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Other finalists: 

• King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Headline)        
• 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:  King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Headline)

Other finalists: 

• The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani (Profile Books/Viper)
• 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:  That Dark Spring by Susannah Stapleton (Pan Macmillan/Picador)

Other finalists: 

• 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)
• The Illegals by Shaun Walker (Profile Books)

Historical Dagger:  A Granite Silence by Nina Allan (Quercus/riverrun)

Other finalists: 

• 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:  The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston

Other finalists: 

• 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
• Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Pushkin Press) translated by Jim Rion

Whodunnit Dagger for Best Traditional Mystery:  A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant (John Murray Press/Baskerville)

Other finalists:

• 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)
• Bad Influence by CJ Wray (Orion Fiction)

Twisted Dagger for Best Psychological Suspense:  We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Fiction)

Other finalists:

• 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)   

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger:  The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Other finalists: 

• The Peak by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins Publishers)
• The Lost Detective by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine)
• 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:   "The Apple Falls Not Far" by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)

Other finalists: 

• "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)
•  "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:  Blind Side of the Sun by Michael Nikitin

Other finalists: 

• 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
• The Pattern of Absence by Melisssa Smith

Dagger in the Library for Body of Work:  Tim Sullivan  

Other finalists:

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

 Best Crime & Mystery Publisher:  Bitter Lemon Press

Other finalists: 

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