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 There are four Daggers which are not nominated by publishers: the Debut Dagger for unpublished works; the Dagger in the Library, nominated by librarians; the Publishers’ Dagger, nominated by an industry committee; and the Diamond Dagger for a lifetime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