I’m Listed for A Dagger

I’m amazed to learn that The Deep Secret, second in the Murder by Suggestion series, is in the running for the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger award.

I don’t write for awards. I don’t even write to be listed for awards. I write to keep my tiny mind occupied, and entertain my readers. But the Crime Writers Association Daggers are the most prestigious awards, certainly in Great Britain, and I have to admit I’m slightly cock-a-hoop at seeing my book listed there.

I’m not breaking out my penguin suit and dickie-bow yet, though. I’ve seen some of the other names on the list, and it reads like a Who’s Who of crime fiction. Val McDermid, Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin, Martina Cole, Mark Billingham, Ann Cleeves. Names that have you running for the lavatory. The competition is a better laxative than a Vindaloo and eight pints of lager.

The Deep Secret is not the only Crooked Cat title in the awards lists. My old, young friend (I have to describe her like that, or she shouts at me) Frances di Plino is up for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger with her second Paolo Storey tale, Someday Never Comes, and Carol Hedges, another fine Crooked Cat Writer, is in the running for the Historical Dagger with Diamonds & Dust, A Victorian Murder Mystery.

Like me, they’re up against some serious competition, like me they’re probably feeling a little overawed.

All I can say is it was a hell of a 64th birthday present. 2014 has begun with a bang. I just hope it doesn’t end with a whimper.