The shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Dagger awards has been announced.
Created in 1955, the
world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been
synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.
This year’s
shortlists showcase the range and depth of the genre, from historical fiction
to thrillers and classic whodunnits.
As well as
championing established authors of the genre, it also provides a platform for
debut and emerging talent.
Nadine Matheson,
Chair of the CWA, said: "This year’s shortlist is a fantastic reflection
of the extraordinary breadth and diversity of crime fiction today, and a
celebration of authors from debuts to established names, whose creative talents
ensure that the genre continues to grow from strength to strength.”
The coveted KAA Gold
Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best
crime novel of the year.
Shortlisted novels
are S.A Cosby with King of Ashes, Abigail Dean’s The Death of Us,
Holly Jackson with Not Quite Dead Yet, Vaseem Khan’s The Girl in Cell
A, Ariel Lawhon with The Frozen and Lara Shepherd-Robinson’s The
Art of a Lie, a novel that also makes the Historical Dagger shortlist.
S.A. Cosby is the
only author to be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards. As well
as Gold, the American author of “Southern noir” is also in contention for the
Short Story Dagger and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller
of the year.
Also shortlisted for
the Steel Dagger is the standalone thriller by BookTok sensation Noelle W
Ihli, Such Quiet Girls inspired by the real-life 1976 Chowchilla
kidnapping. She’s up against the global bestselling author Karin Slaughter
for We Are All Guilty Here, Tariq Ashkanani’s The Midnight King,
Robert Crais with The Big Empty, Mark Ezra’s A Sting in her
Tale and Liam McIlvanney’s The Good Father.
Joining Laura
Shepherd-Robinson, authors Nina Allan, Rob McInroy, Donna Moore, Alan Parks and
Sally Smith make the Historical Dagger shortlist. The historical novels span
18th century London to 1920s Glasgow, from stories inspired by gritty true
crimes to a cosy Christmas mystery.
The Twisted Dagger
for psychological suspense shortlist features Sarah Pinborough, the author
behind the New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix
show) Behind Her Eyes with a haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here
Now. She’s up against Kia Abdullah, Nicci Cloke, Fiona Cummins,
Carole Hailey and Sam Lloyd.
The Whodunnit Dagger
for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees
Alexandra Benedict, Victoria Goldman, Anna Fitzgerald Healy, Robert Holtom, Mel
Pennant and CJ Wray in the running.
The global reach of
the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
International authors
include two German writers - Karsten Dusse with his bestselling dark comedy
series, Murder Mindfully and Leonie Swann with her mystery
novel, Big Bad Wool, the anticipated follow-up to her breakout
hit, Three Bags Full that follows a flock of sheep as they try to
solve a murder.
The shortlist also
sees Norway’s Jørn Lier Horst, the Croatian writer and journalist Jurica
Pavicic, Finland’s Antti Tuomainen, and Strange Pictures – a novel
from the Japanese YouTuber and writer, Uketsu.
Their translators are
also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores
Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger
for Non-Fiction includes The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera and
Shaun Walker’s The Illegals, profiling Russia’s most audacious spies,
reflecting the enduring fascination with espionage and true crime, alongside Shadow
of The Bridge by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee, John Curran’s The
Murder Game, Caroline Fraser’s Murderland, and Susannah Stapleton
with That Dark Spring.
The Short Story
Dagger features S.A. Cosby, alongside the acclaimed Scottish author Denise Mina
and the bestselling Abir Mukherjee. The Daggers are one of the few high-profile
awards celebrating short-form storytelling.
The Dagger in the
Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have
resonated with readers over time. On this year’s shortlist are Paula Hawkins,
best known for her huge hit, Girl on the Train alongside JD Kirk, Clare
Mackintosh, Freida McFadden, Abir Mukherjee and Tim Sullivan.
The CWA Daggers are
also known for providing a platform for emerging talent, with the
much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger and the Emerging Author
Dagger competition, sponsored by Fiction Feedback; over two dozen past winners
and shortlisted debut authors have signed publishing deals to date.
The Best Crime and
Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s
success, with leading imprints including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, and
Simon & Schuster shortlisted against Bitter Lemon Press, No Exit Press and
Viper.
The CWA Diamond
Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is awarded to an author whose
crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in
early spring and in 2026 was awarded to Mark Billingham.
The winners are
announced at the CWA gala dinner awards night in July.
The shortlists in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
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
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
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
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
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)
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