Crime Writers’ Association Announce 2026 Dagger Awards Shortlist

 

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)

Totem - Having a story of it own

Some books have a story of their own. Totem, my latest novel, has one that stretches back 19 years.

Back in 2007, I made a trip to the mountainous wilderness of British Columbia to research a potential drama series for the BBC. I wrote a script, but as with nine out of ten promising drama projects, it didn’t go any further. Nevertheless, I had been entranced by this landscape and its people.

Hiking in country accessible only by float plane more than fifty miles from the nearest dirt road, without guns or even bear spray (more likely to antagonise than placate, apparently), our guide pointed out fresh grizzly scat and for the first time in my life I experienced the feeling of not being at the top of the food chain. It heightens the senses and places you in a different relationship with nature: it’s no longer something you observe, you are a part of it.

 Deep in the woods, we came across the skeletal remains of a teepee that had probably stood there for decades. The forest had never been managed and existed as nature intended – fallen, dead trees were nurse logs for new saplings in a life cycle that operates at many times that of a human span.

I went on to visit remote outposts, met indigenous people and began to learn something of the process of cultural renewal and restoration that is taking place in small communities dotted across the vastness of Canada. Some indigenous peoples are engaged in the sensitive process of negotiating treaties with the government that give them partial autonomy and a share in the natural resources in their ancestral lands.

It set me thinking about a novel that would explore the complex tensions between all that is good in modernity and all that is precious in our pasts, in our ancient cultures, ancestral memories and deep connections with homelands. Some of us live in landscapes in which our ancestors dwelt – in the Welsh borders, I count myself lucky to be one of them. Many of us don’t and are a fusion of many histories and influences. Some of us have a deep and profound sense of connection to place, but many of us feel indifferent to our immediate surroundings or even displaced from somewhere lost to us.

These tensions increasingly suffuse our politics and culture and raise deep questions: we all share a sense of common humanity but at the same time value our unique heritages, all God-given and part of our collective journey into an unknown future.

I sketched an outline for the novel in 2010 but my then publisher encouraged me in another direction. A blow at the time but in publishing, timing is everything. I’m glad I didn’t know that the journey would take 16 more years.

Another 12 years had passed when I chanced upon Charles Joseph, a renowned indigenous artist who chiefly works as a wood-carver. I heard his moving personal testimony on a podcast and managed to make contact. His traumatic life-experiences involved his sexual abuse, aged 5, at the hands of a nun at residential school. In adulthood, his healing began by making connection with the culture of his ancestors. His life story inspired a pivotal character, Eldon, who had been missing from my original idea and around which a new narrative began to take shape.

I wrote the book on spec in 2022 and 2023 in the aftermath of the death of our youngest son. Quite how, I don’t know. It was the darkest of times. Charles was hugely encouraging and I fancied I had a story that would find a home but it received a string of rejections and another year went by.

It was never said out loud, but I wondered if the rejections were partly out of fear that as a British writer I didn’t have the right to tell a story that involved indigenous people. Maybe I didn’t?

The gloom set in.

Fate intervened again in the strangest of circumstances. In 2024, my aunt, an artist who lived in Ontario and who was suffering the early stages of motor neurone disease, asked me to be with her when she ended her life through euthanasia. I didn’t want her to go through with it, but she was resolved.

During the few days before she left this life for the next, we made a trip to the beach at Lake Huron and my cousin, Dion, remarked that a painting had caught his eye in a fish smokery on a nearby reserve where he had gone for the cheap, tax free cigarettes - another strange link in the chain.

We went to see the picture – it was by an indigenous artist, Jeff ‘Red’ George, and I knew I had

to meet him. Two days later, I tracked him down to the lakeshore house where he was staying.

Like Charles, Jeff has his own deeply-troubled life story and had found his redemption in his art. Within minutes of meeting, Jeff had started to draw the image of a bear and her cub with which the book opens. He agreed to illustrate the text and the book instantly became something else – a collaboration and fusion of his form of artistic expression with mine.

It was the missing piece. Not long after, Totem found a home with Eye Books, a wonderful, smaller publisher not afraid to take creative risks.

Totem explores the idea that we live in a world of unknowable connections and boundaries; of both unique and common experiences. Its own long story certainly bears that out.

Totem by Matthew Hall (Eye-Books) Out Now

The day Jessie Cunningham achieves her life’s goal and is made partner in an ultra-powerful Toronto law firm, she suffers a catastrophic burnout. While attempting to recuperate, she volunteers for a charity preserving ancient trees in the wilderness of British Columbia. There she meets Todd Samson, a man with a troubled past and a wounded soul. The attraction is instant, but they’re from different worlds… that are about to collide. When Todd is falsely accused of murdering a local conservation  officer and his beleaguered community in the Three Valleys Reserve comes under pressure from the government to swap its ancestral territory for land on the outskirts of Vancouver, Jessie is drawn into their struggle against greed, corruption and injustice. Forming an unlikely alliance with Chief Ray Squinas and wood carver and shaman Eldon Marshall, Jessie joins them in the fight of their lives – against just the kind of dark forces she has spent her career serving.

Totem is available for pre-order from the publisher: Eye Books, Amazon and all the best bookshops.

Website: www.matthewhallbooks.com

X: @matthewh_books

Substack: substack.com/@viewfromthewoods

 

Shortlist for McDermid Debut Award 2026 Revealed

                                                                    

Showcasing ‘original’ and ‘highly entertaining’ new crime fiction from rising star authors

Festival Dates: 23-26 July 2026

www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

#TheakstonsAwards #TheakstonsCrime

 Thursday 21 May 2026: Harrogate International Festivals has announced the shortlist for the McDermid Debut Award for new UK and Irish writers. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 23 July.  

The shortlist for this year’s McDermid Debut Award, named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, showcases ‘original and assured’ new voices writing across a broad range of subgenres - including serial killer thrillers, detective fiction, cosy crime and dystopian chillers - and introducing a range of unforgettable protagonists, including a 12-year-old Glaswegian dog walker and a Windrush generation retiree who is Birmingham’s answer to Miss Marple. Now in its third year, the award has established a successful track record for discovering emerging talent, with the two previous winning books, Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (2024), and A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (2025), going on to become bestsellers.

The full McDermid Debut Award 2026 shortlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is:  

A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford (Transworld, Penguin Random House)  

The Exes by Leodora Darlington (Penguin Michael Joseph)  

Innocent Guilt by Remi Kone (Quercus)  

The Quiet by Barnaby Martin (Pan Macmillan)  

A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant (Baskerville, John Murray)  

How to Get Away With Murder by Rebecca Philipson (Transworld, Penguin Random House)  

The shortlist in more detail:  

Award winning playwright Mel Pennant is shortlisted for A Murder for Miss Hortense, a warm, witty crime novel introducing a formidable retired nurse turned amateur detective. Her sharp eyes and sharper wit uncover truths buried deep within the quiet Birmingham suburban community she’s belonged to since emigrating from Jamaica in the ‘60s. Also shortlisted is The Exes by writer and editor Leodora Darlington, a serial killer thriller with a twist as a young woman with a history of blackouts begins to wonder if she is responsible when her new husband winds up dead – just like all her exes. Both Leodora Darlington and Mel Pennant have been selected for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival’s prestigious Critics New Blood panel for 2026.

British Nigerian Emmy-nominated producer, Remi Kone, who has worked on TV dramas such as ‘Killing Eve’ and ‘Spooks,’ is shortlisted for Innocent Guilt, a suspenseful cat-and-mouse thriller where a detective and a journalist compete to solve the puzzling case of woman who appears at a police station covered in blood that isn’t her own and refuses to disclose what’s happened. Also shortlisted is A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford, a gritty and heartfelt thriller set in 1970s Glasgow about the far-reaching effects of murder on a community. A 12-year-old dog walker discovers the body of a murdered woman - the daughter of a local gangster - on an abandoned railway, and becomes tangled up in the police investigation. Scottish writer Frances Crawford graduated from Glasgow University aged sixty, before started her writing career.

Award-winning composer, video essayist and writer, Barnaby Martin, has been shortlisted for engrossing science fiction thriller, The Quiet. Set in a dystopian future where humans are forced to live at night to avoid the deadly daytime heat, a mother must do everything to protect her son from an autocratic government, while keeping the truth about her own past a secret. Completing the list is writer and true-crime blogger from County Durham, Rebecca Philipson, who has been shortlisted for How to Get Away With Murder, a propulsive thriller which follows a detective investigating the connection between the murder of a teenage girl and a chilling manual for aspiring killers written by an elusive serial killer. Rebecca is an alumnus of Creative Thursday, an immersive and inspiring day of workshops and talks designed to nurture new crime writing talent, which takes place annually on the opening day of the Festival. 

Honouring internationally bestselling crime writer, Val McDermid, who co-founded the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in 2003 and whose dedication to fostering new voices in crime fiction is legendary, this Award seeks to continue her legacy, celebrating and platforming the best debut crime writers in the UK. The shortlist was selected by a panel of established crime and thriller writers, and the winner will be decided by a panel of expert judges, chaired by Val McDermid. All shortlisted authors receive a full weekend pass to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and the Winner will receive a £600 cash prize and an engraved, handcrafted beer barrel from T&R Theakston.  

Val McDermid said:

“This festival has a rich and long-established reputation for plucking out the debut gems from the crime writing pack. This year is no exception. Dive into the Debut Award shortlist and I guarantee you'll find six novels with something special to offer.”

Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said: 

“Congratulations to all the talented writers shortlisted for the McDermid Debut Award this year. The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival has always celebrated the very best in crime fiction and thriller writing, and we are proud to turn the spotlight on a new generation of rising star debut authors. Readers are in for a real treat with these six new extraordinary novels to enjoy.” 

Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:
“We’re delighted to reveal the shortlists for the McDermid Debut Award, celebrating new talent. The six shortlisted books are compelling and highly entertaining novels by truly original and assured rising star authors. Supporting and platforming exciting new authors is at the heart of the festival, and we can’t wait for readers to discover these wonderful new novels.”

 The winner will be revealed on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 23 July. 

A Night of Espionage

 Join Vassem Khan, Ava Glass, Tony Kent, C J Merritt and James Wolff for A Night of Espionage at Waterstones Putney.

Date:-1 July 2026

Time:- 7:00pm

More information and how to buy tickets can be found here.

The Haunting of Minnie Ward by Bridget Walsh

Since the publication of my third novel, I’ve been asked a few times whether or not I believe in ghosts. Once you know the plot of that novel, the question won’t come as that much of a surprise. ‘The Spirit Guide’ is the third in the Variety Palace Mysteries, following on from ‘The Tumbling Girl’ and ‘The Innocents’. The novel opens in London, 1879, where my crime-detecting duo, Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook, areinvestigating two mysterious deaths. The trail leads Minnie to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of a spiritualist group. Once there, she finds herself isolated from everyone she loves and is confronted by some decidedly unsettling events that defy rational explanation. Mysterious visitations in the night, unexplained odours, screams in the darkness. Your classic ghost story fodder.

So, back to the question of whether or not I believe in ghosts. The short answer is ‘no’, simply because I’ve never seen any evidence to support their existence. But, strangely, I’ve lived in a house that other, perhaps more receptive, friends insisted was haunted. And I taught for several years in a school that was apparently inhabited by a spectral ‘Grey Lady’, a nun who broke her vows for a romantic relationship. In both instances, if I was living or working alongside supernatural beings, they were decidedly uninterested in me and never made their presence known.

But whilst I have no personal investment in spiritualism, the same can’t be said of the Victorians. The second half of the nineteenth century in particular saw intense interest in the paranormal, the strange, the unexplainable. The Victorians were fascinated by the idea of communicating with the dead, perhaps as a result of high infant mortality rates, perhaps as a reaction to the attacks on more conventional religious belief triggered by Darwinian thinking. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was famously a firm believer in the ability to communicate with the dead. Harry Houdini thought it was all a load of hokum. Houdini’s theatrical background might have been what triggered his scepticism. Victorian seances had a distinctly performative air about them, with a series of set pieces and a high level of trickery and illusion, something Minnie is quick to spot when she attends one with Albert.

My focus in ‘The Spirit Guide’, though, was not so much on whether or not ghosts existed, but more on why people would want to believe they do. Having lost both my parents, and other loved ones, I would give a great deal to have just one more day with them. An hour, even. So, I understand why people want to believe in the possibility of talking to the dead.

That desire for communion is, however, ripe for exploitation. In ‘The Spirit Guide’ Minnie insinuates herself into The Spirit Sisterhood, a spiritualist group targetting wealthy young women. The Sisterhood is a cult in all but name, a group of young women who believe themselves specially chosen, but who are actually being hideously manipulated. As someone once said ‘no-one sets out to join a cult’, and yet so many people find themselves part of one, often when it’s too late to extract themselves without great personal cost. Cults, initially at least, often offer something profoundly attractive to those they are targeting. The Spirit Sisterhood positions itself as a kind of proto-feminist organisation, empowering young women to abandon their corsets in favour of what was termed Rational Dress, to spend their money as they see fit, and lead a life not dictated by the expectation of marriage and motherhood. 

And Minnie can see the appeal. Despite having her head firmly screwed onto her shoulders, a street-wise young women who grew up in one of the poorest districts of London and learned to survive — indeed, flourish — within a society aimed at suppressing working-class women, even Minnie isn’t immune to the initial allure of the Sisterhood. Although the delights of a bucolic existence in the wilds of Suffolk are entirely lost on her. She’s decidedly uncomfortable outside of London, distrusting the existence of cows and finding the quiet and immersive darkness as oppressive as the noise and bustle of London might be to others. 

While undercover within the Sisterhood, Minnie is forced to confront events from her past, most notably the murder of Rose Watkins. Rose was Minnie’s best friend, whose murder in ‘The Tumbling Girl’ was the catalyst for Minnie’s alternative career as a private investigator. In the intervening years, Minnie has never fully come to terms with this loss. It’s in ‘The Spirit Guide’ that she finally reaches a resolution which enables her to move forward. And that resolution is only reached by coming face-to-face with her own particular ghosts and laying them to rest.

 The Spirit Guide by Bridget Walsh (Pushkin Press) Out Now

Tragedy strikes Minnie Ward's beloved Variety Palace Theatre when a man is found dead in suspicious circumstances. Along with private detective Albert Easterbrook, she investigates. The trail leads them from the streets of London to a grand country house in the Suffolk countryside, home of the shadowy Spirit Sisterhood, who promise their clients an audience with the deceased. Minnie isn't buying it. She goes undercover within the Sisterhood and enters an eerie world of seances and mediums. But unravelling their secrets will bring Minnie face-to-face with ghosts from her own past. Can she get to the truth before the murderer kills again?

More information about Bridget Walsh and her books can be found on her website.

Photo © Trevor Watson

A River Red With Blood: John Connolly talks to John Parker

Few contemporary crime writers have blended noir, horror and literary fiction as successfully as John Connolly. Born in Dublin in 1968, Connolly first worked as a journalist for The Irish Times before turning to fiction, and he quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in modern crime writing. His debut novel, Every Dead Thing, introduced readers to private investigator Charlie Parker. It became an international success and earned Connolly the distinction of becoming the first non-American writer to win the prestigious Shamus Award. From there everything has been on an upward curve.

We at Shots have been following his trajectory for many years and we are always thrilled to receive answers to questions that we pose to him. He is a man who is constantly travelling (he has recently been in Northern Ireland, for example and is off to Madrid, Spain in due course) but he took a little time off to talk to us about his own future and that of Charlie Parker, “scourge of evil, last hope of the lost¨.

I reviewed his latest work A River Red With Blood, which opens with

17-year-old Scott Theriault, a “problem child” who was consigned to the Spero School (a behavioural-facility) is found dead in the river Kennebec, drowned but with a broken right leg, suggesting a bad fall. Private investigator, Charlie Parker is asked to look into it as the boy’s father, Ward Vose, himself incarcerated in Maine State Prison, does not believe it was an accident.

Read the Shots Magazine’s full review HERE

John Parker: Congratulations on the publication of another Parker novel. I really enjoyed it.   

John Connolly: That’s much appreciated, thank you.

J Parker: The Spero School was probably inspired by the infamous Élan School in Poland, Maine where Moxie Castin passed part of his youth. Was that a story you knew about and had been saving for later or did you learn of it relatively recently?  Did you visit the actual site?

J Connolly: No, the story preceded any research I did for it. I just knew that I wanted to begin with an imprisoned father trying to find out how his son died, and I’d follow the story from there. But as usual, no matter how odd an idea I come up with, someone in Maine has often done something odder, and the existence of the Élan schools gave a certain historical resonance to the book. I didn’t visit any of the original sites because they didn’t really have anything to do with the story. Mostly, I was trying to capture a sense of a very particular time of year in Maine, namely that limbo period between fall and winter in the Kennebec valley.

 J Parker: The “nocturnal raids” to bring the boys to Spero conjure up a picture of the ICE raids that we have been observing in recent months. I imagine that was no coincidence? 

J Connolly: Actually, it may be. The book does reference the crackdowns in the state, but I think the idea of kids being snatched from their beds in the dead of night with parental consent is horrible enough without having to link it to immigration agents.

J Parker: There definitely seems to be a progression towards a conclusion to the Parker stories. Do you have it all planned out now? Or is it too early?  At the beginning of the denouement in Part VI , you quote 15:10 of The Book of Enoch and, having dipped into said book, I am pretty convinced I know where it is going. Of course, you are not going to tell me or (almost) anyone but am I on the right track?

J Connolly: I think Parker’s story deserves a conclusion. I know the destination, including the title of the last book in the sequence and the elements of the final chapters, but not the route that will take me there. For the next few years, I think Parker novels will appear biennially, but that may change. I have no shortage of ideas, but it may be that the series has assumed a momentum of its own. 

J Parker: Ok, the “almost anyone” I refer to is the TV company that are interested in the Parker property. In a recent interview for an Irish newspaper, you said that they wanted to know how it all ends before committing to anything. It’s only been a week or two but is there any more news?    

J Connolly :….…At the moment I can reveal that Blumhouse TV is the Production Company, and Amazon the streaming service. At the moment, the producers are looking for a showrunner, and that person will be responsible for scripting a pilot episode and an outline of the first season, with a more general overview of the seasons that might follow. Should all that meet with the approval of Blumhouse and Amazon, everything would then proceed to casting. But, you know, I’m not counting my chickens. If it happens, that would be lovely, and if it doesn’t, I’ve had some interesting conversations with some smart, decent TV people.

J Parker: In the same interview, you were very disparaging about social media and the virtual cesspool it has largely become (Twitter/X, in particular). Also mobile phones as “addiction machines”.  What is your feeling about A.I.? Is there anything positive to say about it? Would you use it for anything? 

J Connolly: I don’t think most readers will want to read AI-generated novels, though there will be “writers”, and I use the term very advisedly, who will see an opportunity to generate content without any effort in the hope of making some easy money. In reality, they’ll just add to the background noise. We may, I think, soon reach a point where mainstream publishers include a note on the covers of books advising that it has been written by a person, not generated by AI. Some interesting hybrids may emerge, but in general, as a reader, I would prefer to read a book, watch a film, or listen to music that has been created by another human being; and I think the effort and labour that we put into creating art is part of the pleasure of it. But I accept that I may be proved wrong.

J Parker: Platforms like Prime Video, Netflix and the amazing Filmin in Spain (a quick plug for my favourite) seem to be ever-expanding? Do you indulge and do you have any recommendations of things that you have liked? 

J Connolly: I seem to have reached an age where I’m filling in the gaps in my knowledge, so a lot of what I watch, read, and listen to is older material. (I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the new.) Even my radio show has both feet in the past…

 J Parker: What can you tell us about your next publication, The Castle? And will the next Parker be out in 2028? 

J Connolly: The Castle is set in Connecticut, against the backdrop of the Watergate hearings, and concerns a gated community that begins to suspect it is under attack, but why, and by whom, no one seems to know. On one level, it’s about what happens when people lose faith in the system, but it’s mostly about family secrets. I haven’t started the new Parker yet. At the moment, I’m writing a historical novel, and last year I finished a short novel set in England before the outbreak of the First World War. That’s a mystery novel. But I’m not quite sure how either of those will fit into the publishing schedule, if they ever do. 

J Parker: The question I always ask you; what are you reading these days? 

J Connolly: I’m about to start a Bernard Cornwell ‘Sharpe’ novel as a comfort read. I have a couple of proofs waiting to be read, mostly first novels, but generally I seem to be wading through research books for the historical novel. I have a hankering to try to finish Middlemarch at last. I’ve tried and failed twice before. Third time may be the charm…

Shots Magazine would like to thank Laura Sherlock and Hodder and Stoughton Publishing for organising this interview and to John Parker of our Spanish Office.

More information available HERE

And previous reviews and interviews are archived HERE

A Spanish Language introduction to the Charlie Parker Series HERE