Phoebe Morgan on The Trip and writing about what you know.

When I was first starting out as a writer, I went by the old saying ‘write what you know.’ My first three novels, The Doll House, The Girl Next Door, and The Babysitter, were all set in places that were familiar to me – London, Suffolk, Essex, and a holiday house in France. But then, March 2020 happened, and I began to look a bit further afield for inspiration, driven mad by the lockdowns and with a desperate need to escape, even if only via fiction.

My fourth book, The Wild Girls, was set in Botswana, and with my fifth, The Trip, I’ve taken my characters to Thailand (the clue is in the name I suppose – it’s about four friends who go on the holiday of a lifetime to Bangkok, only for one of them to be confronted by a stranger from her past with a terrifying ulterior motive). I hadn’t actually been to Thailand at the time of writing, but I did a lot of research, watching videos of what arrival into the airport is really like, reading guidebooks and visitor blogs of their time there, and trying to immerse myself in the sights, sounds and smells of Bangkok as best I could. I finished writing the novel last year, but when the chance to go to Thailand came up in February of this year, I jumped at it. Part of me was a bit nervous – what if when I arrived, I realised I’d made tons of mistakes, and it was nothing like I’d depicted it?!

But when I stepped off the plane in Bangkok, relief washed over me (along with the wonderful heat) – the airport was as I’d seen it online, and as we explored the city over the coming days, I found it really odd to actually be in the place I’d spent so long imagining. I visited Koh Samet, a beautiful small island off the coast of Bangkok where my characters go towards the end of the novel (and where the denouement takes place) and sat on the beach with a Chang beer, reminiscing about writing this during the pandemic and feeling incredibly lucky to have the world back. Imagination can only take you so far, after all, and being immersed in the culture of Thailand was an amazing experience. I could picture my four protagonists – Saskia, Theo, Holly and Lucas – setting out on their journey, excited for what was to come – and then confronted by the darkness waiting for them (you’ll have to read it to find out more…!) Thankfully, my own trip was far less eventful and I returned home in one piece in order to be celebrating publication this week and writing this piece – but I’ll never again take for granted how lucky we are to be able to travel, to see the world, to take inspiration from it and, if that opportunity fades, to know that we can create these portals into the world via the words on the page. Reading has always been my escape route and I hope my book can provide that option for you as readers, too.

The Trip by Phoebe Morgan (Out Now) Harper Collins Publishers

The perfect holiday. The perfect crime. Four friends on the holiday of a lifetime. Until a vicious murder shatters their paradise. Four friends who'd do anything for each other, until now. Only one of them committed a crime. But all four know how to keep a secret. And they're all guilty of something

You can find more iformation about Phoebe Morgan on her blog. She can also be found on “X” @Phoebe_A_Morgan and on FaceBook.

 

Short Mystery Fiction Society Derringer Awards

 

The Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the winners of the 2024 Derringer Awards for works published in 2023. 

FLASH
 The Referee by C. W. Blackwell (Shotgun Honey, October 12, 2023)
 
SHORT STORY
Last Day at the Jackrabbit by John Floyd (The Strand, May 2023)
 
LONG STORY
Good Deed for the Day by Bonnar Spring (Wolfsbane: Best New England Crime Stories, Crime Spell Books)
 
NOVELETTE (TIE)
Mrs Hyde by David Dean (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, March/April 2023)
 
Catherine the Great by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (WMG 2023 Holiday Spectacular Calendar of Stories)
  
Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer 
 
Barb Goffman
 
Hall of Fame
 
Rex Stout

Congratulations to all the nominated authors and winners.

Shots Magazine talks to John Connolly

With the publication of a new Charlie Parker detective thriller, Shots Magazine’s Spanish editor and English language academic John Parker got an early preview of THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS.

“……The novel is structured as a standalone not requiring any understanding [or memory] of backstory, despite the subtle links to previous novels such as The Wolf in Winter, A Book of Bones and The Woman in the Woods. Coupled with judicious editing, it propels the narrative with significant velocity.

The author’s interest in folk horror and the theme of psychogeography is vividly realized, where the ‘past’ striates the landscapes of the ‘present. The Instruments of Darkness is an adroitly plotted mystery-thriller novel full of intrigue, anguish-inducing horror and explosive action. Connolly [as ever] sprinkles gallows humour throughout - leading up to a killer dénouement, making this latest entry in the Charlie Parker series extraordinary…..”

Read More HERE

We have featured John Connolly’s literary work in all its myriad facets over the years, though we have a special interest in his Charlie Parker series, with previous interviews and features and reviews.

As ever, John Parker had some questions for the author, which we present for Shots' readers. Which you can access here: 

John Parker: Hi John. Good to speak to you again.

On reading THE INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS, it made me think of cases such as the disappearance of Madeleine McCann or the numerous true crime documentaries that have sprung up on streaming platforms and podcasts in recent years. Was there any inspiration in that sort of thing? 

John Connolly: No, none at all. I read almost no true-crime material, don’t watch those documentaries, and the only podcasts I listen to are Kermode & Mayo and Word In Your Ear. I really do prefer fiction.

JP: The reappearance of Bobby Ocean, the introduction of the extremely smart and dangerous Antoine Pinette and the militia-like camp that he organizes suggests a darker America. Were you thinking in that way?

And to read the remainder of this interview, click HERE

Malice Domestic Agatha Award Winners 2024

 Best Contemporary Novel

The Weekend Rereat by Tara Laskowski

Best Historical Novel

The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata Massey

Best First Novel

Crime and Parchment by Daphne Silver

Best Short Story

"Ticket to Ride' by Dru Ann Love and Kristopher Zgorski, Happiness is a Warm Gun

Best Non-Fiction

Finders: Justice, Faith and Idenity in Irish Crime Fiction by Anjili Babbar

Best Children's/YA Mystery

The Sasquatch Hawthourne Elementary by K B Jackson

Congratulations to all the winners.



Crime Writers of Canada 2024 Awards of Excellence Shortlist & Grand Master Award Recipient

 

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) announced the Shortlists for the 2024 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. 

Since 1984, Crime Writers of Canada has recognized the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors, including citizens abroad and new residents. 

Winners will be announced on Wednesday 29 May 2024.

Maureen Jennings is this year’s recipient of the 2024 Grand Master Award. Established in 2014, the Grand Master (GM) Award recognizes a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work that has garnered national and international recognition.

THE 2024 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE SHORTLISTS

The Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize

The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding, Grand Central Publishing

Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena, Doubleday Canada

Middlemen by Scott Thornley, House of Anansi Press

Sunset and Jericho by Sam Wiebe, Harbour Publishing

The Maid's Diary by Loreth Anne White, Montlake

Best Crime First Novel, sponsored by Melodie Campbell, with a $1000 prize

The Bittlemores by Jann Arden, Random House Canada 

Adrift by Lisa Brideau, Sourcebooks

The End Game by Charlotte Morganti, Halfdan Press 

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, Harper Perennial 

Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi, Minotaur

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada, sponsored by Charlotte Engel and Crime Writers of Canada, with a $500 prize

The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Harper Avenue/HarperCollins

Elmington by Renee Lehnen, Storeyline Press

Cruel Light by Cyndi MacMillan Crooked Lane

Wild Hope by Joan Thomas, Harper Perennial/HarperCollins

Shapes of Wrath by Melissa Yi, Windtree Press

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize

The Legacy by Gail Bowen ECW Press

Steeped in Malice by Vicki Delany, Kensington Books

The Game is a Footnote, by Vicki Delany, Crooked Lane Books 

 The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, Viking

 To Track a Traitor by Iona Whishaw, TouchWood Editions

Best Crime Short Story

Wisteria Cottage, by M.H. Callway, Wildside Press (for Malice Domestic) 

Reversion by Marcelle Dubé Mystery Magazine

The Canadians by Mary Keenan, (Killin' Time in San Diego), Down & Out Books 

Troubled Water by Donalee Moulton, Black Cat Weekly (Wildside Press) 

American Night by Zandra Renwick, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

The Best French Language Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)

La Punition by Jean-Philippe Bernié, Glénat Québec

Le Mois Des Morts, by Chrystine Brouillet, Éditions Druide

Le Dernier Souffle Est Le Plus Lourd by Catherine Lafrance, Éditions Druide 

La Sainte Paix, by André Marois, Héliotrope

Rien by Jean-Jacques Pelletier, Alire

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book, sponsored by Shaftesbury Films with a $500 prize (Fiction and Nonfiction)

Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong, Tundra Books 

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline,Tundra Books 

The Big Sting by Rachelle Delaney, Tundra Books

Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai,  Penguin Teen Canada

Champions of the Fox by Kevin Sands, Puffin Canada

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by David Reid Simpson Law Firm (Hamilton), with a $300 prize

The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter by Josef Lewkowicz and Michael Calvin,  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

The Human Scale by Michael Lista Véhicule Press

Jukebox Empire by David Rabinovitch, Rowman & Littlefield

Cheated by Bill Waiser and Jennie Hansen, ECW Press

Clara at the Door with a Revolver, by Carolyn Whitzman, UBC Press, On Point Press

Best Unpublished Crime Novel manuscript written by an unpublished author

The Patient by Tom Blackwell, 

Requiem for a Lotus by Craig H. Bowlsby, 

Murder on Richmond Road: An Enquiry Bureau Mystery by Sheilla Jones and James Burns, 

The Forest Beyond William Wodhams, Thirty Feet Under by Nora Sellers

Longlist for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 Revealed

 

Harrogate International Festivals announced the 18 titles long-listed for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award now in its twentieth year.

The longlist, voted for by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee, features stories that transport readers from the burning heat of the Chihuahuan Desert to the chill of nineties Berlin, from down-at-heel Blackpool to the splendour of Georgian London. Crime fiction fans are now invited to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner of the coveted Award announced on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18 July.

Six former winners are vying for top honours, including 2023 champion MW Craven, who is longlisted for his high-octane US-set thriller Fearless, alongside Queen of Crime Val McDermid for cold case mystery Past Lying, and Mick Herron, the author behind Apple TV’s smash-hit series ‘Slow Horses,’ for his elegant stand-alone spy novel The Secret Hours. Also nominated are Chris Brookmyre’s edgy thriller about a murderous hen party on a remote Scottish island, The Cliff House, two times winner Mark Billingham’s The Last Dance, the first novel in his captivating new Blackpool-set detective series and Clare Mackintosh’s reality TV set thriller A Game of Lies. Ann Cleeves, who was awarded the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award in 2023 adds to this illustrious list, nominated for her atmospheric detective novel The Raging Storm.  

Among the five hugely talented rising stars longlisted for the first time are Jo Callaghan, nominated for her stunningly original debut In the Blink of An Eye, which introduces intriguing detective duo DCS Kat Frank and her AI colleague Lock, and William Hussey for serial-killer thriller Killing Jericho featuring crime fiction’s first Traveller detective. They are up against Jack Jordan’s addictive legal thriller Conviction, missing persons investigation The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver, and Oxford-set detective novel The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason.

Showcasing the range of crime fiction subgenres, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s atmospheric Georgian-set historical crime novel The Square of Sevens, Lisa Jewell’s tantalising domestic noir None of This is True, propulsive thriller You Can Run by New Blood 2020 alumni Trevor Wood and The Last Remains, Elly Griffiths’ final Dr Ruth Gallow mystery, join the 2024 longlist.

Completing the line-up are two phenomenally talented Irish crime writers: Jane Casey for her gripping DS Maeve Kerrigan novel The Close and four-times Irish Book Award winner Liz Nugent for her unnerving thriller Strange Sally Diamond.

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2024 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is: -

• The Last Dance by Mark Billingham (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus; Little, Brown Book Group)

• In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)

• The Close by Jane Casey (Harper Fiction; Harper Collins)

• The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves (Pan Macmillan)

• Fearless by M W Craven (Constable; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

• The Secret Hours by Mick Herron (Baskerville; John Murray Press)

• Killing Jericho by William Hussey (Zaffre, Bonnier)

• None of This is True by Lisa Jewell (Century; Cornerstone)

• Conviction by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster)

• A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason (riverrun; Quercus)

• Past Lying by Val McDermid (Sphere; Little, Brown Book Group)

• Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent (Sandycove; Penguin Ireland)

• The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan)

• The Last Goodbye by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph; Penguin Random House)

• You Can Run by Trevor Wood (Quercus)

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

“We are delighted to announce the 2024 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, which truly showcases the depth and breadth of the UK and Ireland’s best crime fiction novels from the past year. The Award is an exciting part of the Festival, and with so many talented writers nominated – both new and established – we’re excited to find out who the public vote for this year.”

The Award is presented by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by T&R Theakston Ltd, in partnership with Waterstones and Daily Express, and is open to full-length crime novels published in paperback between 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 25 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com

Voting closes on Thursday 16 May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 13 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 18 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

10 new additions to the Penguin Green Crime Classics.

Penguin have announced 10 new additions to their Penguin Green Classics. The books are due to be published on 6 June 2024. Two specific new additions in particular have been out of print in the UK for quite some time. These are - 

The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik

An intricate, puzzle-like murder mystery set in Imperial China, featuring the indefatigable Judge Dee. A fantastically enjoyable tale by the master of the Tang dynasty mystery! Judge Dee is about to step into the shoes of a dead man…Most people would refuse the job of Magistrate at the lonely port town of Peng-lai – especially as the last occupant of the post has been found poisoned in his library, his papers missing. But Judge Dee is not most men. He arrives ready to get to the truth, only to find his life complicated even further by a missing bride, a vanished artisan, a man-eating tiger and an evil conspiracy. 

Robert Van Gulik was a Dutch orientalist, diplomat, musician, and writer, best known for the Judge Dee historical mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.

I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich

 A wild and wildly compelling noir novel about a train crash and a case of a mistaken identity. What if you woke up to discover everyone thought you were somebody else? Pregnant and abandoned, all Helen Georgesson has is five dollars and a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Then she is involved in a train crash, and regains consciousness only to discover that she has given birth – and, in a bizarre twist of fate, has been mistaken for somebody else. Helen decides to claim this opportunity to make a new life for herself and her son. But eventually her past will catch up with her, in terrible ways…

Cornell Woolrich (1903-68) was one of the most admired and influential of all 20th century American crime writers. His work inspired many films, including most famously The Leopard Man, Phantom Lady, Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and Union City. He led a strange and often very unhappy life, latterly as a recluse in a Manhattan hotel.

The list of ten new titles is as follows for the new Penguin Green Crime Classics 

The Deadly Percheron by John Franklin Bardin

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming

I Married a Dead Man By Cornell Woolrich

The Labyrinth Makers by Anthony Price

The Gold Mask by Edogawa Rampo

The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald

We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Night Manager by John Le Carre

Night at the Crossroads by Georges Simenon

The Chinese Gold Murders by Robert Van Gulik

They say, ‘Write about what you know’… and so I do - By Tina Payne

Until recent years, I never really thought about being a crime fiction author, even though my head has been full of stories since I was a child. When I left school, I applied to join the police force but didn’t get accepted due to an inaccurate colour-blind test result (I’m over it now, by the way.) So, I went to work in a shop and quickly realised that I had a bit of a sixth sense. I could smell a shoplifter at a thousand paces and so I trained to become a store detective. I loved the excitement of the job, but looking back, I was young and stupid and didn’t think about the dangers, even when I was thrown into a canal after trying to apprehend a lad who had nicked a saucepan and some pencils. I remember thinking it was a strange combination of things to steal, as his gang of friends swung me back and forth by my arms and legs before launching me into the water.

By the late 1990s, I was working as a Prisoner Custody Officer in the cells and court rooms of London’s Magistrates and Crown Courts. When you’re standing in the dock at the Old Bailey, right beside someone on trial for murder, you watch them as closely as you watch the jury filing back in to deliver their verdict. After years of studying jurors’ body language, I generally knew what the verdict would be, before the foreman/forewoman said ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’. It was a job that I loved, but again, it came at a cost. Having been assaulted more times than you can shake a stick at, I still suffer wrist pain from the time a six-foot Thai boxer, who I was handcuffed to, decided to drag me to the floor. All the ‘how to restrain a prisoner’ techniques that I’d been taught, went out of the window. Luckily for me however, as we both fell, he ended up underneath me. So, I decided to sit on him and that’s where I stubbornly remained, until my colleagues arrived to help. When they asked me what had happened, I simply replied, ‘He was kicking off, so I dropped him.’ They thought I was cool. Did I ever admit to them what had really happened? Of course I did. Eventually.

Then there was the defendant who started to catch butterflies, while I stood next to him in the dock at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court. Just to clarify, there were no butterflies in the court room, just this guy hallucinating, or pretending to. The Magistrate remanded him in custody for psychiatric reports, but this fella refused to leave the dock. The Magistrate was furious and I may have panicked. Not wanting to cause a scene, I did the only thing I could think of. I picked him up and carried him out of the court room. (The defendant, not the Magistrate. Although that would have been fun.)

This reminds me of another prisoner who was six foot five and about thirty stone (and I’m not exaggerating). I was alone with him, and he was refusing to go into his cell. He could have flicked me away like a bug and I knew it. And so did he. I had two choices. Choice one was to single-handedly try to drag him into the cell, which was probably going to hurt (me, not him). Choice two was to offer him a cup of tea and a cigarette if he complied. There was only one problem with these two choices. I was stubborn and refused to ever let a prisoner intimidate me. And I NEVER backed down. So, I went for the only other choice that I could think of, humour. I put my hands on my hips and smiling broadly, I looked up at him and said, ‘You can either walk into your cell like a man, or I will drop you right here on the floor and drag you in there, screaming like a baby.’ From his lofty height, he frowned down at me. Then, he placed an enormous hand on my shoulder, burst out laughing and replied. ‘Well, you’re either really brave or really crazy.’ And he was still laughing as he turned, walked into his cell, and sat down.

Then there was a prisoner who was brought in for rape. Multiple rapes. His whole demeanour had me fooled for a while. The first time he arrived in court, I actually turned to my colleague and said, ‘Do you think the police might have the wrong guy?’ Don’t get me wrong, I had dealt with thousands of prisoners, watched them, talked to them, learned their tricks, listened to their lies. I was no fool, but this guy was hauntingly deceptive. In court, he carried himself with such a compelling and frightening ‘air of innocence’, that I wondered just how many other people in the court room that day, thought the same as me. That this guy could be innocent. He came back a week later and everything about him had completely changed. He literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. They hadn’t got the wrong guy. He was a monster, a monster who’d been caught. Eventually convicted and sentenced to life, he is deemed to be one of the worst sexual predators this country has ever seen. He had fooled me, just as he had fooled his victims.

Having left the courts of London, I went on to spend 14 years with Norfolk Police, working as a Case Investigator in the Domestic Violence Unit. Far too many stories of the abuse that the victims I dealt with, still echo in my ears today. I will never forget how I felt every day, arriving at work, hoping and praying that the victims I had been dealing with, had not been murdered overnight. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone, regardless of age, sex, or social standing. I have dealt with far too many victims, from all walks of life. Even serving police officers.

So, when I write, I write about what I know. I will never use actual cases in my novels, but I will use my experience in life and the Criminal Justice system, to bring stories of crime to the reader. Stories with an echo of the raw truth of real life. My characters will never be directly based on anyone that I know or have met. But maybe part of them pours out of me and onto the pages that I write.

When I finished my debut crime fiction novel, Long Time Dead, with DI Sheridan Holler at the heart of it, I knew that it had to be a series because I could never let her go. She is a detective with a strong moral compass and isn’t afraid to push the boundaries in order to get justice. Long Time Dead is out now, set in Liverpool and the Wirral and published by Thomas and Mercer. The second in the series, This Ends Now, is out in October 2024 and the third will be published in April 2025.

Long Time Dead is by Tina Payne (Thomas & Mercer) Out April 2024

A cold case that is no longer cold. A suspect who's been murdered. A silenced witness. DI Sheridan Holler is used to solving crimes on Liverpool’s streets, but after a decayed corpse turns up in a cemetery, she finds herself reopening not one but two cold cases. Seven years earlier, two women were gunned down and the only suspect, small-time drug dealer John Lively, was never seen again. Case closed. Until the body in the cemetery is identified as his. Holler needs to work out if Lively was killed out of revenge, or was just a victim of the criminal world he inhabited. When shocking evidence is revealed about the murder weapon, Holler’s cold case starts to look hopeless once more. But defeat is not an option. Driven by the unsolved and traumatic murder of her brother when they were children, DI Holler’s pursuit of justice is relentless. As old wounds are reopened, the police close in on the killer, but the threat of them striking again is all too real. Can DI Holler put the pieces of the puzzle together before anyone else winds up dead?

You can find T M Payne on X @Tinap66payne

Pinckley Prizes For Crime Fiction

 

Alafair Burke, Margot Douaihy, and Sascha Rothchild are the recipients of the Pinckley Prizes in Crime Fiction for 2022 and 2023. 

The prizes, named to honor the memory of Diana Pinckley, were presented on 22nd March in New Orleans. The Pinckley Prizes partner with the Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans, of which Diana Pinckley was a founding member.

Alafair Burke is the winner of the 2023 Pinckley Prize for Distinguished Body of Work. 

Burke is the New York Times, Edgar Award nominated author of twenty crime novels. Published in more than twenty languages, her books have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today Show, Entertainment Weekly, People, O (Oprah Magazine), The Boston Globe, Washington Post, Sun Sentinel, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and numerous other outlets. She has been called “a genius for plot” and “one of our greatest contemporary mystery writers.” She is the current President of Mystery Writers of America and the first woman of color to be elected to that position. In addition to the standalone novels that have earned her a reputation as “a virtuoso” of domestic suspense, she authors “two power house series” featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid. In addition to her own work, 

Alafair also co-authored the "Under Suspicion” series with Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark. Alafair traces a lifelong fascination with crime to the fact that she grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where a serial killer was active during her formative years. In a world where the killer could be anyone, Alafair found comfort in crime fiction. Her mother, a school librarian, helped her navigate from Encyclopedia Brown to Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie and eventually to Sue Grafton.

Margot Douaihy is the winner of the 2023 Pinckley Prize for Debut Fiction for her lyrical crime novel Scorched Grace. The second book in the Sister Holiday Mystery series, Blessed Water, was released on 12 March 2024.

The judges selected Scorched Grace for the novel’s delightful new vision of the noir sleuth: Sister Holiday is lavishly tattooed and plays lead guitar in her punk band Original Sin. She also happens to be a novitiate in the order of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood. She came to New Orleans to make amends for her past transgressions and solves crimes along the way. Douaihy’s writing is playful, the language as luscious as the setting, while the true heart of the story emerges with blazing warmth and compassion for troubled souls.

Sascha Rothchild is the winner of the 2022 Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel for her first book Blood Sugar.

The 2023 judges were impressed with the smart plotting and distinctive voice of Sascha Rothchild's Blood Sugar. Its protagonist, Ruby Simon, is one of the most seductive of psychopaths—clever, self-justifying, and so inventive that the reader can't wait to see what she does next. Rothchild's screenwriting skills translate beautifully to this novel, which also rises to its Miami setting, from Ruby's South Beach days of clubbing to her practice as a therapist. And who wouldn't love a serial killer who meets her best friend when he leaves a note in her Abnormal Psych textbook? Fast, funny, and sharp, Blood Sugar is filled with memorable moments and characters.

 

CWA Dagger Awards Longlists Announced

 

The 2024 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced [8pm, April 20 at the CWA annual conference, Brighton].

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.

Past winners of the prestigious Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, include Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill, and Ruth Rendell.

Authors in contention for the Gold Dagger this year include the debut novel Black River from Nilanjana Roy. She is up against stalwarts of the genre Mick Herron, Chris Hammer, and Dennis Lehane.

Also in the category are historical crime writer Alis Hawkins, the journalist turned international bestseller, Julia Haeberlin, and the bestselling children’s author Maz Evans with her first adult debut novel, Over My Dead Body. 

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.

The longlist for 2024 includes James Wolff, who was a British intelligence officer for over ten years before leaving to write espionage novels, with The Man in the Corduroy Suit.

He’s joined by giants of the genre Linwood Barclay, David Baldacci, and Karin Slaughter alongside relative newcomers such as Jordan Harper, whose second thriller, Everybody Knows, makes the longlist. 

Also in contention are TJ Newman, the former flight attendant who became a Hollywood sensation with her latest thriller, Drowning, and Japanese author Isaka Kotaro for The Mantis; Kotaro is best-known for Bullet Train, which was adapted into a Brad Pitt movie.

Vaseem Khan, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: "As ever, the announcement of the CWA Daggers longlist is greeted with immense excitement in the crime and thriller writing world. Once again, our independent panels of expert judges have mulled, cogitated, debated, and, when all else has failed, challenged each other to duels, in their sterling efforts to pick longlists from the incredible array of books submitted to each Dagger. The Daggers are the gold standard of awards in the genre, and Dagger recognition has often served as a stepping stone for careers. More importantly, a Dagger longlisting means that genre readers can be assured of quality. Buy these books. You will not be disappointed."

The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels.

Among the rising stars of 2024 is Jo Callaghan with her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, The Blink of an Eye; the sensational fiery debut featuring a crime-solving queer punk nun, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy, and the Victorian gothic, The Tumbling Girl from Bridget Walsh.

Booker Prize winner John Banville is a heavyweight contender on the Historical Dagger longlist. The prizewinning novelist and literary polymath is in the running foriThe Lock-Up. Banville is up against established names including Ambrose Parry, S.G. MacLean, Alis Hawkins, and James Lee Burke with Flags on the Bayou.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger includes international hits such as The Prey from the Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s, translated by Victoria Cribb.

Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, which was a sensation in France, likened to Patricia Highsmith and Gone Girl. And the Spanish writer Javier Castillo behind the international phenomenon, The Snow Girl, which was adapted to screen by Netflix, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, the true story of the world’s most prolific art thief who accumulated a collection worth over $1.4 billion, and No Comment by Jess McDonald, who quit her job as a Met detective to tell all about her work on rape and domestic violence cases that left her with PTSD and a determination to speak out.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story.

This year sees the bestselling juggernaut Lee Child with his story Safe Enough. He’s up against Robert Scragg with Revenge is Best Served Hot, Sanjida Kay’s The Divide, and Rachel Amphlett with Three Ways to Die.

The Dagger in the Library nominees are voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year sees firm favourites from the genre including MW Craven, Anthony Horowitz, Vaseem Khan, and LJ Ross.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits big publishing houses including Harper Fiction Headline and Simon & Schuster against independent publishers Joffe Books, Bitter Lemon Press and Canelo. 

The Debut Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists.

The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. The winner will gain the attention of leading agents and top editors; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2024 it was jointly awarded to Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke.

The CWA Dagger shortlists will be announced on 10 May at the UK’s largest crime fiction convention, CrimeFest, hosted in Bristol.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 4 July 2024 

The Longlists in Full:

GOLD DAGGER

Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, (Headline)

Dead Man’s Creek by Chris Hammer, (Wildfire Books)

A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins, (Canelo)

Night Will Find You by Julia Haeberlin, (Penguin, Michael Joseph)

The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville, John Murray)

The White Lie by J G Kelly (Hodder & Stoughton)

 Death of a Lesser God, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder & Stoughton

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane (Abacus, Little Brown)

Tell me What I Am, by Una Mannion (Faber & Faber)

 Homecoming by Kate Morton, (Mantle, Pan Macmillan)

Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo)

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto (HQ ,Harper Collins)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

 Simply Lies, by David Baldacci (Macmillan Pan Macmillan)

 The Lie Maker, by Linwood Barclay (HQ HarperCollins)

All the Sinners Bleed, by S A Cosby (Headline, Hachette)

Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor  (Headline Hachette)

The House Hunt by C M Ewan  (Macmillan, Pan Macmillan)

Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber & Faber)

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka, (Harvill Secker, Penguin Random House) 

Gaslight by Femi Kayode (Raven Books, Bloomsbury)

 77 North by D L Marshall, (Canelo)

Drowning, by T J Newman (Simon & Schuster)

After that Night, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

The Man in the Corduroy Suit, by James Wolff (Bitter Lemon Press

ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

A Most Unusual Demise by Kathryn Black  (Bloodhound Books)

In The Blink of An Eye, by Jo Callaghan  (Simon & Schuster UK)

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua, (Corvus, Atlantic Books)

Scorched Grace, by Margot Douaihy (Pushkin Vertigo)

Murder By Natural Causes, by Helen Erichsen (Muswell Press)

The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle Pan Macmillan)

The Golden Spoon, by Jessa Maxwell (Penguin)

West Heart Kill, by Dann McDorman (Raven Books)

Obsessed, by Liza North (Constable)

Go Seek by Michelle Teahan (Headline)

The Other Half, by Charlotte Vassell (Faber & Faber)

The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh, (Gallic Books)

HISTORICAL DAGGER

Clara & Olivia, by Lucy Ashe (Magpie, Oneworld Publications)

The Lock-Up by John Banville  Faber & Faber

Flags on the Bayou, by James Lee Burke  Orion Fiction (Hachette)

Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison (Boldwood Books)

Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare  (HQ, HarperCollins)

A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)

Viper's Dream by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)

The Winter List by S.G. MacLean (Quercus Fiction, Quercus)

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead (Aries Head of Zeus)

Scarlet Town by Leonora Nattrass (Viper, Profile Books)

Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry (Canongate Books)

Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler (Raven Books, Bloomsbury)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

The Snow Girl by Javier Castillo (translated by Isabelle Kaufeler), Penguin Books

Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, (translated by Nick Caistor,) Macmillan

The Girl By The Bridge by Arnaldur Indridason (translated by Philip Roughton,) Vintage

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka, (translated by Sam Malissa,) Vintage

The Sins Of Our Fathers by translated by Frank Perry), Maclehose Press

Thirty Days Of Darkness, by Jenny Lund Madsen (translated by Megan E.Turney), Orenda Books

Nothing Is Lost, by Cloé Mehdi (translated by Howard Curtis), Europa Editions UK

He Murder Of Anton Livius, by Schneider Hansjörg (translated by Astrid Freuler), Bitter Lemon Press

The Consultant, by Im Seong-sun (translated by An Seong Jae,) Raven Books

Not Russian by Mikhail Shevelev (translated by Brian James Baer & Ellen Vayner), Europa Editions UK

The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (translated by Victoria Cribb), Hodder & Stoughton

My Husband by Maud Ventura (translated by Emma Ramadan,) Hutchinson Heinemann

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 

The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel (Simon & Schuster)

G-Man, by Beverly Gage (Simon & Schuster)

The Many Lives of Mama Love, by Lara Love Hardin (Endeavour)

No Ordinary Day by Matt Johnson with John Murray  (Ad Lib Publishers)

Chasing Shadows by Miles Johnson, (The Bridge Street Press)

The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador)

Devil’s Coin by Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson  (Ad Lib Publishers Ltd)

No Comment by Jess McDonald (Raven Books)

Seventy Times Seven by Alex Mar (Bedford Square Publishers)

How Many More Women? By Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida  (Endeavour)

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare, (Vintage)

Murder at Home, by David Wilson (Sphere)

SHORT STORY DAGGER

Three Ways to Die by Rachel Amphlett from No W.W.M.  - Thrill Ride #3, edited by M. L. "Matt" Buchman, (Buchman Bookworks, Inc)

Safe Enough by Lee Child from An Unnecessary Assassin, edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

The Last Best Thing by Mia Dalia from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction, edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

Slap Happy by Andrew Humphrey from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

The Also-Rans by Benedict J Jones from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, (Head Shot Press)

The Divide by Sanjida Kay from The Book of Bristol edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks, (Comma Press)

The Spendthrift and the Swallow, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate Books)

 Drive Bye by DG Penny from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

Best Served Cold by FD Quinn from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

Revenge is Best Served Hot  by Robert Scragg from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, (Rivertree)

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Louise Candlish 

MW Craven

Lucy Foley

Cara Hunter

Anthony Horowitz

Vaseem Khan

Angela Marsons

Kate Rhodes

LJ Ross 

Diane Saxon

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Bitter Lemon Press

Canelo

Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)

Harvill Secker (PenguinRandomHouse)

Headline (Hachette)

Joffe Books

Michael Joseph (PenguinRandomHouse)

Pushkin Press

Raven (Bloomsbury)

Simon & Schuster

DEBUT DAGGER (Sponsored by ProWritingAid)

Burnt Ranch by Katherine Ahlert,

Unnatural Predators by Caroline Arnoul

Vilomah by Matt Coot

Good Criminals by Judy Hock

Vigilante Love Song by JR Holland

Bluebirds by Alan Jackson

Makoto Murders by Richard Jerram

Long Way Home by Lynn McCall, 

Not a Good Mother by Karabi Mitra

The Last Days of Forever by Jeremy Tinker

A Politician’s Guide to Murder by James Tobin 

The Blond by Megan Toogood