When Inspiration Strikes by Jenna Satterthwaite.

There’s a reason we have the phrase “inspiration strikes.” It really does feel like lightning–something unexpected and powerful–and in the case of my debut novel, Made for You, that’s exactly how the original idea came about.

I was taking a walk during my work break, along the Chicago river, in March 2022. I’d been watching the new season of Love is Blind on Netflix and I’d just finished reading The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He (highly recommend) which had put Bots that are indistinguishable from humans on my mind. As I walked, ideas collided, and I thought “oooh, what if a robot that looked exactly like a human competed on a reality TV show?” It was a no brainer to add murder.

I took my first notes that very night, without knowing who the victim would be, and who the killer–but the idea felt so compelling to me that I was determined to figure it out.

I wrote the book in a kind of fever, and the first draft was complete in 7 weeks. Though it started as ‘just’ a fun idea, writing it quickly became an incredibly cathartic experience. My youngest sister was dying of cancer as I wrote it (she died right as the book was going out on submission to editors, summer 2022), and this book became a place for me to process my grief, my questions about purpose and pain and the isolation that intense suffering brings. During the cancer years leading up to writing Made for You, I was deconstructing a lot of the assumptions I’d made about life/existence/God from the Christian point of view, and that definitely came out as I explored the main character Julia’s relationship to Andy, her creator.

This started as a fun book—and I think it IS a fun book still—but it’s also my grief book and does go to some dark places. But in a light way! Kind of. I keep describing it as “suspense candy,” and I think that in spite of the heavy themes, it’s still mostly a frothy, light, murdery page-turner.

Of course, other questions snuck their way in that were less personal and more heady–like, what makes identity? Is it a core essence that’s inalterable, or is it our choices that shape us and define us? Social issues I care deeply about also started weaving their way in–the way our culture objectifies women, the toxic dynamics of the patriarchy, and the dark side of the narrative often woven around romance that we are ‘made for each other.’ Add to that an examination of social media, our obsession with image, the pressure of ‘relatability,’ and the ethics of Artificial Intelligence as it starts to encroach on ‘human’ jobs. In short, that original lightning strike sparked in many, many directions, and I had an incredible time 

Will you find answers about any of the above issues in this novel? (*laughs to self*) No. We fiction writers are lucky because, unlike our non fiction counterparts, we don’t have to actually answer the questions we pose. Our job is to just turn the prism on the issues we’re highlighting and show as many facets of a question as we can—which, for me, is the fun part.

The answers are up to you.

Made for You by Jenna Satterthwaite (Verve Books) Out now.

Hi. My name is Julia. I'm a Synth. And I'm here to find love... Julia Walden - a Synth - was designed for one reason: to compete on The Proposal and claim the heart of bachelor Josh LaSala. Her casting is controversial, but Julia seems to get her fairy-tale ending when Josh gets down on one knee. Fast-forward fifteen months, and Julia and Josh are married and raising their baby in small-town Indiana. But with haters around every corner, Julia's life is a far cry from the domestic bliss she imagined. Then her splintering world shatters: Josh goes missing, and she becomes the prime suspect in his murder. With no one left she can trust, Julia takes the investigation into her own hands. But the explosive truths she uncovers will drive her to her breaking point - and isn't that where a person's true nature is revealed? That is... if Julia truly is a person.

Jenna Satterthwaite's debut novel MADE FOR YOU (published by VERVE Books) is a page-turning, twisty debut that skilfully merges artificial intelligence, psychological thriller and reality TV.

More information about the author can be found on her website. You can also find her on X @jennaSchmenna and on Facebook.

The reader knows best (even if the writer knows better) by Becky C. Brynolf

Did you hear about that influencer who found a dead body and filmed it?

Back in 2017, a YouTuber named Logan Paul uploaded a video of a man who had died by suicide. He’d found the man while exploring with friends in Aokigahara, Japan, an area known locally as “suicide forest” due to its notoriety as a place to complete suicide. The video was viewed 6.3 million times inside 24 hours. Paul was derided and denounced, but it didn’t hurt him. He has since made a career out of controversy, forever getting cancelled and returning unscathed, before finally leaning all the way into his controversial image and becoming a heel in the world of professional wrestling. 

While Logan Paul’s Aokigahara trip is maybe the most notable and controversial example, people have been literally and figuratively pointing cameras at bodies for entertainment for some time now. We pass endless true crime podcast and Netflix documentary recommendations between each other like good books. Tiktokkers investigated the site of Nicola Bulley’s disappearance until the police had to issue a statement to discourage the internet sleuths from dropping by. Social media was awash with theories about what had really happened to Gene Hackman before the tragic truth was revealed. If the OJ Simpson trial had taken place today, the Reddit and Tattle Life servers would be straining under the pressure of the discourse.

I know all of this, not through active research, but rather osmosis. Celebrity culture and true crime have been bedfellows for a long time, as covered to extremely good effect even as far back as 1975’s musical Chicago, based on the real-life murderesses of the jazz age. It’s an easy topic in which to find inspiration – truth is stranger than fiction, etc etc, and don’t we all just love a good whodunnit?

The very first draft of my debut novel, I Found A Body, in which an influencer films a dead body and broadcasts it to the world, was very different to the version you’ll find on shelves today. Our antagonist, influencer Kylie May, originally made the very deliberate decision to point her phone at the body while live streaming. When I shared that opening chapter with my writing group, the feedback was unanimous: "Kylie is a great character, but that would never happen.”

I could have easily pushed back on the group’s feedback. I could have defended the original opening, presented the podcasts and the documentaries and the controversies as proof that it absolutely could happen. I could have even gone so far as to invoke the great Margaret Atwood and remind the group that everything that happens in A Handmaid’s Tale was inspired by real events in the darkest chapters of human history. Not that I’m comparing my writing to Atwood’s in the slightest – I’m inspired by her work but by no means a peer.

What I chose to do instead was ignore my ego, and rewrite the opening scene into the version you’ll find in the book today. Kylie May still broadcasts a dead body from her phone and goes viral, but her thought process is more ambiguous. It’s feasible to the reader that Kylie isn’t in total control of her faculties in the moment; she’s led more by shock than driven by grim curiosity. But why did I bend to the feedback so easily when I had all that evidence and research to back myself? I did it because, ultimately, the book would have suffered if I’d stuck to my guns.

Firstly, if a reader can’t suspend their disbelief, they’re not going to stick around, and I can’t force every unconvinced reader to look up Logan Paul on Wikipedia. Secondly, the changes lead to a much better novel. Kylie May was only supposed to be the reader’s vehicle into the story. A one-chapter-and-done kind of character. An interesting way to setting up the case before we get on with the classic detective story. However, the feedback prompted me to really flesh her character out until she practically had equal billing with the story’s main character, Detective Mona Hendricks. With Kylie May taking up more space in the story, I had to work hard to justify her actions, both to herself and the reader. She inspired a whole new twisty plot with dual timelines and dual POVs. Influencer Kylie and Detective Mona became each other’s foils as they both attempted to solve the mystery. The story ended up being a love letter/lament to this strange digital age we’re in.

I Found A Body is my first novel. I’m very proud of the work, and I must thank my writing group for the blunt, instructive critique that took the book from a fairly bog standard crime novel, and made the book what it is. They knew best (even if I technically knew better).

I Found A Body by Becky Brynolf ( Black & White Publishing) Out now.

An influencer, a dead body and a live stream . . . Mona Hendricks may have just met her match. Detective Sergeant Mona Hendricks has a lot on her plate. Divorce, bills, an obnoxious teenager. But she has no idea what's coming . . . 'Mum, I need to show you something'  A video. Big red letters in the corner.  @MaybeKylie is LIVE Alerts slide over the screen. One after another after another. The viewing numbers soar. Her daughter's favourite influencer, Kylie May, has just found a dead body and is streaming it to the world. Two dueling investigations begin as a rivalry between seasoned detective and ambitious influencer grows: one using good old-fashioned police work whilst the other's sensational tactics hog the spotlight. Nine years later and the murder remains unsolved. But comment sections never forget, forcing the notoriously self-interested Kylie to make Detective Hendricks an offer she can't refuse . . .

You can follow the author on Instagram @beckycbrynolfwrites and on X @beckycbrynolf

Longlist for Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2025

Festival Dates: 17 – 20 July 2025

Longlist for Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2025  revealed as global bestsellers compete with fresh talent for prestigious award

Thursday 24th April 2025: Harrogate International Festivals announced today the 18 titles longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2025, the UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction award, now in its twenty-first year. 

The longlist, selected by an academy of journalists, reviewers, booksellers, bloggers & podcasters and representatives from within the industry, showcases innovative, original and entertaining stories, with global bestsellers and exciting new talent competing for the coveted award. Readers are now encouraged to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner crowned on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July. 

3 former winners - 2023 champion M.W. Craven, Chris Whitaker and Chris Brookmyre - feature on the longlist, with fan favourite Elly Griffiths nominated for a tenth time. 

Six talented authors receive their first longlisting, including rising star Marie Tierney nominated for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award in 2024.

The longlist includes 3 illustrious alumni of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, renowned for championing emerging talent: Abir Mukherjee, Stuart Turton and Stuart Neville. 

The longlist features writers from across the UK, including Newcastle, Birmingham, Sussex, Bath and Oxfordshire, with 3 Scottish authors, Chris Brookmyre, Alan Parks and Abir Mukherjee, and 2 from Ireland, Jane Casey and Stuart Neville. 

Representing the very best in storytelling, the longlist showcases a thrilling range of crime fiction subgenres, from gritty court room dramas and twisty psychological thrillers to enthralling historical mysteries and dystopian chillers. 

The full Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025 longlist (in alphabetical order by surname) is: 

The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown Book Group, Sphere) 

Our Holiday by Louise Candlish (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey (HarperFiction, Hemlock Press) 

The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven (Little, Brown Book Group, Constable) 

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas (Penguin Michael Joseph) 

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths (Quercus Books, Quercus Fiction) 

Estella’s Revenge by Barbara Havelocke (Hera Books) 

Redemption by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster UK) 

The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby by Ellery Lloyd (Pan Macmillan, Pan Fiction) 

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books) 

The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (Cornerstone, Century) 

The Kill List by Nadine Matheson (HarperCollins, HQ Fiction) 

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Vintage; Harvill Secker) 

Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster UK) 

To Die in June by Alan Parks (Canongate) 

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books, Zaffre) 

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books) 

All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion, Orion Fiction) 

The longlist in more detail: 

Three former winners are vying for top honours at this year’s Awards, including 2023 champion M.W. Craven, who is longlisted for The Mercy Chair, the sixth book in his Cumbrian set Poe and Tilly series, alongside Chris Whitaker for All the Colours of the Dark, a million-copy bestseller exploring the aftermath of a childhood kidnapping, and Chris Brookmyre for the highly original thriller, The Cracked Mirror, which sees a hard-bitten homicide detective and an old lady who has solved multiple murders in her sleepy village, crack an impossible case. Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive tenth longlisting for The Last Word, a murder mystery set at a writers' retreat. 

Three alumni of the Festival’s celebrated ‘New Blood’ panel, supporting fresh talent are longlisted this year. Abir Mukherjee is nominated for Hunted, a timely thriller about two parents desperately tracking down their children who are suspected of terrorist atrocities, along with ‘King of Belfast Noir’ Stuart Neville for chilling serial-killer thriller Blood Like Mine and Stuart Turton for The Last Murder at the End of the World, an ingenious dystopian thriller about a murder in an island paradise inhabited by the last humans on earth. They are joined by Marie Tierney who is longlisted for Deadly Animals, which won the inaugural McDermid Debut Award, the Festival’s newest initiative to platform rising stars of the genre, in 2024. 

Along with Tierney, the five other hugely talented writers longlisted for the first time include Claire Douglas, nominated for intricately plotted psychological thriller The Wrong Sister, Barbara Havelocke for Estella’s Revenge, a twisty gothic retelling of ‘Great Expectations’ and Ellery Lloyd for The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, an ingenious mystery set in the art world. They are up against two writers who are also lawyers, Nadine Matheson, longlisted for her gripping thriller exploring themes of race, class and justice, The Kill List, and Ruth Mancini for The Woman on the Ledge, about a duty solicitor representing a young woman framed for murder. 

Showcasing the dazzling range of crime fiction subgenres, Louise Candlish’s psychological thriller Our Holiday where a feud between second home-owners and locals turns murderous, acclaimed Irish writer Jane Casey’s gripping DS Maeve Kerrigan novel A Stranger in the Family, Imran Mahmood’s powerful court-room drama about how far parents will go for their child in Finding Sophie, Jack Jordan’s propulsive Nevada-set revenge thriller Redemption, and Alan Parks’ gritty Glasgow noir To Die in June, complete the 2025 longlist.

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

“We are delighted to announce the 2025 longlist for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. The award is a vital platform for recognising and celebrating British crime writing talent both new and established, and once again our Awards Academy have selected another thrilling crop of books for our longlist. Now it’s time for readers to have their say, and we encourage everyone to get involved and vote for their favourites!

Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:  

“Congratulations to all of the extremely talented writers longlisted for this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Anyone who loves riveting storytelling is in for a treat with this year’s longlist, which showcases the incredible depth and range of British crime fiction. Readers are very much at the heart of this award as they help to determine the outcome, and we’re very excited to see who the fans will vote for to reach the shortlist.” 

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 2024 to 30 April 2025. The public are invited to vote to help create a shortlist of six titles from 8am on Thursday 24 April at www.harrogatetheakstoncrimeaward.com 

Voting closes on Thursday 15 May, with the shortlist announced on Thursday 5 June. The winner will be revealed on the opening night of Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Thursday 17 July, receiving £3,000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by T&R Theakston Ltd.

Incorporating research into writing – or how I learned not to get bogged down in toilets.

It began as a simple problem. I needed a character to meet his untimely end while relieving himself at the back of an eighteenth-century London tavern. But how, I wondered, did people go to the loo in those days? Would there have been a latrine or even an outhouse? I had no idea. My research took me down several internet rabbit holes, where I learned a lot about the development of sewerage, the disparity between facilities for the rich and the poor, and the reason why women with long skirts and petticoats didn’t wear underwear. It was fascinating, but, in the end, a week of research ended up as half a paragraph of text. 

This is the joy and the frustration of researching for historical fiction. Those of us who write it often say that it is the research that draws us. It can certainly bear fruit for the plots. In my second Lizzie Hardwicke novel, The Corpse Played Dead, much of the action takes place at Drury Lane Theatre. I read a number of books about eighteenth-century staging, which helped me come up with the method of the murder. Reading about gambling houses and the outrageous wagers that took place in them gave me a crucial plot point for the latest novel, Viper in the Nest. 

But however fascinating the research is – and believe me, the history of toilets is utterly enthralling – the novel reader is reading fiction and wants to press on with the story. As a reader, I can always spot when a writer has become over-excited about their research because they feel the need to offer several paragraphs of information – sometimes delivered from the mouth of a character who would surely not need to explain because they inhabit that period. 

It's not easy to get it right. Too little information about something specific to your chosen era and you risk the reader missing something crucial to the plot. Too much, and they may be wearied by the history lesson. 

My own preference is to allow my protagonist to describe what she sees, and to make her own observations on the situation. I’m lucky that Lizzie Hardwicke has a conversational tone of voice – she’s more likely to make a wry aside than to lecture. I also tend to trust the reader. People who enjoy historical fiction already have a historical imagination. My readers may have read Georgette Heyer, Antonia Hodgson, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, or Winston Graham – or, indeed, watched Poldark or Harlots. They are familiar enough with the landscape of the eighteenth century and all I need to do is nudge them now and again with a small detail or comment. 

At the end of each of my novels, I add a short historical note. Mostly, I want the reader to know that I’ve done my research and, if I’ve made a few tweaks to historical facts, I prefer to confess my anachronisms openly rather than have someone point them out. I also add a short list of some of the books I’ve found helpful so that, should any reader wish to engage further with the history of theatre, or gambling, or even toilets, then they may do so at their leisure – perhaps even when alone in the smallest room. 

Viper in the Nest by Georgina Clarke (Verve Books) Out Now

London, June 1759. When a charmless civil servant takes his own life, few are interested in his death. But Lizzie Hardwicke, who plies her trade in the brothels of London whilst also working as an undercover sleuth for the magistrate, can see no reason why a man who had everything to look forward to would wish to end his life. Lizzie's search for answers takes her from the smoke-filled rooms of fashionable gambling houses, where politicians mix ambition with pleasure, to the violent streets of Soho, ready to erupt with riots in the sultry summer heat. All the while, she is navigating her complicated feelings for the magistrate's trusted assistant, Will Davenport, and a disturbing situation at home. Then a gambling house owner is brutally murdered, and Lizzie finds herself tangled in a chaos that she cannot control. The darkest of secrets threatens to turn Davenport against her forever; its exposure will send her to the gallows. London, June 1759. When a charmless civil servant takes his own life, few are interested in his death. But Lizzie Hardwicke, who plies her trade in the brothels of London whilst also working as an undercover sleuth for the magistrate, can see no reason why a man who had everything to look forward to would wish to end his life. Lizzie's search for answers takes her from the smoke-filled rooms of fashionable gambling houses, where politicians mix ambition with pleasure, to the violent streets of Soho, ready to erupt with riots in the sultry summer heat. All the while, she is navigating her complicated feelings for the magistrate's trusted assistant, Will Davenport, and a disturbing situation at home. Then a gambling house owner is brutally murdered, and Lizzie finds herself tangled in a chaos that she cannot control. The darkest of secrets threatens to turn Davenport against her forever; its exposure will send her to the gallows.

More information about the author and her books can be found on her website. She can also be found on X @clarkegeorgina1

Georgina Clarke’s latest novel Viper in the Nest is a gripping and vividly imagined historical mystery set in 18th century London, featuring brothel worker and sometime sleuth Lizzie Hardwicke and follows on from the first two in the series (Death and the Harlot and The Corpse Played Dead). Clarke is also the author of the acclaimed novel The Dazzle of the Light which is based on the Forty Elephants - a gang of notorious female thieves in 1920s East London. All of Clarke's novels are published by VERVE Books.

In Search of Truth – From Journalism via Academia to Crime Fiction By Jake Lynch

I was a newsreader for BBC World at the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Night after night, my studio would echo to assurances from highly-placed, authoritative sources that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” threatened our safety and security. The case for military action brooked no delay – least of all for UN weapons inspectors, by then crossing off the list of supposed WMD sites one by one, to complete their assignment.

We were supposed to deliver the two public goods of broadcast news: accuracy and due impartiality. The latter is, in turn, is assured by hearing both sides. “On the one hand… on the other hand… in the end, only time will tell.” Well, it did – and it was not flattering, to either of those “two sides” or indeed to news itself.

My subsequent path took me through Peace Journalism, a critical perspective on conflict reporting that reminds audiences of key contexts and backgrounds; reaches out for peace perspectives beyond the charmed circle of elite sources, and keeps a sceptical eye on overblown propaganda claims.

A way of making news a truer reflection of events and processes, it’s been the organising principle for “real-world” initiatives, such as journalist training in conflict zones, by way of media development aid; and its own small but growing branch in the scholarly study of journalism.

Hence I forsook my own television career for one in universities, becoming a “hackademic.” Amassing data through painstaking fieldwork should surely proof the outputs against such distortions – delivering the real, not the false or fake? Up to a point. Even specialist scholars can be deceived – and, more pertinently, their outputs often only reach others already in the know.

Then, academic research can be a frustrating field for writers. One funded project took me to several countries in search of audience responses to differently produced versions of television news. In the book that followed, I introduced each branch of the study – in the fascinating lands of Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines – with a mini-travelogue. To absolutely no impact whatsoever. A later journal article was praised by a reviewer for avoiding the “Sahara-like dryness” that besets the form, but such plaudits are few and far between. Generally, no-one seems to notice.

So to fiction, and my new novel, Mind Over Murder, just published by Next Chapter and co-authored with my partner (in life and work), Annabel McGoldrick. A more creative milieu? Of course, by definition. Old journalist’s mantra: “never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” If you can make up your own, the barriers melt away.

Perhaps that helps to explain the lengthy string of newshounds who’ve picked up the same trail. The famous orotundity of a Charles Dickens novel reflects the political reporting conventions of his day – honed on assignments for the Morning Chronicle. Later, the invention of the telegraph transformed journalism to the familiar short sentences and news-in-the-nose method of today (to ensure the gist of a story was conveyed before the signal failed, as it might any moment in those early days). Hence Michael Connelly’s signature quickfire style, honed on the Los Angeles Times. Back over this side of the Atlantic, there’s still more than a trace of the Daily Record in the brisk pacing and concise atmospherics of detective novels by Val McDermid.

What about the truth? Annabel, too, left journalism – in her case to practise as a psychotherapist. Like our protagonist, Janna Rose, she specialises in EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It’s a treatment for unprocessed trauma and a kind of detective work in its own right: figuring out what really causes and motivates clients’ responses and behaviours.

In Mind Over Murder, we juxtapose and interweave strands from vexing contemporary issues, from social media manipulation of political opinion to dysfunctional family dynamics, all playing out on the streets of Oxford. In journalism, they’d be different stories, for different sections of the paper. In academia, different disciplines with different publications.

Only in the novel format can they come together to reveal deeper, larger truths that, between them, equip us to make meanings in response to an apparently opaque and baffling sequence. Is that sequence real? No. Does it matter? That would be for readers, of course, to decide.

 

Mind Over Murder by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick (Next Chapter) Out Now

When journalist-turned-therapist Janna Rose is called to identify the body of her old flame Daniel, she has a feeling that something doesn't add up. Daniel's death came right after he led an eco-protest against a controversial development. As police drag their feet, Janna investigates the killing herself. Following a trail of cryptic clues from her last conversation with Daniel, she begins to uncover a conspiracy, which reaches all the way into her consulting room. Digging deeper, Janna realizes that she and her dear ones are in peril. With lives at stake, she must risk everything to outwit her ruthless adversary and expose the truth.

Mind Over Murder is available here.

More information abut the authors can be found on their website. They can also be found on Facebook and you can follow the on X @ProfJakeLynch.

CWA Dagger Awards Longlists Announced

The 2025 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, are 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.

The longlist for the prestigious Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, includes five debut novels including Bonnie Burke-Patel’s Died at Fallow Hall, the debut whodunnit from Kristen Perrin, How to Solve Your Own Murder, and the first book from bestselling author Harriet Evans, under her penname, Harriet F Townson: D is for Death.

The debuts are up against established authors in the genre, including RJ Ellory, Tana French, and Attica Locke.

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

The longlist for 2025 includes Chris Whitaker with All the Colours of the Dark. Whitaker has previously taken home the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger in 2017 and CWA Gold Dagger in 2021. 

He’s up against firm favourites including MW Craven with Nobody’s Hero, Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, and Abir Mukherjee’s Hunted. 

The much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger highlights the best debut novels.

Among the rising stars of 2025 is the debut set in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, Katy Massey’s All of Us Are Sinners, former prison officer Claire Wilson’s assured debut, Five by Five, and the moody neo-noir love letter to New York, An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy.

DV Bishop makes two longlists with A Divine Fury – the Gold and the Historical Dagger. The book is the fourth in the Cesare Aldo series featuring a sixteenth century detective in Florence.

The Historical Dagger is sponsored by Morgan Witzel in memory of Dr Marilyn Livingstone. The longlist also includes Clare Whitfield’s Poor Girls: Meet the Female Peaky Blinders, which exposes the criminal underbelly of 1920s London, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets set in 17th century Italy.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA Daggers’ committee, said: “Once again our independent and rotating judging panels have come up with surprises galore, highlighting the impressive efforts of both major authors and newcomers, with a convincing demonstration of how diverse and talented the crime, mystery and thriller field is at present. A wonderful embarrassment of outstanding titles.”

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski, features the smash-hit, Waterstones Book of the Month, Butter by Asako Yuziki, translated by Polly Barton.

From France comes Artifice, a thriller with a twist from Claire Berest translated by Sophie Lewis, and the queer debut gangland thriller The Night of Baba Yaga from Japan’s Akira Otani also makes the longlist.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes giants of the genre with John Grisham and Jim McCloskey’s Framed, which looks at ten wrongful convictions, Lynda La Plante’s memoir, Getting Away with Murder and Kate Summerscale’s retelling of the Christie murders, The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place.

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

This year sees multiple bestselling names from the genre up for the award including Ann Cleeves, Elly Griffiths, Janice Hallet, Clare Mackintosh, Ruth Ware and Vaseem Khan.

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 Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House), Hemlock Press (HarperCollins) and Sphere (Little Brown) against independent publishers, Bitter Lemon Press and Canelo. 

2025 sees the announcement of two new CWA Dagger Awards.

The Twisted Dagger celebrates psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail.

Longlist titles include NJ Cracknell’s The Perfect Couple, Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings and Catherine Steadman’s Look in the Mirror. Tracy Sierra’s Nightwatching also makes two longlists: the Twisted and the Gold Dagger.

The Whodunnit Dagger celebrates books that focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery. Books in this category include cosy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries.

Longlisted authors include Tess Gerritsen with The Spy Coast, Tom Spencer with The Mystery of the Crooked Man, and Lisa Hall with The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl.

The Dagger in the Library nominee longlist is 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 Richard Osman, Kate Atkinson, Robert Galbraith, and Barbara Nadel.

The Emerging Author Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists and is sponsored by Fiction Feedback.

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 2025 was awarded to Mick Herron.

The CWA Dagger shortlists will be announced later in the year on 29 May.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 3 July.

The Longlists in Full:

GOLD DAGGER 

D V Bishop: A Divine Fury (Macmillan)

Bonnie Burke-Patel: I Died at Fallow Hall (Bedford Square Publishers)

Ben Creed: Man of Bones (Mountain Leopard Press/Headline)

R J Ellory: The Bell Tower (Orion)

Tana French: The Hunter (Penguin Books Ltd)

Attica Locke: Guide Me Home (Profile Books Ltd)

Anna Mazzola: Book of Secrets (Orion)

Kristen Perrin: How to Solve Your Own Murder (Quercus)

Tracy Sierra: Nightwatching (Penguin Books Ltd)

Marie Tierney: Deadly Animals (Bonnier Books Ltd)

Harriet F Townson: D is for Death (Hodder & Stoughton)

Bridget Walsh: The Innocents (Pushkin Press)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Lou Berney: Dark Ride (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)

I S Berry: The Peacock and the Sparrow (No Exit Press)

Chris Brookmyre: The Cracked Mirror (Abacus/Little Brown, Hachette)

M W Craven: Nobody's Hero (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)

Blake Crouch: Run (Macmillan/Pan Macmillan)

Garry Disher: Sanctuary (Viper/Profile Books)

Dervla McTiernan: What Happened to Nina? (HarperCollins)

Liz Moore: The God of the Woods (The Borough Press/(HarperCollins)

Abir Mukherjee: Hunted (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)

Stuart Neville: Blood Like Mine (Simon & Schuster)

Chris Whitaker: All the Colours of Dark (Orion/Hachette)

Don Winslow: City in Ruins (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)

ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Jack Anderson: The Grief Doctor (Bloomsbury/Raven Books)

Eleanor Barker-White: My Name Was Eden (HarperCollins/ HarperNorth)

Jessica Bull: Miss Austen Investigates (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)

Justine Champine: Knife River (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)

Anders Lustgarten: Three Burials (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton)

Gay Marris: A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder (Bedford Square Publishers)       

Katy Massey: All Us Sinners (Little, Brown /Sphere)

Alice McIlroy: The Glass Woman (Watkins Media/ Datura Books)

Dwyer Murphy: An Honest Living (No Exit Press)

Marie Tierney: Deadly Animals (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)

Claire Wilson: Five by Five (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)

 

HISTORICAL DAGGER

Rory Clements: Munich Wolf (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)

Emily Critchley: The Undoing of Violet Claybourne (Bonnier Books UK, Manilla Press)

D.L. Douglas: Dr Spilsbury and the Cursed Bride (Orion Publishing)

Douglas Jackson: Blood Roses (Canelo)

Chris Lloyd: Banquet of Beggers (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)

Anna Mazzola: The Book of Secrets (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)

Lizzie Pook: Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge (Picador)

Sally Smith: A Case of Mice and Murder (Raven Books/Bloomsbury Publishing)

L.C. Tyler: The Three Deaths of Justice Godfrey (Constable/Little, Brown)

A.J. West, The Betrayal of Thomas True (Orenda Books)

Clare Whitfield: Poor Girls (Aries / Head of Zeus)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Claire Berest: Artifice (Mountain Leopard) tr. Sophie Lewis

Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini: The Lover of No Fixed Abode (Bitter Lemon Press) tr. Gregory Dowling

Anne Mette Hancock: Ruthless (Swift Press) tr. Tara Chase

Kotaro Isaka: Hotel Lucky Seven (Harvill Secker) tr. Brian Bergstrom

Andrey Kurkov: The Silver Bone (Maclehose Press) tr. Boris Dralyuk

Hervé Le Corre: Dogs and Wolves (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis

Pierre Lemaitre: Going to the Dogs (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne

Patrícia Melo: The Simple Art of Killing a Woman (The Indigo Press) tr. Sophie Lewis

Akira Otani: The Night of Baby Yaga (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett

Satu Rämö: The Clues in the Fjord (Zaffre) tr.  Kristian London 

Asako Yuziki: Butter (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton

Alia Trabucco Zerán: Clean (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Jared Cade: Secrets From the Agatha Christie Archive (Pen & Sword) 

Chris Chan with Patricia Meyer Chan, Ph.D.: The Autistic Sleuth (MX Publishing) 

Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz: Unmasking Lucy Letby (Seven Dials)  

Jeremy Craddock: The Lady in the Lake (Mirror Books)  

John Grisham & Jim McCloskey: Framed (Hodder & Stoughton) 

Duncan Harding: The Criminal Mind (PRH/Michael Joseph)  

Henry Hemming: Four Shots in the Night (Quercus)  

Joseph Hone: The Book Forger (Chatto & Windus)  

Emma Kenny: The Serial Killer Next Door (Sphere)  

Lynda LaPlante: Getting Away with Murder (Zaffre/Bonnier Books)  

Jane Rosenberg: Drawn Testimony (Manilla Press/Bonnier Books)  

Kate Summerscale: The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place (Bloomsbury Circus)  

SHORT STORY DAGGER

S.J Bennett: ‘The Glorious Twelfth’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (lame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

J.C Berthal: ‘A Date on Yarmouth Pier’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

Ann Cleeves: ‘Parkrun’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)

Elly Griffiths: ‘The Valley of the Queens’ in The Man in Black and Other Stories (Quercus)

Janice Hallett: ‘Why Harrogate?’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)

Vaseem Khan: ‘Murder in Masham’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)

Clare Mackintosh: ‘The Perfect Smile’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)

William Burton McCormick: ‘City Without Shadows’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

Meeti Shroff-Shah: ‘A Ruby Sun’ in Beyond and Within: Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)

Ruth Ware: ‘Murder at the Turkish Baths’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)

WHODUNNIT DAGGER

SJ Bennett, A Death in Diamonds Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre

Andreina Cordani, Murder at the Christmas Emporium Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre

Tess Gerritsen, The Spy Coast, Transworld, Penguin Random House, Bantam

Lisa Hall, The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl Hera Hera

Ellery Lloyd, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, Macmillan         

Laura Marshall,  A Good Place to Hide a Body, Hodder & Stoughton    

Nita Prose, The Mystery Guest, HarperCollins Publishers, HarperFiction

Meeti Shroff-Shah, A Matrimonial Murder, Joffe Books   

Sally Smith, A Case of Mice and Murder, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Raven Books

Tom Spencer, The Mystery of the Crooked Man, Pushkin Press, Pushkin Vertigo

Benjamin Stevenson, Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect, PRH, Michael Joseph

Jamie West, Murder at the Matinee, Brabinger Publishing

 TWISTED DAGGER

Sharon Bolton: The Neighbour's Secret (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)

NJ Cracknell: The Perfect Couple (Bloodhound Books)      

Clara Dillon: The Playdate (PRH/Penguin Sandycove)

Caz Frear: Five Bad Deeds (Simon & Schuster UK)

Kellye Garrett: Missing White Woman (Simon & Schuster UK)

Andrew Hughes: Emma, Disappeared (Hachette Books Ireland)

Amanda Jennings: Beautiful People (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)

John Marrs: The Stranger In Her House (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)

Hannah Richell: The Search Party (Simon & Schuster UK)

CS Robertson: The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe (Hodder & Stoughton)            

Tracy Sierra: Nightwatching (PRH/ Viking)

Catherine Steadman: Look In The Mirror (Quercus)   

     

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Richard Osman

Janice Hallett

Kate Atkinson

Barbara Nadel

CJ Tudor

Edward Marston

Julia Chapman

Lisa Jewell

Robert Galbraith

Tim Sullivan

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Allison & Busby

Bitter Lemon Press

Canelo

Faber & Faber

Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)

Hemlock Press (HarperCollins)

Orenda

Orion Books

Pan Macmillan