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 shortlist for the Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, includes the debut novel Black River from Nilanjana Roy. She is up against stalwarts of the genre, Mick Herron for The Secret Hours, and Dennis Lehane, with Small Mercies.
The bestselling children’s author Maz Evans also makes the list with her debut adult novel, Over My Dead Body. As does the Irish-American author Una Mannion, with her haunting second novel, Tell Me What I Am, and the Chinese-Indonesian author, Jesse Sutanto, with Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.
Past winners of the prestigious Gold Dagger, include Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill, and Ruth Rendell.
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.
The shortlist sees relative newcomer Jordan Harper, with his second thriller, Everybody Knows, up against TJ Newman, the former flight attendant who became a Hollywood sensation, with her latest thriller, Drowning, and Japanese author Kotaro Isaka for The Mantis; Kotaro is best-known for Bullet Train, which was adapted into a Brad Pitt movie.
They’re joined on the Fleming shortlist by SA Crosby, Eli Cranor, and Femi Kayode.
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; and the Victorian gothic, The Tumbling Girl from Bridget Walsh. The shortlist also includes Amy Chua’s The Golden Gate, Kate Foster with The Maiden, Dan McDorman’s West Heart Kill and Go Seek by Michelle Teahan.
The Historical Dagger shortlist sees Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry in contention with A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins.
They’re joined by Lucy Ashe with Clara & Olivia, Louise Hare’s Harlem After Midnight, Jake Lamar’s Viper’s Dream, and Scarlet Town by Lenora Nattrass.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction shortlist sees Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, up against 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.
Also in the Non-Fiction category are Matt Johnson and John Murray for No Ordinary Day, Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson for Devil’s Coin, Alex Mar’s Seventy Times Seven and How Many More Women? by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida.
The shortlist for the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger includes The Prey from the Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s, translated by Victoria Cribb, and Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, which was a sensation in France, likened to Patricia Highsmith and Gone Girl.
They’re joined by the Spanish journalist and author, Juan Gómez-Jurado, Sweden’s Âsa Larsson, French author Cloé Mehdi, and Korea’s Im Seong-sun.
Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA Daggers’ committee, said: “Once again, our independent judges across all the Dagger categories have come up trumps. Their selections feature well-established authors and new faces, a refreshingly diverse palette highlighting the talent of writers from all origins and publishers large and small, and a steadfast affirmation of how healthy the crime and mystery field is right now. We at the CWA couldn't be prouder.”
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 Mia Dalia, J Benedict Jones, Sanjida Kay, Ambrose Parry, and FD Quinn.
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 on the shortlist: Louise Candlish, MW Craven, Anthony Horowitz, Cara Hunter, 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 Headline (Hachette), Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House), Simon & Schuster, and Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin Press) against independent publishers Joffe Books and Canelo Crime.
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 were 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 July 4.
The Shortlists in Full:
GOLD DAGGER
Over My Dead Body by Maz Evans, Headline
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron, Baskerville (John Murray)
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, Abacus (Little Brown)
Tell me What I Am by Una Mannion, Faber & Faber
Black River by Nilanjana Roy, Pushkin (Vertigo)
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto HQ (Harper Collins)
IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
All the Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby , Headline (Hachette)
Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor Headline (Hachette)
Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper, Faber & Faber
The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka Harvill Secker (PRH)
Gaslight, by Femi Kayode Raven Books (Bloomsbury)
Drowning by T J Newman, Simon & Schuster
ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
In The Blink of An Eye by Jo Callaghan Simon & Schuster UK
The Golden Gate by Amy Chua, Corvus (Atlantic Books)
The Maiden by Kate Foster, Mantle (Pan Macmillan)
West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman, Raven Books
Go Seek by Michelle Teahan, Headline Publishing Group
The Tumbling Girl by Bridget Walsh, Gallic Books
HISTORICAL DAGGER
Clara & Olivia by Lucy Ashe, Magpie (Oneworld Publications)
Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare, HQ (HarperCollins)
A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins, Canelo
Viper's Dream by Jake Lamar, No Exit Press
Scarlet Town, by Leonora Nattrass Viper (Profile Books)
Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry, Canongate Books
CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER
Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado (translated by Nick Caistor,) Macmillan
The Sins Of Our Fathers by Âsa Larsson, (translated by Frank Perry), Maclehose Press
Nothing Is Lost by Cloé Mehdi (translated by Howard Curtis), Europa Editions UK
The Consultant by Im Seong-Sun, (translated by An Seong Jae) Raven Books
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
No Ordinary Day by Matt Johnson with John Murray, Ad Lib Publishers
Devil’s Coin by Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson Ad Lib Publishers Ltd
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
SHORT STORY DAGGER
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
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
Best Served Cold by FD Quinn from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, Rivertree
DEBUT DAGGER
Unnatural Predators by Caroline Arnoul
Makoto Murders by Richard Jerram
Not a Good Mother by Karabi Mitra
Long Way Home by Lynn McCall
The Last Days of Forever by Jeremy Tinker
The Blond by Megan Toogood
DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Louise Candlish
MW Craven
Cara Hunter
Anthony Horowitz
LJ Ross
PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER
Canelo
Headline (Hachette)
Joffe Books
Michael Joseph (PenguinRandomHouse)
Pushkin Press
Simon & Schuster
