The 2025 shortlist 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 prestigious KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime novel of the year
The shortlist includes the debut novel from Bonnie Burke-Patel’s Died at Fallow Hall, up against established authors in the genre, including RJ Ellory with The Bell Tower, Tana French’s The Hunter, and Attica Locke’s Guide Me Home.
It also features two historical crime books with D.V. Bishop’s A Divine Fury, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets.
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.
The shortlist sees Lou Berne’s masterful thriller, Dark Ride, up against previous winner of the Steel Dagger, MW Craven, with Nobody’s Hero. Also making the list are Garry Disher with Sanctuary, Abir Mukherjee’s Hunted, Stuart Neville with Blood Like Mine and the iconic American author, Don Winslow with City in Ruins.
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. Jessica Bull’s Miss Austen Investigates, Justine Champine’s Knife River, Anders Lustgarten’s Three Burials are also contenders alongside Gay Marris with A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder and Marie Tierney with Deadly Animals.
The Historical Dagger, sponsored by Morgan Witzel in memory of Dr Marilyn Livingstone.
Two novels feature on both the Gold and the Historical Dagger shortlist. DV Bishop’s A Divine Fury is the fourth in the Cesare Aldo series featuring a sixteenth century detective in Florence, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets set in 17th century Italy.
The shortlist also includes Chris Lloyd: Banquet of Beggars, Clare Whitfield with Poor Girls, and A.J. West, The Betrayal of Thomas True which is set in a London underworld in the year 1710.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted for these prestigious awards. It’s not only a joy but it’s inspiring to see such a rich variety of stories and voices being celebrated. The 2025 CWA Daggers shortlist is a true reflection of the growing strength of crime writing today. The contributed work of every shortlisted writer is shaping the future of the genre, and their work reminds us why we fell in love with these stories in the first place.”
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski, features the smash-hit, Waterstones Book of the Month, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton. The queer debut gangland thriller The Night of Baba Yaga from Japan’s Akira Otani also makes the shortlist shortly after winning the 2025 CrimeFest Debut Crime Novel of the Year, sponsored by Specsavers.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes a giant of the genre with John Grisham and Jim McCloskey’s Framed, which looks at ten wrongful convictions, 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 Janice Hallett, and Ruth Ware, up against lesser established names such as the academic and expert on Agatha Christie, J.C Bernthal, with the short story, A Date on Yarmouth Pier.
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press against Faber, Orenda, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.
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.
Shortlisted titles include Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings, Catherine Steadman’s Look in the Mirror, and Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra.
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. Amongst the six shortlisted authors are Lisa Hall with The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl and Laura Marshall with A Good Place to Hide a Body.
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’s sees established names including the bestselling phenomenon Richard Osman, the acclaimed Kate Atkinson, JK Rowling’s crime alter-ego Robert Galbraith, the award-winning mystery author Janice Hallett, bestseller Lisa Jewell and author of sixty historical crime novels, Edward Marston.
The Emerging Author Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists and is sponsored by Fiction Feedback, also welcomes six new upcoming authors.
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 winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 3 July.
The Shortlist in Full:
KAA GOLD DAGGER
A Divine Fury by D V Bishop (Macmillan)The Bell Tower by R J Ellory (Orion)
The Hunter by Tana French (Penguin Books Ltd)
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke (Profile Books Ltd)
Book of Secrets byAnna Mazzola (Orion)
I Died at Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke-Patel (Bedford Square Publishers)
IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Dark Ride by Lou Berney (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)Nobody's Hero by M W Craven (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)
Sanctuary by Garry Disher (Viper/Profile Books)
Hunted by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)
Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster)
City in Ruins by Don Winslow (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)
ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGERMiss Austen Investigates by Jessica Bull (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)
Knife River by Justine Champine (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)
Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton)
A Curtain Twitcher's Book of Murder by Gay Marris (Bedford Square Publishers)
All Us Sinners by Katy Massey (Little, Brown /Sphere)
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)
HISTORICAL DAGGERA Divine Fury by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
The Book of Secrets by Anna Mazzola (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
The Betrayal of Thomas True by A.J. West (Orenda Books)
Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield (Aries / Head of Zeus)
CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGERDogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis
Going to the Dogs by Pierre Lemaitre (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne
The Night of Baby Yaga by Akira Otani (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett
The Clues in the Fjord by Satu Rämö (Zaffre) tr. Kristian London
Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton
Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes
ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION Unmasking Lucy Letby by Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz (Seven Dials)
The Lady in the Lake by Jeremy Craddock (Mirror Books)
Framed by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Criminal Mind by Duncan Harding (PRH/Michael Joseph)
Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming (Quercus)
The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Circus)
SHORT STORY DAGGER
‘The Glorious Twelfth’ by S.J Bennett: in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)‘A Date on Yarmouth Pier’ by J.C Bernthal in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
'Why Harrogate?’ by Janice Hallett in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)
‘City Without Shadows’ by William Burton McCormick in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
‘A Ruby Sun’ by Meeti Shroff-Shah in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
‘Murder at the Turkish Baths’by Ruth Ware in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)
WHODUNNIT DAGGER A Death in Diamonds by SJ Bennett, (Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
Murder at the Christmas Emporium by Andreina Cordani,(Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre)
The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl by Lisa Hall, (Hera Hera)
A Good Place to Hide a Body by Laura Marshall, (Hodder & Stoughton )
A Matrimonial Murder by Meeti Shroff-Shah, (Joffe Books)
Murder at the Matinee, by Jamie West, (Brabinger Publishing)
TWISTED DAGGEREmma, Disappeared by Andrew Hughes (Hachette Books Ireland)
Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)
The Stranger In Her House by John Marrs (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)
The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson (Hodder & Stoughton)
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra: (PRH/ Viking)
Look In The Mirror by Catherine Steadman (Quercus)
DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Kate AtkinsonRobert Galbraith
Janice Hallett
Lisa Jewell
Edward Marston
Richard Osman
PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
Orenda Books
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGERBahadur Is My Name by Loftus Brown,
Funeral Games by Shannon Chamberlain
Soho Love, Soho Blood by Hywel Davies
Ashland by Joe Eurell
The Fifth by Shannon Falkson,
Murder Under Wraps by Catherine Lovering,
