Bloody Scotland Sneak Peek

 Bloody Scotland 2024 Programme Sneaky Peak

Authors released as part of the festival’s inaugural ‘sneaky peek’ include:

Richard Armitage – Headlining the opening night on Friday 13th September, one of the UK’s most popular actors will be at The Albert Halls in Stirling to talk about his debut thriller, Geneva. His string of acting credits include The Hobbit, North and South, Into the Storm and Spooks.

Ann Cleeves – The creator of three outstanding crime series, two much-loved television dramas in Vera and Shetland and 26 novels translated into over 20 languages will be in conversation with one of the co-founders of Bloody Scotland, Lin Anderson. Her event will be on the afternoon of Saturday 14th.

Peter May – Launching the much-anticipated fourth book in the Lewis series, one of Scotland’s favourite crime writers will be back on the Stirling stage for the first time since 2014 in conversation with one of the founding directors of the festival, local author, Craig Robertson. He will be at the Albert Halls on Saturday evening.

Louise Minchin –  The BBC Breakfast TV presenter will be in Stirling at noon on Sunday 15th September to talk about her debut novel, Isolation Island. The book draws heavily on her TV experience.

Ruth Ware – The international bestselling crime writer – hot from being the guest programmer at Harrogate - will be in conversation with Louise discussing her new blockbuster, One Perfect Couple, chaired by TV and radio presenter, Bryan Burnett.

Tickets for all of these events are now on sale! See here.

Forthcoming Crime Books from Quercus Books (Including Riverrun, MacLehose Press, Arcadia and Jo Fletcher Books)

 January 2023

Stay Buried is by Kate Webb. Detective Inspector Matt Lockyer has been side-lined to working cold cases, following a bad decision he made in a recent investigation in order to support a friend. Lockyer isn't too bothered though, as it gives him the chance to review some of the cases that keep him up at night and to look into his own brother's senseless killing which still remains unsolved. On a quiet afternoon Lockyer receives a phone call from prisoner Hedy Lambert - a woman he put inside for murder fourteen years ago. She informs him that the man she was originally accused of killing has turned up alive and well. She begs him to reopen her case. All those years ago, Lockyer had been the one to pin down Hedy's motive, but deep down he'd never wanted to believe she was guilty. The thought that he might have sent an innocent woman down for life doesn't sit well with him and he agrees to reopen the investigation. But has it become too personal and is he being manipulated? Perhaps there are some cases that should just stay buried.

A Winter Grave is by Peter May. It is the year 2051. Warnings of climate catastrophe have been ignored, and vast areas of the planet are under water, or uninhabitably hot. A quarter of the world's population has been displaced by hunger and flooding, and immigration wars are breaking out around the globe as refugees pour into neighbouring countries. By contrast, melting ice sheets have brought the Gulf Stream to a halt and northern latitudes, including Scotland, are being hit by snow and ice storms. It is against this backdrop that Addie, a young meteorologist checking a mountain top weather station, discovers the body of a man entombed in ice. The dead man is investigative reporter, George Younger, missing for three months after vanishing during what he claimed was a hill-walking holiday. But Younger was no hill walker, and his discovery on a mountain-top near the Highland village of Kinlochleven, is inexplicable. Cameron Brodie, a veteran Glasgow detective, volunteers to be flown north to investigate Younger's death, but he has more than a murder enquiry on his agenda. He has just been given a devastating medical prognosis by his doctor and knows the time has come to face his estranged daughter who has made her home in the remote Highland village. Arriving during an ice storm, Brodie and pathologist Dr. Sita Roy, find themselves the sole guests at the inappropriately named International Hotel, where Younger's body has been kept refrigerated in a cake cabinet. But evidence uncovered during his autopsy places the lives of both Brodie and Roy in extreme jeopardy. As another storm closes off communications and the possibility of escape, Brodie must face up not only to the ghosts of his past, but to a killer determined to bury forever the chilling secret that George Younger's investigations had threatened to expose.

White Riot is by Joe Thomas. 1978:The National Front is gaining ground in Hackney. To counter their influence, anti-fascist groups launch the Carnival Against Racism in Victoria Park. Observing the event is Detective Constable Patrick Noble, charged with investigating racist attacks in the area and running Spycops in both far-right and left wing groups. As Noble's superiors are drawn further into political meddling, he's inveigled into a plot against the embattled Labour government. 1983: Under a disciplinary cloud after a Spycops op ended in tragedy, Noble is offered a reprieve by an old mentor. He is dispatched in the early hours to Stoke Newington police station, where a young black man has died in suspicious circumstances. This is Thatcher's Britain now, a new world that Noble unwittingly helped to usher in, where racial tensions are weaponised by those in power.

February 2023

Ruth and Nelson are working on a murder case in which Cathbad emerges as the prime suspect. Can they uncover the truth in time to save their friend? When builders renovating a cafe in King's Lynn find a human skeleton behind a wall, they call for DCI Harry Nelson and Dr Ruth Galloway, Head of Archaeology at the nearby University of North Norfolk. Ruth is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with Nelson. However, she agrees to look at the case. Ruth sees at once that the bones are modern. They are identified as the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in the 1990s. Emily attended a course run by her Cambridge tutor. Suspicion falls on him and also on another course member - Ruth's friend Cathbad, who is still frail following his near death from Covid. As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the student group and the adults leading them. What was the link between the group and the King's Lynn cafe where Emily's bones were found? Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. Was it guilt that led him to flee? The trail leads Ruth and Nelson to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves which are as spooky as their name. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend? The Last Remains is by Elly Griffiths. 

If I Should Die is by Anna Smith. PI Billie Carlson is in Cleveland, Ohio following a lead on the whereabouts of her son, Lucas. But when the trail goes cold, she is forced to return to Glasgow and a life of waiting and praying that one day she might see him again. Back in the office and ready to throw herself into work, she picks up a call from Lars, an old friend from her teenage years in Sweden. He tells her some devastating news. His younger sister, Astrid, was found dead in the Highlands, frozen to death with traces of drugs and alcohol in her system. The police are convinced that Astrid killed herself, but Lars knows his sister would never do such a thing. He begs Billie to investigate and to accompany Astrid's body back to Sweden. Billie quickly agrees and soon finds herself involved in a web of institutional corruption linked to the dark recesses of the criminal underworld. Can Billie find out what happened to Astrid, or will she be silenced by those desperate to keep her from finding out the truth?

A shocking disapperance. A four-year-old girl goes missing in plain sight outside her nursery in Oxford, a middle-class, affluent area, her mother only a stones-throw away.A triggering response. Ryan Wilkins, one of the youngest ever Detective Inspectors in the Thames Valley force, dishonourably discharged three months ago, watches his former partner DI Ray Wilkins deliver a press conference, confirming a lead. A dark webb. Ray begins to delve deeper, unearthing an underground network of criminal forces in the local area. But while Ray's investigation stalls Ryan brings his unique talents to unofficial and quite illegal inquiries which will bring him into a confrontation with the very officials who have thrown him out of the force. The Broken Afternoon is by Simon Mason. 

March 2023

The Wrong Mother is by Charlotte Duckworth. One mother on the run. A safe place to hide. But you can't escape the past forever . . . Faye is 39 and single. She's terrified she may never have the one thing she always wanted: a child of her own. Then she discovers a co-parenting app: Acorns. For men and women who want to have a baby, but don't want to do it alone. When she meets Louis through it, it feels as though the fates have aligned. But just one year later, Faye is on the run from Louis, with baby Jake in tow. In desperate need of a new place to live, she contacts Rachel, who's renting out a room in her remote Norfolk cottage. It's all Faye can afford - and surely she'll be safe from Louis there? But is Rachel the benevolent landlady she pretends to be? Or does she have a secret of her own?

A group of armed mercenaries lay siege to a remote village in Northumberland. Soldiers patrol the streets, telling everyone to stay inside, and the roads are blocked off to prevent anyone coming in or out. Their target: Alex Winter and his 15-year-old daughter, Ruby. When her father is captured, Ruby tries to run, but quickly realises she has another problem - the only people who can save her are the villagers she's shunned for her whole life including the neighbourhood busybody, a disreputable poacher, the village drunk and the local school's troublemaker. Desperate to find her father and to work out who took him and why, she seeks their help. But what if learning the truth means discovering the life she once knew was a lie. You Can Run is by Trevor Wood.

The Sins of Our Fathers is by Åsa Larsson. Forensic pathologist Lars Pohjanen has only a few weeks to live when he asks Rebecka Martinsson to investigate a murder that has long since passed the statute of limitations. A body found in a freezer at the home of the deceased alcoholic, Henry Pekkari, has been identified as a man who disappeared without a trace in 1962: the father of Swedish Olympic boxing champion Boerje Stroem. Rebecka wants nothing to do with a fifty-year-old case - she has enough to worry about. But how can she ignore a dying man's wish? When the post-mortem confirms that Pekkari, too, was murdered, Rebecka has a red-hot investigation on her hands. But what does it have to do with the body kept in his freezer for decades? Meanwhile, the city of Kiruna is being torn down and moved a few kilometres east, to make way for the mine that has been devouring the city from below. With the city in flux, the tentacles of organized crime are slowly taking over . . .

April 2023

A Good Night to Kill is by Amen Alonge. Born and raised in London, Pretty Boy has spent the last ten years in exile after being forced out of his hometown. He's learned patience, and how to disappear. Now Pretty Boy is ready to get his revenge on those who need to pay for his lost years. Meanwhile, back in the city, things have moved on. People still talk about Pretty Boy, of course. He's a legend, more myth than man, and rumours run wild about his deadly legacy. But most think they've seen the last of him. He's finished. Someone who never gave up on Pretty Boy is Alan Pierce. The former policeman turned corrupt businessman has always lived by his own rules: stay focused, stay one step ahead of the enemy, stay alive. Alan and Pretty Boy have history - Pretty Boy owes him everything - so when Alan finds himself fighting a drug-fuelled war on all fronts, there's only one man he wants to turn to. But where is Pretty Boy?

May 2023

Don't Look Back is by Jo Spain. Your dream island. The love of your life. A secret that changes everything . . . For one week, everything in Luke Miller's life is perfect. Surprised with a belated honeymoon by his wife, Rose, he's had seven days with her in a Caribbean paradise. It's more than he ever thought he'd deserve. But as they pack their bags, Rose breaks down, confessing that on the day they left London, a violent man from her past tracked her down and broke into their home. He wasn't expecting her to fight back. And, in her terror, Rose killed him. Now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment, and only one person he can think to turn to. Mickey Sheils never expected to hear from Luke again, not after he disappeared the first time. Luke knows Mickey can't deny a woman who needs help, so she promises she'll deal with things - she'll make sure Rose doesn't have to keep running. But it turns out, some lies are too big to run from.

Rachel's boyfriend Frank is different from other people. His strangeness is part of what she loves about him: his innocence, his intelligence, his passionate immersion in the music of JS Bach. As a coder, Frank sees patterns in everything, but as his theories slide further towards the irrational, Rachel becomes increasingly concerned for his wellbeing. There are people Frank knows online, people who share his view of the world and who insist he has a unique role to play. In spite of Rachel's fears for his safety, Frank is determined to meet them face to face. When Frank disappears, Rachel is forced to seek help in the form of Robin, a private detective who left the police force for reasons she will not reveal. Like Frank, Robin is obsessed with the music of Bach. Like Frank, she has unexplained connections with the criminal underworld of southeast London. An obscure science fiction story from the 1950s appears to offer clues to Frank's secret agenda, but not to where he is. As Robin and Rachel draw closer in their search for the truth, they are forced to ask themselves if Frank's obsession with an alien war, against all logic, might have a basis in fact. Conquest is by Nina Allan.

June 2023

The Man in Black and other Stories is by Elly Griffiths. This bumper collection of short stories by the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries, the Detective Harbinder Kaur trilogy and the Brighton Mysteries features characters that readers have come to know and love. Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres and to explore what some of her much-loved creations such as Dr Ruth Galloway might have done outside of the novels. This collection gathers them all together in one splendid volume. Here are bite-sized tales to please and entertain every thriller taste as well as all Elly Griffiths' fans. There are ghost stories and mini cosy mysteries; tales of psychological suspense and poignant vignettes of love and loss. There's a creepy horror story to make you shiver and a tale narrated by Flint, Ruth Galloway's cat, to make you smile. These stories illustrate the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths' talent. Even the darkest of them is leavened with light touches of humour. This collection shows an author writing at the top of her game.

Chateau Under Seige is by Martin Walker. The event of the Perigord tourist season is to be the re-enactment of the liberation of the historic town of Sarlat from the English in 1370. But it all goes wrong when the man playing the part of the French general is almost killed in the heat of the action. The immediate question for chief of police Bruno Courreges is was this an accident - or deliberate? The stakes rise when Bruno learns that the man, Kerquelin, was running Frenchelon, the secret French electronic intelligence base nearby, after being recruited from a brilliant Silicon Valley career. His old Silicon Valley colleagues have been invited to stay at the luxurious local chateau of Rouffillac as his guests to enjoy the Sarlat show. As he investigates, Bruno discovers that Kerquelin's wound was faked, that he is alive and well and secretly negotiating a massive deal to build a semi-conductor industry in France. But then a whole new and dangerous player emerges, determined to nip the deal in the bud.

Former investment banker Johan Golding - Joe to his friends – is the newest member of the Hartley and Edwards Investigations team. And he's thrilled to be shadowing Kitt Hartley, librarian-turned-top sleuth, and her right-hand woman Grace Edwards; even if it means adjusting to the low-level madness that seems to reign in the Hartley and Edwards offices. But Joe finds himself thrown in at the deep end when a man known as Ralph Holmes goes missing on the outskirts of Carlisle. Police are refusing to investigate, as his disappearance seems voluntary, but his niece, Carly Lewis, is determined to find out what really happened. As Kitt, Grace and Joe begin to investigate, they deduce there might be more to this disappearance than meets the eye. Drawn into a web of international conspiracies and possible murder, they need to find out who Ralph Holmes really was - and who he was working for. In their most dangerous case yet, the team are in a race against the clock to uncover the truth, before anyone else gets hurt . . . A Body in the Borderlands is by Helen Cox.

The End of Us is by Olivia Kiernan. It all started to go wrong the day the Wrights moved in next door. Myles and Lana Butler live on a gorgeous new development in Wimbledon, leaning on a mortgage that is just within reach. When one of Myles' investments fails they are bound to lose everything. Gabriel and Holly Wright have just moved in next door. The Wrights are sophisticated, ambitious and apparently very wealthy. At an after-dinner drink with their new neighbours, Myles and Lana share their worries and a solution is suggested between the couples. Life Insurance fraud. For a cut of the pay out, the Wrights would help them. No one thought they were being serious. No one agreed they'd actually go through with it. And no one mentioned it would involve murder. Then, one night, Lana doesn't come home.

Berlin: A man is beaten up, the attacker escapes undetected. As a trail leads to Freiburg, Chief Inspector Louise Boni is sent to investigate. It's a complex case: the attacker appears to be a professional, the victim a secret service informer, the only witness knows more than she's saying, and the domestic intelligence service is hovering in the background but refusing to cooperate. Industrial espionage appears to be at play, focused on the burgeoning solar energy sector. Boni's investigation keeps being obstructed, so yet again she has to rip up the police handbook in her attempt to find out how the different threads of the web are linked. But by the time she discovers the truth, it's already too late for one of those involved . . . In Inspector Louise Boni's fifth case, Oliver Bottini weaves a web of tension that traps all those who come too close. The Invisble Web is by Oliver Bottini.

The Missing Mummies is by Lisa Tuttle. Miss Lane is puzzled by Jasper Jesperson's interest in what seems a very minor theft -possibly even a prank - from the storerooms at the British Museum. But London in the 1890s is rife with secret organisations, cults and individuals eager to acquire some of the legendary magic of ancient Egypt. The deeper the two detectives dig, the more hidden crimes they uncover, and the higher the death toll mounts. And at the centre of it all is the 'Mystery Mummy' recently acquired by the museum.

In The St Hilda's Spotlight - Peter May

 

Name:- Peter May

Job:- Author and former television dramatist

Twitter:- @authorpetermay

Website:- http://www.petermay.co.uk

Introduction:-

Peter May is a scottish author and a naturalised French citizen. He is the author of a number of different series and standalone novels. 

The Blackhouse the first in the Lewis Trilogy was first published in France under the title L'Ile des Chasseurs d'Oiseaux. It won the Prix des Lecteurs at Le Havre's Ancres Noires Festival in 2010 and won the Barry Award for Crime Novel of the Year and the Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE (Readers' prize for best novel by a European author, published in France) in 2011. It was also chosen as one of the Richard and Judy books for the autumn 2011 list. The second book The Lewis Man won the French daily newspaper Le Télégramme's 10,000-euro Grand Prix des Lecteurs, the Prix des Lecteurs at Le Havre's Ancres Noires Festival, 2012 and the won the 2012 Prix International at the Cognac Festival. The Chessman, the third book in the trilogy was published in 2013 and was shortlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Book of the Year 2014.

In 2014, Entry Island (a standalone novel) won both the Deanston's Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the UK's ITV Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read of the Year Award. It also won the French Trophée 813 for the Best Foreign Crime Novel of the year 2015. In 2021 he was awarded the CWA Dagger in the Library which recognises the popularity of an author's body of work with readers and users of libraries.

The Enzo Files are set in France featuring a half scottish, half Italian former forensic scientist, now working as a biology professor. His has written six books in his China thriller series and he is the only westerner to be honoured by the Beijing Chapter of the Chinese Crime Writers Association where he is an honorary member.

His most recent book is The Night Gate which is an Enzo File book. Peter May is currently writing A Winter Grave that is due out in January 2023.

Current book? (This can either be the current book that you are reading or writing)

I am in the production process with my latest book, which will be released next January. I have just gone through the copy-edit and should receive proofs within the next two weeks. “A Winter Grave” is a thriller set in 2051 (the year of my 100th birthday) in a world transformed by climate change. It is largely set in the West Highlands of my native Scotland and I feel that it might be one of my very best.

Favourite book?

“The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B” by J.P. Donleavy. I first read this book when I was eighteen, and it profoundly influenced my writing style.

Which two characters would you invite to dinner and why? 

Inspector Jules Maigret to discuss the insights into the human condition that made him such a intelligent and compassionate investigator; Charles Latimer, Eric Ambler’s mystery writer in “The Mask if Dimitrious”. I’d love to ask him why he didn’t regard the extraordinary adventures he had just been through as inspirational material for his next book – rather than sitting down at the end of it to write yet another “golden age” murder mystery set in a country mansion.

How do you relax?

Writing and recording music. Music has been one of the great loves of my life, playing in bands from my early teens and into my twenties. Now that I have more time, and a little money, I have been able to install a home recording studio to indulge my passion fully. I will be bringing out an album of original songs later this year.

Which book do you wish you had written and why?

Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast”, because I would love to have lived that life, met those people, experienced those things.

What would you say to your younger self if you were just starting out as a writer.

Stick at it. No matter how many knockbacks you receive, just keep writing and believe in yourself, even when others don’t.

How would you describe your series characters? 

I have only once set out to write a series – the Enzo Files. My China Thrillers only became a series at the prompting of my publisher. Likewise the Lewis Trilogy. I loved the characters in both those series because through them I was able to explore emotions and experiences, and create the kind of long term relationships I had learned to craft as a writer of TV soap. But Enzo was a character with whom I wholly identified. My age, my cultural background. Scottish, now living in France, and toiling to repair the fractured relationship with his daughter from a previous marriage. We have grown old together, drunk great wine and eaten wonderful food together, entered semi-retirement together, and might one day sit down to discuss a future collaboration.

With Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets being the theme at St Hilda's this year, Where is your favourite town and where is your favourite country? Why have you chosen these?

My favourite town is Toulouse – La Ville Rose. A wonderful old mediaeval town built of red brick, with a thriving student culture that makes it such a living, vibrant place, even for an oldie like me. My favourite country is the part of rural south-west France where I live. Rolling hills, majestic rivers, forested valleys, ancient stone villages, and a way of life that is laid back and life-affirming.

What are you looking forward to at St Hilda's?

My regret is that I won’t be there in person. Because of this damned pandemic, I’m not ready to travel yet. I love Oxford, and have done several book events there, and I am sad at missing the opportunity to visit a place of such historical importance in the pioneering of women’s rights in education. Happily, due to the wonders of the internet, I will be able to join the audience for a live interactive after my pre-recorded speech, and I’m looking forward to that very much.

The Night Gate by Peter May (Quercus Publishing) Out Now.

In a sleepy French village, the body of a man shot through the head is disinterred by the roots of a fallen tree. A week later a famous art critic is viciously murdered in a nearby house. The deaths occurred more than seventy years apart. Asked by a colleague to inspect the site of the former, forensics expert Enzo Macleod quickly finds himself embroiled in the investigation of the latter. Two extraordinary narratives are set in train - one historical, unfolding in the treacherous wartime years of Occupied France; the other contemporary, set in the autumn of 2020 as France re-enters Covid lockdown. And Enzo's investigations reveal an unexpected link between the murders - the Mona Lisa. Tasked by the exiled General Charles de Gaulle to keep the world's most famous painting out of Nazi hands after the fall of France in 1940, 28-year-old Georgette Pignal finds herself swept along by the tide of history. Following in the wake of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa as it is moved from château to château by the Louvre, she finds herself just one step ahead of two German art experts sent to steal it for rival patrons - Hitler and Göring. What none of them know is that the Louvre itself has taken exceptional measures to keep the painting safe, unwittingly setting in train a fatal sequence of events extending over seven decades. Events that have led to both killings. The Night Gate spans three generations, taking us from war-torn London, the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, Berlin and Vichy France, to the deadly enemy facing the world in 2020.

A Winter Grave (Quercus Publishing) Out January 2023

2051. The warnings of climate emergency have been ignored and vast areas of the planet are under water, famine and population displacement are now the norm. Cameron Brodie, a Glasgow detective who has been diagnosed with cancer has been given six months to live when he is ordered to investigate a suspicious finding of a body entombed in ice on a mountain near the village of Kinlochleven. After a hazardous journey to the isolated and ice-bound village he meets the pathologist assigned to the perform the autopsy, Sita, an immigrant originally from India. Sita's autopsy establishes that the body, that of a missing journalist George Younger was murdered. She has collected evidence that once put through the DNA database could identify the killer. But after a restless nights sleep Brodie wakes to a crime scene and must race against time to identify the faceless killer.

St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Weekend - Town and Country: Green Lanes to Mean Streets

St Hilda's Crime and Mystery Weekend is taking place from 12 – 14 August 2022.  

We have an homage to Mo Hayder by Nadine Matheson, an expose of rural noir by S.A. Cosby, an evening with Mick Herron (on Slow Horses) and Elly Griffiths (on Cold Comfort Farm).

Peter May is talking about his early influences. 

Ann Cleeves is looking at the Human Geography of Crime.

Philip Gooden has penned our Murder Mystery with roles performed by crime writers, and special prizes to be won.

Plus intriguing and entertaining talks by Imran Mahmood, Abir Mukherjee, Beth Lewis, Greg Buchanan, Leye Adenle, Anna Bailey, Anthony J Quinn, Trevor Wood and William Shaw. 

It is going to be spectacular!

You can book to attend in person, either the whole weekend or just Friday night with Mick and Elly (and a three-course dinner). 

Accommodation is available, and meals can be booked at the college (where the food is delicious and vegan options are available).

The full programme is here.

More details and links to ticket sales can be found here.

CWA Dagger Awards Announced

 

Chris Whitaker, Michael Robotham, Vaseem Khan and Peter May win 2021 CWA Daggers.

The winners of the 2021 CWA Daggers, which honour the very best in the crime writing genre, have been announced.

The prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the crime novel of the year, goes to Chris Whitaker for We Begin at the End. Past winners of the Gold Dagger include John le Carré, Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell.

Praised as ‘truly memorable’ by the CWA judges, We Begin at The End has been a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and sold in 17 territories, with screen rights snapped up by Disney. Chris Whitaker was first recognised by the CWA as a debut author, when he received the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2017 for Tall Oaks.

Chris has said writing ‘saved his life’ twice. He began writing as a therapeutic response to being mugged, and stabbed, aged 19, then later falling into serious debt in his job as a city trader. Quitting his finance job in London aged 30, he moved to Spain to write his debut novel.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: ‘This year’s Gold Dagger shortlist featured remarkable books, but We Begin at the End is an astoundingly beautiful and moving achievement in storytelling. Chris’s talent shone through when we awarded him the John Creasey Dagger in 2017. It’s inspiring to see him now take Gold, and I’m delighted that the CWA judges recognised this now acclaimed author from the very start.’

S A Cosby for Blacktop Wasteland and Nicci French with House of Correction were also Highly Commended in the Gold Dagger category.

Michael Robotham, who won the Gold Dagger in 2015 and 2020, wins this year’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller, for When She Was Good.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, the Fleming family-owned company that looks after the James Bond literary brand. CWA judges praised the novel as ‘an urgent, poignant and terrifying thriller’.

Born in Australia, Michael worked as a journalist in Australia, America and the UK – as senior feature writer for the Mail on Sunday– before becoming a ghost writer collaborating with politicians and show business personalities to write their autobiographies. Since his first psychological thriller, The Suspect, caused a bidding war at the London Book Fair in 2002, his novels have won numerous awards and been translated into 25 languages.

The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels. This year the accolade goes to Eva Björg Ægisdóttir for The Creak on the Stairs. The Icelandic author wrote her debut while working as a flight attendant and juggling being a mother, writing the first draft in just nine months. It was a bestseller in Iceland before being picked up in the UK by Orenda Books.

Vaseem Khan wins the Sapere Books Historical Dagger for Midnight at Malabar House, set in 1949/1950 Bombay. Born in London, Vaseem spent a decade in India as a management consultant. Since 2006 he has worked at University College London’s Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger goes to South Korean author Yun Ko-eun for The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler, praised by the CWA judges as a ‘wildly entertaining eco-thriller’.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is awarded to forensic pathologist, Sue Black, for Written in Bone praised by the CWA judges as a ‘humane, wise book’.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. Clare Mackintosh wins the award with her short story ‘Monsters’ in First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books. The judges praised it for its powerful twist.

The Dagger in the Library is voted on exclusively by librarians, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year it goes to Peter May. The Scottish author has become well recognized for his work both as a novelist and in film and television. His books have sold several million copies worldwide and have won awards in the UK, the USA, and France.

Chair of the judges, Sue Wilkinson, said: ‘Peter May infuses his books with a real sense of place, whether it be China, France or the Hebrides. His books are tense, atmospheric and complex but always utterly absorbing.’

One of the anticipated highlights of the annual Daggers is the Debut Dagger competition, open to unknown and uncontracted writers. The competition for unpublished writers can lead to securing representation and a publishing contract. This year the winner is Hannah Redding for Deception.

The judges said: ‘Deception has all the ingredients of a compelling mystery, complete with unreliable narrators, a cut-off location and a nicely compact time frame.’

Fiona McPhillips was also Highly Commended for Underwater. Praised as being ‘full of intrigue… The issues of class, sexuality and power explored were very well done.’                                    

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, goes to the independent publisher, Head of Zeus. Established in 2012, Head of Zeus went from start-up to a multi-million-pound business and positioned itself at the forefront of the eBook revolution.

Maxim said: “These awards testify to the wealth of great books and diversity within the crime genre. The Daggers are assuredly the best and most accurate reflection of what's happening on the crime and mystery writing front, with all judges independent of the CWA and renewed on a regular basis.”

The winners were announced at a virtual ceremony on I July, Daggers Live! dubbed the ‘Oscars of the crime genre’.

The evening was hosted by leading crime expert, Barry Forshaw with guest speaker, Abir Mukherjee, who won last year’s CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger for his novel Death in the East.

Martina Cole also featured at the awards event as the recipient of the 2021 Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, the highest honour in British crime writing.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey; the awards started in 1955 with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark. They are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing.

Dagger Winners 2021

CWA GOLD DAGGER

Winner: Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier)

Highly Commended

S A Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland, (Headline Publishing Group)

Nicci French: House of Correction (Simon & Schuster)

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Michael Robotham: When She Was Good (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir: The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda), Translator: Victoria Cribb

CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGG

Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton)

CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Sue Black: Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin)

CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Yun Ko-eun: The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler (Serpent's Tail)

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

Clare Mackintosh: ‘Monsters’ in First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books (The Dome Press)

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Peter May

CWA PUBLISHERS DAGGER

Head of Zeus

CWA DEBUT DAGGER

(Competition for an unpublished novel)

Winner:Hannah Redding – Deception

Highly commended:Fiona McPhillips – Underwater

CWA Dagger Awards Shortlists Announced

A debut novel is up against one of Britain’s biggest and most celebrated authors for the crime novel of the year.

The 2021 shortlists for the prestigious CWA Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime writing genre, have been announced.

The world-famous Crime Writers’ Association (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 CWA Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the crime novel of the year, include John le Carré, Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell.

This year’s shortlist sees City of Ghosts by Ben Creed, praised as a ‘brilliantly orchestrated and totally engrossing’ debut thriller by the CWA judges, up against Robert Galbraith’s Troubled Blood, hailed as a ‘magnificent multi-layered epic’.

Galbraith, the pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, is also in contention for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is supported by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, the Fleming family-owned company that looks after the James Bond literary brand. The award celebrates the best thriller.

Heating up the shortlist is Chris Whitaker, who took home the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2017 with his debut, Tall Oaks. His latest novel, We Begin at The End is not only up for the Ian Fleming Steel but also the Gold Dagger. Praised as ‘truly memorable’ by the CWA judges, We Begin at The End has been a Waterstones Thriller of the Month and sold in 17 territories, with screen rights snapped up by Disney.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: “The Dagger shortlists again highlight the wealth of great books and diversity within the crime genre. With terrific new titles from authors both familiar and new, including some books impressively nominated in more than a single category, the presence on the Publisher Dagger shortlist of long-standing traditional publishing houses and smaller independents and even, on the Dagger in the Library (voted on by librarians throughout the country), a first, with a self-published writer rubbing shoulders with established veterans. The Daggers are assuredly the best and most prestigious reflection of what's happening on the crime and mystery writing front.”

Set against the bleakness, terror and depravity of Stalin’s 1950s Leningrad, City of Ghosts by Ben Creed returns for the much-anticipated CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, awarded to the best debut novel. Ben Creed is the pseudonym for an author duo who met on a writing course, Barney Thompson a classically trained musician and fluent Russian speaker, and Chris Rickaby, formerly an advertising copywriter.

Booker prize winner John Banville is the heavyweight contender on the Sapere Books Historical Dagger shortlist. The prizewinning novelist and literary polymath, considered Ireland’s greatest living novelist, is in the running for Snow, his first murder mystery published under his real name rather than his nom de plume, Benjamin Black. The shortlist also includes Vaseem Khan who swapped his contemporary light-hearted Baby Ganesh Agency series with a historical crime novel Midnight at Malabar House, set in 1950s Bombay.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction sees the forensic pathologist Sue Black’s reflections, Written in Bone on the shortlist, praised by the CWA judges as a ‘humane, wise book’. She’s up against Andrew Harding’s These Are Not Gentle People, a beautifully written investigation into dark and murderous events in a rural South African community, dubbed by Alexander McCall Smith as a masterpiece.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger shortlist features the Swedish writer Mikael Niemi with his sumptuous blend of historical fact with fictional intrigue, To Cook a Bear, translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner. From one of Israel’s most beloved writers is Three by D A Mishani, translated by Jessica Cohen, and from South Korea is Yun Ko-eun’s original and inventive thriller The Disaster Tourist translated by Lizzie Buehler.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. The shortlist features the Sunday Timesbestseller, Clare Mackintosh, and the founding member of the North East Noir crime writers’ group, Robert Scragg.

The Dagger in the Library is voted on exclusively by librarians, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year sees C L Taylor, Peter May, Lisa Jewell, James Oswald, Denise Mina and L J Ross on the shortlist.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing. Among the shortlist, the esteemed Faber & Faber vies against the independent publisher, No Exit Press.

The winners will be announced at Daggers Live!, the online CWA Dagger awards ceremony on 1 July at 7.30pm. Barry Forshaw will be Master of Ceremonies and Abir Mukherjee is the guest speaker.

The 2021 Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, the highest honour in British crime writing, has already been announced, awarded to Martina Cole. She will also feature in the Daggers Live! event.

Dagger Shortlists 2021

CWA GOLD DAGGER

S A Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland (Headline, Headline Publishing Group)

Ben Creed: City of Ghosts (Welbeck Fiction, Welbeck Publishing Group)

Nicci French: House of Correction (Simon & Schuster)

Robert Galbraith: Troubled Blood (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

Elly Griffiths: The Postscript Murders (Quercus)

Thomas Mullen: Midnight Atlanta (Little, Brown, Little, Brown Book Group)

Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier)

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Robert Galbraith: Troubled Blood (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

Michael Robotham: When She Was Good (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

Catherine Ryan Howard: The Nothing Man (Atlantic Books)

Stuart Turton: The Devil and the Dark Water (Raven Books, Bloomsbury Publishing)

Ruth Ware: One by One (Vintage, Harvill Secker)

Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier Books UK)

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir: The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda), Translator: Victoria Cribb

Ben Creed: City of Ghosts (Welbeck Publishing)

Egan Hughes: The One That Got Away (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

S W Kane: The Bone Jar (Thomas & Mercer, Amazon Publishing)

Stephen Spotswood: Fortune Favours the Dead (Wildfire, Headline)

John Vercher: Three-Fifths (Pushkin Press)

CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER

John Banville: Snow (Faber)

Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton)

Chris Lloyd: The Unwanted Dead (Orion Fiction, The Orion Publishing Group)

Michael Russell: The City Under Siege (Constable, Little, Brown Book Group)

David Stafford: Skelton’s Guide to Domestic Poisons (Allison & Busby)

Ovidia Yu: The Mimosa Tree Mystery (Constable, Little, Brown Book Group)

CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Sue Black: Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin)

Becky Cooper: We Keep the Dead Close (William Heinemann, Penguin)

Andrew Harding: These Are Not Gentle People (MacLehose Press, Quercus)

Debora Harding: Dancing with the Octopus (Profile Books Limited)

Nick Hayes: The Book of Trespass (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)

Ben MacIntyre: Agent Sonya (Viking, Penguin)

CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Fredrik Backman: Anxious People, translated by Neil Smith (Michael Joseph, Penguin)

Roxanne Bouchard: The Coral Bride, translated by David Warriner (Orenda Books)

Yun Ko-eun: The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler (Serpent's Tail)

D A Mishani: Three, translated by Jessica Cohen (Riverrun, Hachette Book Group)

Mikael Niemi: To Cook a Bear, translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner (MacLehose Press, Quercus)

Agnes Ravatn: The Seven Doors, translated by Rosie Hedger (Orenda Books)

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

Robert Scragg: ‘A Dog Is for Life, Not Just for Christmas’ in Afraid of the Christmas Lights, edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds Group)

Elle Croft: ‘Deathbed’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)

Dominic Nolan: ‘Daddy Dearest’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)

Victoria Selman: ‘Hunted’ in Afraid of the Christmas Lights, edited by Miranda Jewess (Criminal Minds Group)

Clare Mackintosh: ‘Monsters’ in First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books (The Dome Press)

James Delargy: ‘Planting Nan’ in Afraid of the Light, edited by Robert Scragg & Various (Criminal Minds Group)

CWA PUBLISHERS DAGGER

Faber & Faber

Head of Zeus

Michael Joseph

No Exit Press

Raven 

Viper

CWA DEBUT DAGGER

(Competition for an unpublished novel)

Ashley Harrison – The Looking Glass Spy

Fiona McPhillips – Underwater

Biba Pearce – Rough Justice

Hannah Redding – Deception

Edward Regenye – Lightfoot

Jennifer Wilson O’Raghallaigh – Mandatory Reporting

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

C L Taylor

Peter May

Lisa Jewell

James Oswald

Denise Mina

LJ Ross

Congratulations to all the nominated authors.