The winners of the prestigious 2026 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been 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 awards were announced on 2 July at the CWA gala dinner at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London.
The coveted KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Abigail Dean for The Death of Us, a haunting literary thriller that examines how a violent crime reverberates through a marriage over decades. Dean transitioned from a successful legal career—including working as a lawyer at Google—to become one of the UK's most acclaimed contemporary thriller writers.
S.A. Cosby, the only author to be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards, took home the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the year, with his book, King of Ashes.
Cosby is one of the most celebrated crime writers working today, regularly praised by Barack Obama in his Books of the Year selections, known for blending fast-paced noir thrillers with sharp explorations of race, class, masculinity, and life in the modern American South. He worked in construction, retail and security, writing on the side, before breaking through with the acclaimed novel, Blacktop Wasteland.
King of Ashes, is a Southern Gothic crime epic inspired in part by The Godfather. The novel combines family drama, organised crime, revenge, and long-buried secrets.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “It is a genuine pleasure to congratulate every winner of this year's Daggers. The range and quality on display are a reminder of just how much vitality there is in crime fiction and how it continues to push at its own boundaries, and this year's winners are leading that charge. Congratulations.”
Nina Allan received the Historical Dagger for A Granite Silence, an atmospheric mystery that uses the disappearance of a young girl in 1930s Aberdeen to explore memory, truth, and the stories communities tell themselves about tragedy. Nina made a name for herself in the Science Fiction genre, but her literary thrillers cross categories and have been highly praised by critics.
The Whodunnit Dagger for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Mel Pennant take home the award for A Murder for Miss Hortense.
A playwright, screenwriter, and novelist A Murder for Miss Hortense is Pennant’s breakthrough novel featuring the sharp-witted Jamaican-born retired nurse living in Birmingham who investigates a murder. The book was praised for combining a compelling mystery with a warm portrayal of the Windrush generation and Caribbean-British life.
The global reach of the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger. Finland’s Antti Tuomainen came top in a hotly contended category, with The Winter Job. Tuomainen is one of Finland's most internationally acclaimed crime writers, often described as the "King of Helsinki Noir" and dark comedy. His translator David Hackston, is also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to Susannah Stapleton for That Dark Spring.
Stapleton is a historian specialising in uncovering forgotten stories from the early twentieth century, particularly women’s stories. That Dark Spring is an absorbing true-crime mystery that reopens the unsolved 1929 death of an eccentric British artist in Provence, revealing a world of secrets, rivalries, and unanswered questions.
The Daggers are one of few high-profile genre awards that celebrate the short story. This year’s recipient of the Short Story Dagger goes to Ambrose Parry for The Apple Falls Not Far. Ambrose Parry is the joint pen name of Scottish crime novelist Chris Brookmyre and his wife, former consultant anaesthetist Marisa Haetzman.
The Dagger in the Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with readers over time. Tim Sullivan took the accolade in a stellar shortlist that included Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, Freida McFadden, and Abir Mukherjee.
An accomplished television writer-director, Tim Sullivan reinvented himself as a bestselling crime novelist through the hugely successful DS George Cross mysteries, combining classic detective fiction with a distinctive neurodivergent protagonist.
The CWA Daggers are also known for providing a platform for emerging talent, with the much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger and the Emerging Author Dagger competition, sponsored by Fiction Feedback; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted debut authors have signed publishing deals to date.
The Emerging Author Dagger went to Michael Nikitin for Blind Side of the Sun.
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success. The respected independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press beat heavyweights including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, No Exit Press and Simon & Schuster to the award.
Founded in London in 2003 by François and Frédéric von Hurter and Laurence Colchester, Bitter Lemon Press specialises in bringing award-winning crime, noir, mystery, and thriller novels from around the world into English, often through new translations.
The CWA Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2026 was awarded to Mark Billingham.
Mark Billingham said: “I could not be more thrilled or honoured. To be added to a list that features most of my literary heroes is fantastic.”
The winners in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby (Headline)
ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
That Dark Spring by Susannah Stapleton(Pan Macmillan/Picador)
Historical Dagger
A Granite Silence by Nina Allan (Quercus/riverrun)
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston
Whodunnit Dagger
A Murder for Miss Hortense by Mel Pennant (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
Twisted Dagger
We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough (Orion Fiction)
ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger
The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Short Story Dagger
‘The Apple Falls Not Far’ by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)
Emerging Author
Blind Side of the Sun by Michael Nikitin
Dagger in the Library
Tim Sullivan
Best Crime & Mystery Publisher
Bitter Lemon Press
Diamond Dagger
Mark Billingham
