As has become traditional the CWA Dagger longlists were announced at Crimefest in Bristol on Friday evening. One Dagger has already been confirmed and the shortlists for the remainder will be announced in July. The winners of all the CWA Daggers will be announced at the Dagger Awards Dinner to be held on 25 October, when Michael Connelly will be awarded the Diamond Dagger.
Each year I think ‘I’ll read a whole longlist shortlist’ but each year I seem to have read fewer and fewer of the books that find their way onto the lists. I am also always surprised about the proportion of books that I have never heard of – great coverage for these authors to get onto the long or short lists. This year I’m a little disappointed to find that I’ve not read a single book on the longlists. I do have ‘Bluebird, Bluebird’ to read as it came highly recommended on a lot of ‘best of 2017’ round ups and I also have Snare by Lilja Sigurdardóttir on my TBR . I’m particularly disappointed that I’ve only heard of two ‘new blood’ titles (The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton and Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic). Publishers tend to push debuts towards bloggers as a way to increase the marketing before an author becomes established, I’m not sure what conclusion to draw from the fact that the bulk of these have passed me by.
The Diamond Dagger – selected from nominations provided by CWA members – 2018 winner is Michael Connelly and the award will be presented at the CWA Dagger Awards Dinner in October.
The longlists for the following daggers were announced during Crimefest and the shortlists will be announced in July.
- Gold Dagger (best crime novel)
- Ian Fleming Steel (best thriller)
- John Creasey (New Blood)
- International
- Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
- Short Story
- Debut (unpublished writers)
- Historical
- Dagger in the Library
Gold Dagger
Head Case by Ross Armstrong
The Liar by Steve Cavanagh
London Rules by Mick Herron
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
Sunburn by Laura Lippman
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood
A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
The Spy’s Daughter by Adam Brookes
The Switch by Joseph Finder
London Rules by Mick Herron
If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
An Act of Silence by Colette McBeth
A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee
Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips
The Chalk Man by C J Tudor
The Force by Don Winslow
John Creasey (New Blood)
Gravesend by William Boyle
I.Q. by Joe Ide
Soho Dead by Greg Keen
Girl In Snow by Danya Kukafka
Lola by Melissa Scrivner Love
East Of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman
Ravenhill by John Steele
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
International Dagger
Zen and the Art of Murder by Oliver Bottini Tr. Jamie Bulloch
The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indriðason Tr. Victoria Cribb
Three Days and a Life by Pierre Lemaitre Tr. Frank Wynne
After the Fire by Henning Mankell Tr. Marlaine Delargy
The Frozen Woman by Jon Michelet Tr. Don Bartlett
Offering to the Storm by Dolores Redondo Tr. Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garzía
Three Minutes by Roslund & Hellström Tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel
Snare by Lilja Sigurdardóttir Tr. Quentin Bates
The Accordionist by Fred Vargas Tr. Sian Reynolds
Can You Hear Me? by Elena Varvello Tr. Alex Valente
Non-Fiction Dagger
Black Dahlia Red Rose by Piu Eatwell
The Story Of Classic Crime In 100 Books by Martin Edwards
Killers Of The Flower Moon by David Grann
Blood On The Page by Thomas Harding
The Fact Of A Body by Alexandria Mariano-Lesnevich
A False Report by T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong
Operation Chaos by Matthew Sweet
Rex v Edith Thompson by Laura Thompson
Getting Carter by Nick Triplow
Past Mortems by Carla Valentine
CWA Short Story Dagger
The Corpse on the Copse by Sharon Bolton
from “The Body” Killer Women Crime Club Anthology 2 Edited by Susan Opie ( Killer Women Ltd)
The Last Siege of Bothwell Castle by Chris Brookmyre
from Bloody Scotland ( Historic Environment Scotland)
Too Much Time by Lee Child
from No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Stories (Bantam Press)
Second Son by Lee Child
from No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Stories (Bantam Press)
Authentic Carbon Steel Forged by Elizabeth Haynes
from Deadlier: 100 of the Best Crime Stories Written by Women Edited by Sophie Hannah (Head of Zeus)
Smoking Kills by Erin Kelly
from “The Body” Killer Women Crime Club Anthology 2 Edited by Susan Opie (Killer Women Ltd)
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit by Denise Mina
from Bloody Scotland (Historic Environment Scotland)
Accounting for Murder by Christine Poulson
from Mystery Tour: CWA Anthology of Short Stories Edited by Martin Edwards (Orenda Books)
Faking a Murder by Kathy Reichs and Lee Child
from Match Up Edited by Lee Child (Sphere)
Trouble is a Lonesome Town by Cathi Unsworth
from Deadlier: 100 of the Best Crime Stories Written by Women Edited by Sophie Hannah (Head of Zeus)
Debut Dagger (unpublished writers)
Bill Crotty – The Eternal Life of Ezra Ben Simeon
Nicole Wells – The Infant of Prague
Chris Dixon – Sharps and Flats
Martin Ungless – Orange612
Peter Lewenstein – Grabbed
Luke Melia – The Last Googling of Beth Bailly
Joseph James – Riverine Blood
Coleen Steele – Death Be Drammed
Linda McLaughlin – Original Sins
Sherryl Clark – Trust Me, I’m Dead
Historical Dagger
A Necessary Evil by Abir Mukherjee
Death in the Stars by Frances Brody
Fire by L. C. Tyler
Lightning Men by Thomas Mullen
Merlin at War by Mark Ellis
Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy
Nine Lessons by Nicola Upson
Nucleus by Rory Clements
Prussian Blue by Philip Kerr
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellows
Dagger in the Library longlist
Simon Beckett
Martina Cole
Martin Edwards
Nicci French
Sophie Hannah
Simon Kernick
Edward Marston
Peter May
Rebecca Tope
So how’s your reading going – will you have read enough to judge a category for yourself?
Novel Heights 
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