Mick Herron Awarded CWA Diamond Dagger

 

Slow Horses author receives highest accolade in crime writing

Mick Herron is the 2025 recipient of the
Crime Writers’ Association (CWA)
 Diamond Dagger - the highest accolade in the genre.

The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

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.

 Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Herron studied English Literature at Oxford, where he continues to live. He began writing fiction while working as a sub editor in London.

His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, was published in 2003.
This was the start of Herron’s Zoë Boehm series.

 In 2008, inspired by world events, he began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010. Some years later, it was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as one of “the twenty greatest spy novels of all time.”

A #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, the Slough House thrillers were adapted into an Apple TV series, starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, and have been published in twenty-five languages.

Herron has a long association with the CWA, becoming a member in 2004. Two of his books in the Slough House series have received a Dagger: Dead Lions won the CWA Gold Dagger in 2013, and Spook Street the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2017.

Herron’s Zoë Boehm series is to be adapted into a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Herron is also the author of the highly acclaimed standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours.

Mick Herron said: “I’ve spent the best part of my life – not the majority of it; just the best part – in the crime writers’ community, and to receive this accolade from these friends and colleagues is both a career highlight and a personal joy. I’m touched and thrilled beyond measure, and will try to live up to the honour.”

 Vaseem Khan, Chair of the CWA, said: “I am delighted that the Diamond Dagger judges have picked Mick as their recipient this year. Few could be more deserving. Mick is the quintessential writers' writer and his Slough House novels have, by general consensus, reinvented the spy thriller, going on to delight millions on the page and onscreen. The Diamond Dagger is a fitting tribute to a writer whose work has become both cultural marker and record of our time.”

Nominations for the CWA Diamond Dagger are recommended by CWA members. Industry experts then narrow these down to a shortlist. The winner is then voted for by a panel of past Diamond Dagger winners.

Recent recipients of the Diamond Dagger include:
 Lynda La Plante, James Lee Burke, Peter James, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, Lindsey Davis, Andrew Taylor, Martina Cole, Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Robert Goddard, Martin Edwards, Catherine Aird and Simon Brett.

Past icons of the genre acknowledged with a Diamond Dagger include Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, and John le Carré.

The CWA Daggers are now regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing. As the oldest awards in the genre, they have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

The Diamond Dagger is presented at the annual CWA Dagger Awards, dubbed the ‘Oscars of the crime genre,’ which take place this year on Thursday, July 3.