Crime Writers’ Association Announces 2026 Dagger Awards Longlists

The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) reveal the longlists for the prestigious 2026 Dagger Awards, celebrating the very best in crime writing.

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.

This year’s longlists showcase the breadth of talent from internationally bestselling authors to emerging debuts.

Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Congratulations to every author who appears on this year’s Dagger Awards longlist. A longlist recognition is no small thing and speaks to the dedication, craft, and ambition that goes into every book. This year's longlist also reflects something that excites me deeply as Chair of the CWA; the extraordinary range and evolution of crime writing today. The genre continues to grow in breadth, in voice, and in ambition, and this longlist is a testament to that.”

The coveted KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime novel of the year. The longlist includes Abigail Dean, longlisted for The Death of Us, a powerful psychological novel also longlisted in the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and Twisted Dagger categories.

Also longlisted are British crime writers Vaseem Khan with Quantum of Menace, and Laura Shepherd-Robinson for The Art of a Lie, alongside international authors, James Lee Burke, and the late Martin Cruz Smith.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger honours the best thriller of the year. The longlist includes global bestseller Karin Slaughter, alongside Robert Crais and Julie Clark. The Historical Dagger features acclaimed writers such as Graeme Macrae Burnet and Ariel Lawhon on the 2026 longlist.

The Twisted Dagger for psychological suspense longlists bestselling authors Lisa Jewell, Alice Feeney, and Sarah Pinborough.

The Whodunnit Dagger for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees SJ Bennett, Clare Mackintosh and
Guy Morpuss in the running.

The global reach of the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger. International authors longlisted include
Antti Tuomainen and Kotaro Isaka. Their translators are also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA Daggers’ committee, said: "Once again the Daggers longlists come up with a tasty menu full of surprise inclusions and omissions, established authors and a diversity of newcomers, evidence yet again of the independence of thought of our various juries."

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes The CIA Book Club by Charlie English and The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera, reflecting the enduring fascination with espionage and true crime.

The Short Story Dagger features crime-writing heavyweights such as Denise Mina and Peter Swanson, and is one of the few high-profile awards celebrating short-form storytelling.

The Dagger in the Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with readers over time. This year’s longlist includes bestselling names such as the Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood, Paula Hawkins, Reverend Richard Coles,
and Abir Mukherjee.

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 Best Crime and Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success, with leading imprints including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster among those longlisted.

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.

The shortlists will be released on 28 May, and the winners announced at the CWA gala dinner awards night in July.

The longlists in full:

CWA KAA Gold Dagger

D.V. Bishop Carnival of Lies (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)

James Lee Burke Don't Forget Me, Little Bessie (Orion Fiction/Orion Fiction)

S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)

Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Holly Jackson Not Quite Dead Yet (Penguin Random House/Michael Joseph)

Vaseem Khan Quantum of Menace (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)

Ariel Lawhon The Frozen (River Swift Press)

Beth Lewis The Rush (Profile Books/Viper)

Simon Mason A Voice in The Night (Quercus/riverrun)

Liam McIlvanney The Good Father (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)

Martin Cruz Smith Hotel Ukraine (Simon & Schuster UK)

Laura Shepherd-Robinson The Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)

Sally Smith A Case of Life and Limb (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Tariq Ashkanani The Midnight King (Profile Books/Viper)

Julie Clark The Ghostwriter (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)

S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)

Robert Crais The Big Empty (Simon & Schuster UK)

Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

A A Dhand The Chemist (HarperCollins/HQ Fiction)

Robert Dugoni A Dead Draw (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)

Mark Ezra A Sting in her Tale (Bedford Square Publishers/ No Exit Press)

William Hussey Burying Jericho (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)

Noelle Ihli Such Quiet Girls (Pan Macmillan/ Pan)

Liam McIlvanney The Good Father (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)

Karin Slaughter We Are All Guilty Here (HarperCollins Publishers)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

Jake Adelstein The Devil Takes Bitcoin (Scribe)

Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee Shadow of The Bridge: The Delphi Murders and The Dark Side of The American Heartland (Pegasus Books/Pegasus Crime)

David Collins Saffie (Silvertail Books)

Gordon Corera The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (HarperCollins/ William Collins)

John Curran The Murder Game (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)

Charlie English The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War (HarperCollins/ William Collins)

Caroline Fraser Murderland (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)

Thomas Harding The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, And A True Story of Murder (Penguin/ Michael Joseph)

Paul Henderson and David Gardner, A Spy in the Family (Mirror Books)

Neil Root The Cleveland Street Scandal (The History Press)

Susannah Stapleton That Dark Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)

Shaun Walker The Illegals (Profile Books)

Historical Dagger

Nina Allan A Granite Silence (Quercus/riverrun)

Robin Blake Spoiler's Prey (Severn House)

Graeme Macrae Burnet Benecula (Birlinn Ltd/ Polygon)

Kate Foster The Mourning Necklace (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)

Ariel Lawhon The Frozen River (Swift Press)

Beth Lewis The Rush (Profile Books/Viper)

Rob McInroy Barvick Falls (Tippermuir Books)

Donna Moore The Devil's Draper (Fly on the Wall Press)

Alan Parks Gunner (John Murray Press/Baskerville)

SW Perry Cairo Gambit (Atlantic Books/Corvus)

Laura Shepherd-Robinson The Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mangle)

Sally Smith A Case of Life and Limb (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir Home Before Dark (Orenda Books) translated by Victoria Cribb

Karsten Dusse Murder Mindfully (Faber) translated by Florian Duijsens

Johana Gustawsson Scars of Silence (Orenda Books) translated by David Warriner

Jørn Lier Horst The Lake (Penguin Random House) translated by Anne Bruce

Kotaro Isaka Seesaw Monster (Penguin Random House) translated by Sam Malissa

Jurica Pavicic Red Water (Bitter Lemon Press) translated by Matt Robinson

Satu Rämö The Grave in the Ice (Bonnier Books UK) translated by Kristian London

Leonie Swann Big Bad Wool (Allison & Busby) translated by Amy Bojang

Antti Tuomainen The Winter Job (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston

Uketsu Strange Pictures (Pushkin Press) translated by Jim Rion

Whodunnit Dagger

Alexandra Benedict The Christmas Cracker Killer  (Simon & Schuster UK)

SJ Bennett The Queen Who Came in from the Cold (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)

Anna Fitzgerald Healy Etiquette for Lovers & Killers (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)

Victoria Goldman Little Secrets (Three Crowns Publishing UK/self-published)

Robert Holtom A Queer Case (Titan Books)

Richard Hooton The Margaret Code (Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere)

RL Killmore A Cinnamon Falls Mystery (Simon & Schuster UK)

Clare Mackintosh Other People's Houses (Little, Brown Book Group/Sphere)

Jo Middleton Not Another Bloody Christmas (HarperCollins/Avon)

Guy Morpuss A Trial in Three Acts (Profile Books/Viper)

Mel Pennant A Murder for Miss Hortense (John Murray Press/Baskerville)

CJ Wray Bad Influence (Orion Fiction)

Twisted Dagger

Kia Abdullah What Happens in the Dark (HarperCollins/HQ Ficiton)

Nicci Cloke Her Many Faces (Penguin Random House UK/Harvill)

Fiona Cummins Some of Us are Liars (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)

Fflur Dafydd The House of Water (Hodder & Stoughton/Hodder Fiction)

Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Alice Feeney Beautiful Ugly (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)

Carole Hailey Scenes From A Tragedy (Atlantic Books/Corvus)

Lisa Jewell Don't Let Him In (Penguin Random House/Century)

Sam Lloyd The Bodies (Transworld/Bantam)

Liam McIlvanney The Good Father (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)

Sarah Pinborough We Live Here Now (Orion Fiction)

Holly Seddon 59 Minutes (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)#

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger

Natalie Jayne Clark The Malt Whiskey Murders (Birlinn Ltd/Polygon)

Anna Fitzgerald Healy Etiquette for Lovers and Killers (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)

Sam Guthrie The Peak (HarperCollins Publishers)

Sue Hincenberg The Retirement Plan (Little, Brown Book Group/ Sphere)

Elspeth Latimer The Lost Detective (Story Machine)

Laura McCluskey The Wolf Tree (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)

Zoë Rankin The Vanishing Place (Profile Books/Viper)

Bailey Seybolt Coram House (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)

Jennifer Trevelyan A Beautiful Family (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)

Henry Wise Holy City (Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger

William Boyle ‘Arlene’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)

SA Cosby ‘Split Your Silver Tongue’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)

Ragnar Jónasson ‘Chest’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)

Denise Mina ‘The Karpman Drama Triangle’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)

Abir Mukherjee ‘Full Circle’ in Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club (Severn House)

Ambrose Perry ‘The Apple Falls Not Far’ (Canongate)

Zoë Sharp and John Lawton ‘Once Upon a Time in New Jersey’ in CrimeFest: Leaving the Scene Celebrating 16 Years (No Exit Press)

Peter Swanson ‘Strangers on a School Bus’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)

Michael Wood ‘Waiting’ in Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me (Telos Publishing)

Dagger in the Library

Ben Aaronovitch

Damien Boyd

Reverend Richard Coles

Rhys Dylan

Paula Hawkins

JD Kirk

Clare Mackintosh

Freida McFadden

Abir Mukherjee

Tim Sullivan

Robert Thorogood

Best Crime & Mystery Publisher

Allison & Busby

Baskerville (John Murray/Hachette)

Bitter Lemon Press

Constable (Little, Brown)

Faber & Faber

Harvill Vintage (Penguin Random House)

Muswell Press

No Exit Press (Bedford Square)

Pan Macmillan

Polygon (Birlinn)

Simon & Schuster

Viper (Profile Books)