The shortlist for the Crime
Writers’ Association’s prestigious
Dagger awards has 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.
This year’s shortlists showcase
the range and depth of the genre, from historical fiction, to thrillers and
classic whodunnits.
As well as championing
established authors of the genre, it also provides a platform for debut and
emerging talent.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the
CWA, said: "This year’s shortlist is a fantastic reflection of the
extraordinary breadth and diversity of crime fiction today, and a celebration
of authors from debuts to established names, whose creative talents ensure that
the genre continues to grow from strength to strength.”
The coveted KAA Gold Dagger,
sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime
novel of the year.
Shortlisted novels are S.A Cosby
with King of Ashes,
Abigail Dean’s The Death of Us, Holly Jackson
with Not Quite Dead Yet, Vaseem Khan’s The Girl in Cell A, Ariel
Lawhon with The Frozen and Lara Shepherd-Robinson’s The Art of a
Lie, a novel that also makes the Historical Dagger shortlist.
S.A. Cosby is the only author to
be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards. As well as Gold, the
American author of “Southern noir” is also in contention for the Short Story
Dagger and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the
year.
Also shortlisted for the Steel
Dagger is the standalone thriller by BookTok sensation Noelle W Ihli, Such
Quiet Girls inspired by the real-life 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping. She’s up
against the global bestselling author Karin Slaughter for We Are All
Guilty Here, Tariq Ashkanani’s The Midnight King, Robert Crais
with The Big Empty, Mark Ezra’s A Sting in her Tale and
Liam
McIlvanney’s The Good Father.
Joining Laura Shepherd-Robinson,
authors Nina Allan, Rob McInroy, Donna Moore, Alan Parks and Sally Smith make
the Historical Dagger shortlist.
The historical novels span 18th century
London to 1920s Glasgow, from stories inspired by gritty true crimes to a cosy
Christmas mystery.
The Twisted Dagger for
psychological suspense shortlist features Sarah Pinborough, the author behind
the New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix
show) Behind Her Eyes with a haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here
Now. She’s up against Kia Abdullah, Nicci Cloke, Fiona Cummins,
Carole Hailey and Sam Lloyd.
The Whodunnit Dagger for books
with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Alexandra
Benedict, Victoria Goldman, Anna Fitzgerald Healy, Robert Holtom, Mel Pennant
and CJ Wray in the running.
The global reach of the genre is
showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
International authors include two
German writers - Karsten Dusse with his bestselling dark comedy
series, Murder Mindfully and Leonie Swann with her mystery
novel, Big Bad Wool, the anticipated follow-up to her breakout
hit, Three Bags Full that follows a flock of sheep as they try to
solve a murder.
The shortlist also sees Norway’s
Jørn Lier Horst, the Croatian writer and journalist Jurica Pavicic, Finland’s
Antti Tuomainen, and Strange Pictures – a novel from the Japanese
YouTuber and writer, Uketsu.
Their translators are also
recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for
Non-Fiction includes The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera and
Shaun Walker’s The Illegals, profiling Russia’s most audacious spies,
reflecting the enduring fascination with espionage and true crime, alongside Shadow
of The Bridge by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee, John Curran’s The
Murder Game, Caroline Fraser’s Murderland, and
Susannah Stapleton
with That Dark Spring.
The Short Story Dagger features
S.A. Cosby, alongside the acclaimed Scottish author Denise Mina and the
bestselling Abir Mukherjee.
The Daggers are 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. On this year’s shortlist are Paula Hawkins, best known for
her huge hit, Girl on the Train alongside JD Kirk, Clare Mackintosh,
Freida McFadden, Abir Mukherjee and Tim Sullivan.
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 shortlisted against Bitter Lemon Press, No Exit Press and Viper.
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 winners are announced at the
CWA gala dinner awards night in July.
The shortlists in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
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 The Girl in Cell
A (Hodder Fiction).
Ariel Lawhon The
Frozen (River Swift Press)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson The
Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Tariq Ashkanani The Midnight
King (Profile Books/Viper)
S. A. Cosby King of
Ashes (Headline)
Robert Crais The Big
Empty (Simon & Schuster UK)
Mark Ezra A Sting in her
Tale (Bedford Square Publishers/ No Exit Press)
Noelle W 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
Áine Cain and Kevin
Greenlee Shadow of The Bridge: The Delphi Murders and The Dark Side of The
American Heartland (Pegasus Books/Pegasus Crime)
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)
Caroline
Fraser Murderland (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
Susannah Stapleton That Dark
Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)
Shaun Walker The Illegals
(Profile Books)
Historical Dagger
Nina Allan A Granite
Silence (Quercus/riverrun)
Rob McInroy Barvick
Falls (Tippermuir Books)
Donna Moore The Devil's
Draper (Fly on the Wall Press)
Alan Parks Gunner (John
Murray Press/Baskerville)
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
Karsten Dusse Murder
Mindfully (Faber) translated by Florian Duijsens
Jørn Lier Horst The
Lake (Penguin Random House) translated by Anne Bruce
Jurica Pavicic Red
Water (Bitter Lemon Press) translated by Matt Robinson
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)
Victoria Goldman Little
Secrets (Three Crowns Publishing UK/self-published)
Anna Fitzgerald
Healy Etiquette for Lovers & Killers (Little, Brown Book
Group/Fleet)
Robert Holtom A Queer
Case (Titan Books)
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)
Carole Hailey Scenes From A
Tragedy (Atlantic Books/Corvus)
Sam Lloyd The
Bodies (Transworld/Bantam)
Sarah Pinborough We Live
Here Now (Orion Fiction)
ILP John Creasey (First Novel)
Dagger
Sam Guthrie The
Peak (HarperCollins Publishers)
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)
Henry Wise Holy
City (Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press)
Short Story Dagger
SA Cosby ‘Split Your Silver
Tongue’ 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)
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)
Emerging Author
Rod Cookson, Ill Met By
Murder
Sophia Georghiou, The Man
Who Fit the Case
Kate Koester, Just a Simple
Wedding
Lorna Mathew, The Fixer
Rebecca McFarland, The Madam
of Morningside
Michael Nikitin, Blind Side
of the Sun
Melisssa Smith, The Pattern
of Absence
Dagger in the Library
Paula Hawkins
JD Kirk
Clare Mackintosh
Freida McFadden
Abir Mukherjee
Tim Sullivan
Best Crime & Mystery
Publisher
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
Viper (Profile Books)
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