Recent Events

Wednesday, 24 April 2024

CrimeFest 2024: Bad People: Serial Killers, Psychopaths and Scary Strangers.

Saturday, 11 May
13:40 - 14:30

The Panel are C.V. Chauhan, Sam Holland,
Joanna Wallace, Sarah Ward,

and the participating Moderator is Alex North 

C.V. Chauhan
is the creator of the crime thrillers set in Leicester, featuring DI Rohan Sharma. The first book in the series, The Dance of Death was published in August 2022 and the second, Shattered Dreams in March 2023. The third, Tripswitch will be published in early May 2024. Champak graduated from the University of York, taught history in London and Birmingham, and worked in state education at a senior level. He now writes full-time.

Sam Holland
is the award-winning author of the Major Crimes series, following detectives as they investigate murders committed by brutal serial killers in the south of England. The Puppet Master will be published in May. She also writes as Louisa Scarr, and a new series, about a police dog handler, will launch in July 2024 with Gallows Wood. Sam can be found on Instagram and Twitter at @samhollandbooks.

Joanna Wallace
studied Law at Birmingham University before working as a commercial litigation solicitor in London. She now runs a family business and lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, four children and two dogs. Her first novel, You’d Look Better as a Ghost, was published by Viper in 2023 and won the Crime Fiction Lover Debut Novel Award. Her second novel, The Dead Friend Project, will be published in July 2024. 

Sarah Ward is a crime novelist who writes gothic historical thrillers as Rhiannon Ward. The Birthday Girl, the first book in her new Welsh based series, was published in 2023 and described in the FT as 'channelling Christie-esque tropes' and was followed by The Sixth Lie. She has also written Doctor Who audio dramas. Sarah is Vice-Chair of the Crime Writers Association and Treasurer of Crime Cymru, the Welsh crime writing collective. 

Alex North’s
first novel, The Whisper Man, was a Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller. It has been published in over 30 languages and is currently being adapted for film. It was followed by The Shadow Friend, and his most recent thriller is The Half Burnt House. Alex is the pseudonym for a previously award-winning crime novelist, and he lives in Leeds with his wife and son.  

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Not in My Job Description: Crime-Solving Amateurs.

 Saturday, 11 May
11:20 - 12:10

The Panel are J.G. Goodhind, Ada Moncrieffe,
Kate Wells, Ovidia Yu,

and the participating Moderator is Dolores Gordon Smith 

J.G. Goodhind was born and raised in Bristol. Winner of the BBC New Writers Award she sold up, sailed away, qualified as a skipper and lived on a yacht for five years. The thirteenth book in the Honey Driver series is set in Bath. A bestseller in Germany, it reached the top 200 on amazon.com. May 2024 sees book fourteen, A Claim for Murder, being released by Joffe Books. J.G. Goodhind also writes as Lizzie Lane. 

www.lizzielane.com

Ada Moncrieff was born in London and has lived in Madrid and Paris. She studied English at Cambridge University, and has worked in theatre, publishing and as a teacher. She is the author of Murder Most FestiveMurder at the Theatre Royale and Murder at Maybridge Castle. She now lives and works in London. 


Kate Wells
 is the author of the Malvern Farm Mystery series, published by Boldwood books, which is inspired by her upbringing on the Worcestershire/Herefordshire border, and her time spent living and working on farms. When not writing, she is frequently found in a field talking to the sheep, or out on the Malvern Hills walking her border collie cross. She also writes books for children under the name Kate Poels.

 www.katewellscrime.co.uk

 Ovidia Yu is a Singapore based writer of Singapore based mysteries who’ll be travelling to the UK just for Crimefest. Her ‘tree’ books, The Angsana Tree Mystery, The Mimosa Tree MysteryThe Mushroom Tree MysteryThe Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery are history mysteries and her ‘Aunty’ books, Aunty Lee’s Delights and Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge etc are contemporary foodie mysteries.

www.ovidiayu.com

Dolores Gordon-Smith lives in Greater Manchester and is the author of the Jack Haldean series set in 1920’s England, Serpent’s EyeHow to write a Classic Murder Mystery and two WW1 spy stories. Married with five daughters, a growing number of grandchildren and various dogs and cats, Dolores has been a teacher, a factory worker and the front end of a cow in a pantomime.  

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: History's Untold Stories: The Joys of Historical Crime Fiction.

 Saturday, 11 May
11:20 - 12:10

The Panel are Martin Edwards, Kate Griffin,
Christina Koning, Abir Mukherjee,

and the participating Moderator is Donna Moore. 

Martin Edwards’
 novels include the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, most recently Sepulchre Street. His non-fiction includes a multi-award-winning history of crime fiction, The Life of Crime, the updated paperback edition of which has just been published. He has received three Daggers, including the Diamond Dagger, two Edgars, and four lifetime achievement awards. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and recently wrote an audio drama for Doctor Who

Martin Edwards - Martin Edwards Books  

Kate Griffin has worked for an antiques dealer, as a journalist and in PR. Until recently she was Head of Communications for Britain’s oldest conservation charity. Fyneshade is her love letter to Victorian Gothic. It’s a murderously twisted homage to the greats of the genre. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders, Kate’s first book, was shortlisted for the Crime Writing Association’s Debut Dagger. She is also the author of three subsequent Kitty Peck novels.

Christina Koning has worked as a journalist, reviewing fiction for The Times, and taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London. From 2013 to 2015, she was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge. She won the Encore Prize in 1999 and was long-listed for the Orange Prize in the same year. Murder at Bletchley Park is the eighth novel in the Blind Detective series.

Abir Mukherjee is the bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee novels set in colonial-era India. His books have been translated into fifteen languages and won various awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel and the Prix du Polar EuropĂ©en. His first standalone thriller, Hunted is out in May. He also co-hosts the Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast which takes a wry look at the world of books, writing, and the creative arts.

www.abirmukherjee.com 

Donna Moore, CrimeFest’s co-host, also works as a literacy tutor for marginalised women and has a PhD in creative writing. Her first novel, Go To Helena Handbasket won the Lefty Award for most humorous crime fiction novel and her second novel, Old Dogs, was shortlisted for both the Lefty and Last Laugh Awards. Her third novel, The Unpicking, spanning three generations of ‘hysterical women’ who experience systemic corruption and injustice, was published in October 2023. 

www.donnamooreauthor.com 

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Tick Tock: A Race Against Time

Saturday, 11 May
09:00 - 09:50

The Panel are Michelle Kidd, Simon McCleave,
Brian Price, Michael Stanley (Stan Trollip),

and the participating Moderator is Martin Edwards

Michelle Kidd is best known for the DI Jack MacIntosh and DI Nicki Hardcastle crime novels. After qualifying as a legal executive, she spent ten years practising civil and criminal litigation. However, the dream to write was never far away. In 2008 she began writing the first book in what would become the DI Jack MacIntosh series. Michelle currently works full-time for the NHS. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order. 

www.michellekiddauthor.com 


Simon McCleave is a multi-million selling crime novelist living in North Wales. His debut novel, The Snowdonia Killings reached No. 1 in the Amazon charts and the eighteen book series has sold over two million copies. It is currently in development for television. He also has a crime series set on Anglesey with Harper Collins (Avon) and is currently writing a thriller for Storm. Before writing novels, Simon was a screenwriter in film and television. 

Brian Price is the West Country-based author of the DC Mel Cotton series and of a guide for authors on the scientific aspects of crime such as poisons, knockouts and DNA. A chemist and biologist, he has worked for the NHS, the Environment Agency, as a consultant and was an OU tutor for twenty-six years. 

www.brianpriceauthor.co.uk  

Michael Stanley is the pen-name for writing partnership Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Their mystery series, featuring Detective Kubu, is set in Botswana, a fascinating country with magnificent conservation areas, varied peoples, and intriguing backstories. They have won a Barry Award and have been finalists for an Edgar, an ITW, and a CWA award. The latest book in the series is a prequel, titled A Deadly Covenant. They also wrote a thriller about rhino poaching, Dead of Night, set in South Africa, featuring investigative journalist Crystal Nguyen. Stanley also wrote a Crystal Nguyen thriller, Wolfman, set in Minnesota. 

www.michaelstanleybooks.com 

Martin Edwards’ novels include the Lake District Mysteries and the Rachel Savernake books, most recently Sepulchre Street. His non-fiction includes a multi-award-winning history of crime fiction, The Life of Crime, the updated paperback edition of which has just been published. He has received three Daggers, including the Diamond Dagger, two Edgars, and four lifetime achievement awards. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and recently wrote an audio drama for Doctor Who

Tuesday, 23 April 2024

CrimeFest 2024: Saturday 11 May: Partners in Crime: When Two Heads are Better Than One.

Saturday, 11 May
09:00 - 09:50

The Panel are Ruth Dudley Edwards, A. J. Hill,
C.L. Miller, Marrisse Whittaker,

and the participating Moderator is Cathy Ace

Ruth Dudley Edwards is an historian and journalist. The targets of her satirical crime novels include academia, the civil service, the House of Lords, the Church of England, literary prizes and political correctness. She won CrimeFest’s Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for Murdering Americans (2008) and Killing the Emperors (2013), as well as the CWA Non-Fiction Gold Dagger for Aftermath: The Omagh Bombings and The Families’ Pursuit Of Justice (2010).

 www.ruthdudleyedwards.com 

A.J. (Andy) Hill is a former Customs and Police Officer, now working in property. Dead Drift and Bloody Butcher start the series, with central characters of Jack Lunn and Gemma Bryce. The manuscript for book three is with his Literary Agents and he’s halfway through writing a standalone, at the same time as Jack & Gem book four. An avid reader and reviewer for Shotsmag, Andy has been a long-time attendee at CrimeFest. 

C.L. Miller is the author of the internationally bestselling novel – The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder which was published in Feb 2024 and translated in over sixteen languages. The second in the Antique Hunter’s series will be out in 2025. Cara started working life in publishing before moving into hospitality and events and now writes full time from her medieval cottage in Dedham Vale, Suffolk where she lives with her family.  

 www.clmillerauthor.com 

Marrisse Whittaker has been creating characters for all of her working life, first in the world of TV and films and now writing crime thrillers. In 2021, Marrisse was offered a three-book deal by Bloodhound Books, creating the DSI Billie Wilde crime thriller series. Her fifth book, Deepfake, in the spin-off Wilde & Darque series, will be published in July.

 www.marrissewhittaker.com  

Cathy Ace’s Cait Morgan Mysteries are Christie-esque whodunits featuring a globetrotting Welsh Canadian psychologist (optioned for TV by Free@LastTV). Her WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries feature a quartet of softly poached female PIs solving cases from a Welsh stately home. She’s won the Bony Blithe Award, IPPY and IBA Awards, and has been twice shortlisted for CWC Awards of Excellence, plus the CrimeFictionLover Best Indie. She’s a Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada. 

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May : Shades of Grey: Developing Plots and Characters

 Friday 10 May
17:10 - 18:00

The Panel are Alison Bruce, Paul Gitsham
Kate Griffin, Nell Pattison,
and the participating Moderator is Kate London.

Alison Bruce, acclaimed for her gripping crime novels, introduced Detective DC Gary Goodhew in Cambridge Blue (2008). With intricate plots and vivid characters, she has written seven Goodhew novels. Bruce’s commitment to realism, bolstered by her studies in crime and investigation, continues with her two standalone novels, I Did it for Us and The Moment Before Impact. The first in the Ronnie Blake series, Because She Looked Away, will be published in 2024.

www.alisonbruce.com 

Paul Gitsham is a former research biologist now writing alongside his day job as a science tutor. Along the way, Paul spent time working for a major high-street bank, ensuring that banned individuals, such as international terrorists and other n’er do wells, weren’t squirreling their ill-gotten gains into child trust funds. Paul writes the DCI Warren Jones series. The latest is Web of Liesout now.  

www.paulgitsham.com

Kate Griffin has worked for an antiques dealer, as a journalist and in PR. Until recently she was Head of Communications for Britain’s oldest conservation charity. Fyneshade is her love letter to Victorian Gothic. It’s a murderously twisted homage to the greats of the genre. Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders, Kate’s first book, was shortlisted for the Crime Writing Association’s Debut Dagger. She is also the author of three subsequent Kitty Peck novels.

 Nell Pattison’s first novel, The Silent House, was a USA Today bestseller, and the series has been optioned for TV by Hot Coals and Banijay. Nell’s first and subsequent novels, Silent Night, The Silent Suspect, Hide, Friends Don’t Lie, all feature d/Deaf characters. She is passionate about disability representation in fiction.

Kate London served in the Metropolitan Police Service first in uniform, then as a detective. She finished her service working in the Met’s homicide command. Her first book, Post Mortem, was published in 2015. In 2019 she was named runner-up in Harper Bazaar's 2019 short-story competition. Her books are being adapted and broadcast by ITV as The Tower with Gemma Whelan in the lead. Kate also executive produces the series.

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May: What A Thrill: Page Turners and Cliff Hangers.

 Friday 10 May
17:10 - 18:00

The Panel are Chris Curran, Antony Dunford
Charles Harris, Christine Poulson 

and the participating Moderator is Jeffrey Siger

Chris Curran writes psychological suspense under her own name and also as Abbie Frost (The Guesthouse). She lives on the south coast of England, moving recently from Hastings, a location for several of her novels, to the fascinating Romney Marsh area. Her latest novel, When the Lights Go Out, is set in the atmospheric Forest of Dean and was inspired by her early, and spectacularly unsuccessful, acting career.

 www.chriscurranauthor.com

Antony Dunford is from Bradford in West Yorkshire. He has been writing for as long as he can remember, and reading for longer than that. His debut novel, Hunted, an action-adventure eco-thriller set in Kenya was published by Hobeck Books in January 2021. His second novel, Born the Same, a prequel to Hunted set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was published in May 2023. He is currently working on his third novel, Endangered.

Charles Harris trained in acting with Peter Frye of the New York Actors Studio, before working his way up to direct award-winning cinema and TV. His debut political thriller novel The Breaking of Liam Glass was shortlisted for Wishing Shelf and Eyelands International Literary Awards. His second is the psychological thriller Room 15. He has also written books on screenwriting and police slang, is a director of the SoA and a black belt in Aikido. 

www.charles-harris.co.uk

Christine Poulson was a respectable academic with a PhD in History of Art. Then she turned to crime. Deep Water (2016) was the first in a series of medical thrillers featuring scientist Katie Flanagan. Cold Cold Heart (2017), is set in Antarctica, An Air That Kills (2019) in a high security lab. She has written numerous short stories and in 2018 was short-listed for both the Margery Allingham Prize and the CWA Short Story Dagger. 

www.christinepoulson.co.uk 

Jeffrey Siger fled his position as a name partner in his own NYC law firm to write Greece-based mystery thrillers on Mykonos. The New York Times picked him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record, and Reader’s Digest Select Editions described him as among its “new favorite authors.” He’s received Lefty and Barry “Best Novel” nominations for his CI Andreas Kaldis series, been Chair of Bouchercon, and served as an adjunct college professor teaching mystery writing.

www.jeffreysiger.com 

Monday, 22 April 2024

CrimeFest 2024: Friday 10 May: Domestic Noir: When Murder is Close to Home.

  Friday, 10 May
16:00 - 16:50

The Panel are Emma Curtis, Caroline England,
Laura Lipmann, Dan Malakin

and the participating Moderator is Louise Mangos

Emma Curtis lives in West London with her husband. Her children have left home. Emma's twelve years as a school secretary turned out to be the ideal foundation for a later career in writing domestic thrillers. Emma has published five titles with Transworld: One Little Mistake, When I Find You, The Night You Left, Keep Her Quiet and Invite Me In. Her latest thriller The Babysitter is published by Corvus. 

Caroline England (aka C.E. Rose) is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of six multi-layered, dark and edgy domestic noir novels, Beneath the SkinMy Husband’s LiesBetray HerTruth GamesThe Sinner and The Stranger Beside Me. As C.E. Rose she has written four gothic-tinged psychological thrillers, The House of Hidden SecretsThe House on the Water’s EdgeThe Shadows of Rutherford House and The Attic at Wilton Place. 

www.carolineenglandauthor.co.uk  

Laura Lippman
 was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about "accidental PI" Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor's Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association. Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. 

Dan Malakin's debut novel, The Regret, was a Kindle bestseller. His second novel, The Box, was published in 2022 and his new novel, The Wreckage of Us, will be out in June 2024. When not writing thrillers, he works as a data-security consultant, teaching corporations how to protect themselves from hackers. He lives in North London with his wife and daughter.  

Louise Mangos writes psychological suspense, historical mystery (as L.S. Mangos) and short fiction which has won prizes, placed on shortlists and has been narrated on BBC radio. Her novels are set mostly in Switzerland where she lives in the foothills of the Alps with her Kiwi husband and two sons, enjoying skate skiing and wild swimming when she’s not writing. She holds  

 

CrimeFest 2024: A Skeleton in the Cupboard: Keeping Secrets

  Friday, 10 May
10:10 - 11:00

The Panel are Mark Ellis, Felix Francis,
Simon McCleave, Kaaron Warren

and the participating Moderator is Caroline England

Mark Ellis is the author of the acclaimed DCI Frank Merlin series set in World War Two London. Six books have been published so far and a fifth will be out in May. His third book, Merlin At War, was nominated for the CWA Historical Dagger Award. He is a member of Crime Cymru and Treasurer of  Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival.
                               www.markellisauthor.com 

Felix Francis took over writing the ‘Dick Francis Novels’ from his father. He has recently finished Syndicate, which will be published in September 2024. It will be his eighteenth crime novel. Felix lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, Debbie, and two dogs. A keen cricket supporter, he is a member of MCC and the Lord’s Taverners, as well as of the Crime Writers Association, the International Thriller Writers, the Detection Club and The Garrick. 

www.felixfrancis.com  

Simon McCleave
 was born in South London. When leaving University, he worked in television and film development. He was a Script Editor at the BBC, a producer at Channel 4 before working as a Story Analyst in Los Angeles. He worked on films such as ‘The Full Monty’ and television series such as ‘Our Friends In The North’. He then became a script writer for television and film. He wrote on series such as Silent Witness, Murder In Suburbia, Teachers, Attachments, The Bill, Eastenders and many more.  

Kaaron Warren is an award-winning Australian writer based in Canberra, Australia. Kaaron was a Fellow at the Museum for Australian Democracy, where she researched prime ministers, artists and serial killers. Her novel The Underhistory, from Viper Books, came from this Fellowship. Her other novels are Slights, Mistification, Walking the Tree, The Grief Hole and Tide of Stone. She has seven short story collections. Her writing podcast Let the Cat In showcases ideas, objects, and inspirations.  

www.kaaronwarren.wordpress.com 

Caroline England (aka C.E. Rose) is the CWA Short Story Dagger shortlisted author of six multi-layered, dark and edgy domestic noir novels, Beneath the SkinMy Husband’s LiesBetray HerTruth Games The Sinner and The Stranger Beside Me. As C.E. Rose she has written four gothic-tinged psychological thrillers, The House of Hidden SecretsThe House on the Water’s EdgeThe Shadows of Rutherford House and The Attic at Wilton Place. 

www.carolineenglandauthor.co.uk  

Sunday, 21 April 2024

CWA Dagger Awards Longlists Announced


The 2024 longlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the
crime-writing genre, have been announced
[8pm, April 20 at the CWA annual conference, Brighton].

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.

Past winners of the prestigious Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, include Ian Rankin,
John le Carré, Reginald Hill
, and Ruth Rendell.

Authors in contention for the Gold Dagger this year include the debut novel Black River from Nilanjana Roy. She is up against stalwarts of the genre Mick Herron, Chris Hammer, and
Dennis Lehane.

Also in the category are historical crime writer Alis Hawkins, the journalist turned international bestseller, Julia Haeberlin, and the bestselling children’s author Maz Evans with her first adult debut novel, Over My Dead Body.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year.

The longlist for 2024 includes James Wolff, who was a British intelligence officer for over ten years before leaving to write espionage novels, with 
The Man in the Corduroy Suit.

He’s joined by giants of the genre Linwood Barclay, David Baldacci, and Karin Slaughter alongside relative newcomers such as Jordan Harper, whose second thriller, Everybody Knows, makes the longlist.

Also in contention are TJ Newman, the former flight attendant who became a Hollywood sensation with her latest thriller, Drowning, and Japanese author Isaka Kotaro for The Mantis; Kotaro is best-known for Bullet Train, which was adapted into a Brad Pitt movie.

Vaseem Khan, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: "As ever, the announcement of the CWA Daggers longlist is greeted with immense excitement in the crime and thriller writing world. Once again, our independent panels of expert judges have mulled, cogitated, debated, and, when all else has failed, challenged each other to duels, in their sterling efforts to pick longlists from the incredible array of books submitted to each Dagger. The Daggers are the gold standard of awards in the genre, and Dagger recognition has often served as a stepping stone for careers. More importantly, a Dagger longlisting means that genre readers can be assured of quality. Buy these books. You will not be disappointed."

The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels.

Among the rising stars of 2024 is Jo Callaghan with her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, The Blink of an Eye; the sensational fiery debut featuring a crime-solving queer punk nun, Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy, and the Victorian gothic, The Tumbling Girl from Bridget Walsh.

Booker Prize winner John Banville is a heavyweight contender on the Historical Dagger longlist. The prizewinning novelist and literary polymath is in the running for The Lock-Up. Banville is up against established names including Ambrose Parry, S.G. MacLean, Alis Hawkins, and James Lee Burke with Flags on the Bayou.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger includes international hits such as The Prey from the Icelandic author Yrsa SigurðardĂłttir, translated by Victoria Cribb; Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, which was a sensation in France, likened to Patricia Highsmith and Gone Girl. And the Spanish writer Javier Castillo behind the international phenomenon, The Snow Girl, which was adapted to screen by Netflix, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete ManThe Art Thief by Michael Finkel, the true story of the world’s most prolific art thief who accumulated a collection worth over $1.4 billion, and No Comment by Jess McDonald, who quit her job as a Met detective to tell all about her work on rape and domestic violence cases that left her with PTSD and a determination to speak out.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story.

This year sees the bestselling juggernaut Lee Child with his story Safe Enough. He’s up against Robert Scragg with Revenge is Best Served Hot, Sanjida Kay’The Divide, and Rachel Amphlett with Three Ways to Die.

The Dagger in the Library nominees are voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year sees firm favourites from the genre including 
MW Craven, Anthony Horowitz, Vaseem Khan, and LJ Ross.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits big publishing houses including Harper Fiction Headline and Simon & Schuster against independent publishers Joffe Books, Bitter Lemon Press and Canelo.

The Debut Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists.

The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. The winner will gain the attention of leading agents and top editors; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2024 it was jointly awarded to Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke.

The CWA Dagger shortlists will be announced on 10 May at the UK’s largest crime fiction convention, CrimeFest, hosted in Bristol.

The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the
CWA gala dinner on July 4.

The Longlists in Full:

GOLD DAGGER

Maz Evans Over My Dead Body, Headline

Chris Hammer Dead Man’s Creek, Wildfire Books

Alis Hawkins A Bitter Remedy, Canelo

Julia Haeberlin Night Will Find You, Penguin (Michael Joseph)

Mick Herron The Secret Hours, Baskerville (John Murray)

J G Kelly The White Lie, Hodder & Stoughton

Vaseem Khan Death of a Lesser God, Hodder & Stoughton

Dennis Lehane Small Mercies, Abacus (Little Brown)

Una Mannion Tell me What I Am, Faber & Faber

Kate Morton Homecoming, Mantle (Pan Macmillan)

Nilanjana Roy Black River, Pushkin (Vertigo)

Jesse Sutanto Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, HQ (Harper Collins)

 

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

David Baldacci Simply Lies, Macmillan (Pan Macmillan)

Linwood Barclay The Lie Maker, HQ (HC)

S A Cosby All the Sinners Bleed, Headline (Hachette)

Eli Cranor Ozark Dogs, Headline (Hachette)

C M Ewan The House Hunt, Macmillan (Pan Macmillan)

Jordan Harper Everybody Knows, Faber & Faber

Kotaro Isaka The Mantis, Harvill Secker (PRH)

Femi Kayode Gaslight, Raven Books (Bloomsbury)

D L Marshall 77 North, Canelo

T J Newman Drowning, Simon & Schuster

Karin Slaughter After that Night, HarperCollins

James Wolff The Man in the Corduroy Suit, Bitter Lemon Press

 

ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Kathryn Black A Most Unusual Demise, Bloodhound Books

Jo Callaghan In The Blink of An Eye, Simon & Schuster UK

Amy Chua The Golden Gate, Corvus (Atlantic Books)

Margot Douaihy Scorched Grace, Pushkin Vertigo

Helen Erichsen Murder By Natural Causes, Muswell Press

Kate Foster The Maiden, Mantle (Pan Macmillan)

Jessa Maxwell The Golden Spoon, Penguin

Dann McDorman West Heart Kill, Raven Books

Liza North Obsessed, Constable

Michelle Teahan Go Seek, Headline Publishing Group

Charlotte Vassell The Other Half, Faber & Faber

Bridget Walsh The Tumbling Girl, Gallic Books

 

HISTORICAL DAGGER

Lucy Ashe Clara & Olivia, Magpie (Oneworld Publications)

John Banville The Lock-Up, Faber & Faber

James Lee Burke Flags on the Bayou, Orion Fiction (Hachette)

Anita Davison Murder in the Bookshop, Boldwood Books

Louise Hare Harlem After Midnight, HQ (HarperCollins)

Alis Hawkins A Bitter Remedy, Canelo

Jake Lamar Viper's Dream, No Exit Press

S.G. MacLean The Winter List, Quercus Fiction (Quercus)

Tom Mead The Murder Wheel, Aries (Head of Zeus)

Leonora Nattrass Scarlet Town, Viper (Profile Books)

Ambrose Parry Voices of the Dead, Canongate Books

Isabelle Schuler Lady MacBethad, Raven Books (Bloomsbury)

 

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Javier Castillo The Snow Girl, translated by Isabelle Kaufeler, Penguin Books

Juan GĂłmez-Jurado Red Queen, translated by Nick Caistor, Macmillan

Arnaldur Indridason The Girl By The Bridge, translated by Philip Roughton, Vintage

Kotaro Isaka The Mantis, translated by Sam Malissa, Vintage

Ă‚sa Larsson The Sins Of Our Fathers, translated by Frank Perry, Maclehose Press

Jenny Lund Madsen Thirty Days Of Darkness, translated by Megan E.Turney, Orenda Books

CloĂ© Mehdi Nothing Is Lost, translated by Howard Curtis, Europa Editions UK

Schneider Hansjörg He Murder Of Anton Livius, translated by Astrid Freuler, Bitter Lemon Press

Im Seong-sun The Consultant, translated by An Seong Jae, Raven Books

Mikhail Shevelev Not Russian translated by Brian James Baer & Ellen Vayner, Europa Editions UK

Yrsa Sigurdardottir The Prey, translated by Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton

Maud Ventura My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, Hutchinson Heinemann

 

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Michael Finkel The Art Thief, Simon & Schuster

Beverly Gage G-Man, Simon & Schuster

Lara Love Hardin The Many Lives of Mama Love, Endeavour

Matt Johnson with John Murray No Ordinary Day, Ad Lib Publishers

Miles Johnson Chasing Shadows, The Bridge Street Press

Patrick Radden Keefe The Snakehead, Picador

Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson Devil’s Coin, Ad Lib Publishers Ltd

Jess McDonald No Comment, Raven Books

Alex Mar Seventy Times Seven, Bedford Square Publishers

Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida How Many More Women? Endeavour

Nicholas Shakespeare Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, Vintage

David Wilson Murder at Home, Sphere

 

SHORT STORY DAGGER

Rachel Amphlett Three Ways to Die from No W.W.M.  - Thrill Ride #3, edited by M. L. "Matt" Buchman, Buchman Bookworks, Inc

Lee Child Safe Enough from An Unnecessary Assassin, edited by Lorraine Stevens, Rivertree

Mia Dalia The Last Best Thing from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction, edited by Andrew Hook, Head Shot Press

Andrew Humphrey Slap Happy from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, Head Shot Press

Benedict J Jones The Also-Rans from Bang!:An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction edited by Andrew Hook, Head Shot Press

Sanjida Kay The Divide from The Book of Bristol edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks, Comma Press

Ambrose Parry The Spendthrift and the Swallow, Canongate Books

DG Penny Drive from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, Rivertree

FD Quinn Best Served Cold from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, Rivertree

Robert Scragg Revenge is Best Served Hot from An Unnecessary Assassin edited by Lorraine Stevens, Rivertree

 

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Louise Candlish

MW Craven

Lucy Foley

Cara Hunter

Anthony Horowitz

Vaseem Khan

Angela Marsons

Kate Rhodes

LJ Ross

Diane Saxon

 

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Bitter Lemon Press

Canelo

Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)

Harvill Secker (PenguinRandomHouse)

Headline (Hachette)

Joffe Books

Michael Joseph (PenguinRandomHouse)

Pushkin Press

Raven (Bloomsbury)

Simon & Schuster

 

DEBUT DAGGER Sponsored by ProWritingAid

Katherine Ahlert, Burnt Ranch

Caroline Arnoul, Unnatural Predators

Matt Coot, Vilomah

Judy Hock, Good Criminals

JR Holland, Vigilante Love Song

Alan Jackson, Bluebirds

Richard Jerram, Makoto Murders

Lynn McCall, Long Way Home

Karabi Mitra, Not a Good Mother

Jeremy Tinker, The Last Days of Forever

James Tobin, A Politician’s Guide to Murder

Megan Toogood, The Blond 

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