The winner of the CWA’s Dagger in the Library award has been announced at an event at Waterstones Piccadilly.

Unlike most other literary prizes, the Dagger in the Library honours an author’s body of work to date rather than a single title, and an author must have published three books to be eligible for the award. Previous winners include Belinda Bauer, Steve Mosby, Mo Hayder, Colin Cotterill, Stuart MacBride and Alexander McCall Smith.

This year, for the first time, readers compiled the longlist as crime lovers everywhere were invited to vote online for their three favourite authors. The most popular ten writers formed the longlist. This was then whittled down to five shortlisted authors by a panel of judges, including previous winner Steve Mosby, CWA Director Lucy Santos and a group of UK librarians.

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Dagger in the Library award 2014 is:

Sharon Bolton (Transworld)

Sharon Bolton has been dubbed by The Times as ‘the High Priestess of English Rural Gothic’. Bolton has written eight crime books and is the author of the Lacey Flint series.

Sarah Adams, Publishing Director at Transworld, commented: “We are thrilled to see Sharon’s novels receive this public recognition. The unique, addictive and consistent quality of her writing never ceases to amaze us, and she richly deserves to celebrate and be celebrated. Our thanks go to all of Sharon’s supporters and to the judges.”

Alison Joseph, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association said,

‘The Dagger in the Library celebrates what we crime writers do best: great story-telling. It is judged by readers, for readers. It is also a reminder of the central importance of libraries to the world of books and to the lives of readers and writers. Our thanks are due to all the judges, and to our sponsors, Dead Good, and our congratulations to Sharon too for this well-deserved win.’