CWA 2014 Dagger in the Library Award shortlist announced

Five authors have today been shortlisted for the CWA 2014 Dagger in the Library award, sponsored by Dead Good Books.

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

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.

The short list, in alphabetical order:

Sharon Bolton (Transworld)

Elly Griffiths (Quercus)

Mari Hannah (Pan)

James Oswald (Michael Joesph)

Mel Sherratt (Thomas & Mercer)

Chair of the Judging panel Mobeena Khan commented; “We were thrilled by the number of nominations received this year, resulting in an excellent long list. The judges have enjoyed reading through the long list and are particularly pleased with the strong and varied shortlist for this year. Many congratulations to all the nominees.”

The winner will be announced at the beginning of December.

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

Elly Griffiths’ novels feature protagonist Ruth Galloway, the Head of Forensic Archaeology at the University of North Norfolk. Her inspiration for the series came when her husband gave up his city job to become an archaeologist.

Mari Hannah has published four books to date and is the author of the DCI Kate Daniels series. A former Probation Officer, Mari lives in Northumberland where her novels are set.

James Oswald has written four books in the Inspector McLean series and first found success as a self-publishing phenomenon. Set in Edinburgh, his crime novels contain supernatural elements.

Mel Sherratt is the author of what she calls ‘grit-lit’ – crime, psychological thrillers and suspense. She has achieved huge success by self-publishing her five books.

Online article: http://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/index.php/librarydagger-shortlist-2014/

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