The Crime Writers’ Association

Gold Dagger

This award is for the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English and first published in the UK during the judging period. The broadest definition of the crime novel applies. Eligible books include thrillers, mysteries, police procedurals, psychological suspense novels and spy fiction.

The Dagger was originally created in 1955, under the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award. The first winner was Winston Graham for The Little Walls. It was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960 and has been awarded ever since with variations in its name depending on sponsorship.

Until 2005 books in translation were eligible for this prize. In 2006 the CWA established a separate Dagger, the International (now Crime Fiction in Translation), for books in translation, recognising the work of the translator as well as that of the original author.


Gold Dagger 2023 Winner


George Dawes Green

The Kingdoms of Savannah

Headline Publishing Group

An emotionally involving cast and plot with huge historical scope and urgent contemporary resonance are almost secondary to an intricately constructed vision of the city of Savannah. Sitting somewhere between photorealistic documentary and timeless fable, this story is told … More


2023 shortlist

2023 longlist

 

Title of book Author name Publisher name Imprint
Oxblood Tom Benn Bloomsbury Publishing
Shoot the Moonlight Out William Boyle Oldcastle Books No Exit Press
The Ink Black Heart Robert Galbraith Sphere
The Kingdoms of Savannah George Dawes Green Headline Publishing Group Headline Fiction
The Lost Man of Bombay Vaseem Khan Hodder & Stoughton
The Bookseller of Inverness SG MacLean Quercus Quercus Fiction
A Killing in November Simon Mason Quercus riverrun
The Clockwork Girl Anna Mazzola Orion Orion Fiction
The Winter Guest WC Ryan Bonnier Books UK Zaffre
A Killing Rain Faye Snowdon Flame Tree Press
The Bone Road NE Solomons Birlinn Ltd Polygon
The Silent Brother Simon Van der Velde Northodox Press

The 2024 Judges

Richard Reynolds (Non-Voting Chair)
He’s recently retired as the crime fiction specialist at Heffers, Cambridge, after nearly forty-one years. He remains involved supporting publishers, crime writers and their work. He is Series Consultant for Galileo Publishers GA list. He has collaborated with Jon Gifford at the Oleander Press, setting up a website (Cambridge Crime: Specialists in Murder) supplying recommendations, a blog (theoldmaninthecorner) and an imprint (Oreon), reissuing Golden Age Detective fiction (https://www.oleanderpress.com/golden-age-crime.html).

Angus Batey
Angus is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and websites, covering topics that range from military technology and hip hop music to business aviation and cricket. He writes a bi-monthly crime fiction review column for www.thequietus.com

Lyn Brown
Lyn has been the MP for West Ham since 2005, growing up in the area she now represents. A previous Gold Dagger judge, she remains an avid reader and co-ordinates a book club for Labour Women MPs. Lyn now holds a Shadow Ministerial post in Labour’s Shadow Treasury Team.

Amanda Cassidy

Amanda Cassidy is a freelance journalist, commissioning editor and former Sky News reporter represented by Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency in London. Shortlisted for the Irish Journalist of the Year Awards, and more recently the Headline Media writing awards, she’s a frequent contributor to national radio, print and television and holds a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin.  Breaking, Amanda’s debut crime thriller, was described by bestselling author Liz Nugent as “compelling, intriguing and thoroughly engaging.” Her second novel, The Returned is out in August. Amanda lives in Dublin with her husband and three young children.

Jess Faraday
Jess Faraday is the author of the award-winning Ira Adler historical mysteries, the standalone steampunk adventure The Left Hand of Justice and a number of historical adventures in short story and novella form. She has edited several award-winning short story collections, and has served as a judge for the Rainbow Awards for many years.

Pippa Macallister
Pippa was introduced to crime fiction by a Francis Durbridge-loving grandmother and a Christie-loving primary schoolteacher. Pippa has looked after the admin for a crime fiction book group for the last 20 years or so and is the author of CambridgeMyriads of Misdeeds.

Ngaire Mason-Wenn Wallace

Ngaire is an internationally published author with a background in Recruitment Consulting and Human Resources. She holds a BA in English and History from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and has also studied psychology and linguistics. Her keen interest in the human mind has informed her career in the corporate world, her writing, and her love of crime fiction.

Colin Murray
Colin was born in London but, after a career in publishing as an editor for Penguin, William Collins, Sphere Books, Transworld Publishers and Little, Brown, he now lives on the west coast of Scotland with his wife, the writer Lisa Tuttle, where he still edits books and, occasionally, writes them.

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