Whodunnit Dagger
The Whodunnit Dagger celebrates books where the sex, swearing, and bloodletting take place offstage–books that focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, and which revolve around often quirky characters. Books in this category include cosy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries.
2025 longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| SJ Bennett | A Death in Diamonds | Zaffre |
| Andreina Cordani | Murder at the Christmas Emporium | Zaffre |
| Tess Gerritsen | The Spy Coast | Bantam Press |
| Lisa Hall | The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl | Hera |
| Ellery Lloyd | The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby | Macmillan |
| Laura Marshall | A Good Place To Hide A Body | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Nita Prose | The Mystery Guest | HarperCollins |
| Meeti Shroff-Shah | A Matrimonial Murder | Joffe Books |
| Sally Smith | A Case of Mice and Murder | Raven Books |
| Tom Spencer | The Mystery of the Crooked Man | Pushkin Vertigo |
| Benjamin Stevenson | Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect | Michael Joseph |
| Jamie West | Murder at the Matinee | Brabinger Publishing |
The 2025 Judges
Steph Broadribb
Steph Broadribb is the author of the bestselling Retired Detectives Club series including Death in the Sunshine and the most recent book in the series Death on the Beach. She has also written the Lori Anderson bounty hunter series and the Starke/Bell police procedural novels (as Stephanie Marland). She has an MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) and trained as a bounty hunter in California. Her books have been shortlisted for the eDunnit eBook of the year award, the ITW Best First Novel award, and the Dead Good Reader Awards.
Derek Farrell
is the author of five Danny Bird mystery novels as well as a novella and numerous short stories. He grew up in Dublin and now lives in West Sussex with what some people call “Way too many books.”
Gytha Lodge
Gytha Lodge is the Sunday Times bestselling and Richard and Judy selected author of the Jonah Sheens series. A former playwright and content marketing manager, she’s now pretty happy with a situation where she mostly gets to read, write, listen in on people’s conversations in coffee shops, and mess around on her own social media.
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