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.
2026 longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Alexandra Benedict | The Christmas Cracker Killer | Simon & Schuster UK |
| SJ Bennett | The Queen Who Came in from the Cold | Bonnier Books UK |
| Anna Fitzgerald Healy | Etiquette for Lovers & Killers | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Victoria Goldman | Little Secrets | Three Crowns Publishing UK (self-published) |
| Robert Holtom | A Queer Case | Titan Books |
| Richard Hooton | The Margaret Code | Little, Brown Book Group |
| RL Killmore | A Cinnamon Falls Mystery | Simon & Schuster UK |
| Clare Mackintosh | Other People’s Houses | Little, Brown Book Group |
| Jo Middleton | Not Another Bloody Christmas | HarperCollins |
| Guy Morpuss | A Trial in Three Acts | Profile Books |
| Mel Pennant | A Murder for Miss Hortense | John Murray Press |
| CJ Wray | Bad Influence | Orion Fiction |
The 2026 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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