CWA Announce Longlists for Prestigious Crime Writing Daggers
The Crime Writers’ Association announced the much anticipated longlists for the annual CWA Dagger awards for the best of the year’s crime writing at a reception during international convention CrimeFest in Bristol on the evening of Friday 10 May.
Several prominent crime writers appear on the lists, including Belinda Bauer, John Harvey, Donna Leon, Derek B Miller, Abir Mukherjee, Ray Celestin, Andrew Taylor and Martin Edwards (the former CWA Chair and President of the Detection Club twice; with Gallows Court for the Sapere Historical Dagger, as always a very strong longlist, and for a Short Story). Newcomers such as M W Craven, Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Claire Askew – up for both the Gold and the John Creasey with All The Hidden Truths – promise much.
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger features a host of star names: Elly Griffiths, Luke Jennings and Steve Cavanagh for starters, while for the International Dagger, stalwarts Andrea Camilleri and Cay Rademacher sit among other authors from all over the world.
C J Sansom features on both the Sapere Historical Dagger longlist and that for the CWA Dagger in the Library, nominated by librarians. That longlist also features names such as Kate Ellis, Cath Staincliffe, John Connolly, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Sophie Hannah and M C Beaton, all very strong contenders.
The CWA Daggers, which are the probably the awards crime authors and publishers alike most wish to win, are awarded every year in 10 categories. The Diamond Dagger, for a career’s outstanding contribution to crime fiction as nominated by CWA members, was announced earlier in the year and has been awarded to the popular and best-selling British author Robert Goddard.
Here are the CWA Dagger longlists for 2019.
CWA Gold Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
| Claire Askew | All the Hidden Truths | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Belinda Bauer | Snap | Transworld – Bantam Press |
| Ray Celestin | The Mobster’s Lament | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| M W Craven | The Puppet Show | Little, Brown – Constable |
| John Harvey | Body and Soul | Cornerstone – William Heinemann |
| Christobel Kent | What We Did | Little, Brown – Sphere |
| Donna Leon | Unto Us a Son Is Given | William Heinemann |
| John Lincoln | Fade to Grey | No Exit Press |
| David Mark | Cold Bones | Hodder & Stoughton – Mulholland Books |
| Derek B. Miller | American By Day | Transworld – Doubleday |
| Abir Mukherjee | Smoke and Ashes | Harvill Secker |
| William Shaw | Salt Lane | Riverrun |
| Peter Swanson | Before She Knew Him | Faber & Faber |
| Andrew Taylor | The Fire Court | Harper Collins – Harper Fiction |
| Benjamin Wood | A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better | Simon & Schuster UK – Scribner |
CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
| Megan Abbott | Give Me Your Hand | Picador |
| Steve Cavanagh | Thirteen | Orion Fiction |
| Dan Fesperman | Safe Houses | Head of Zeus |
| Elly Griffiths | The Stranger Diaries | Quercus Fiction |
| Luke Jennings | No Tomorrow | John Murray |
| Stephen Mack Jones | Lives Laid Away | Soho Crime |
| Niklas Natt och Dag, tr. Ebba Segerberg | The Wolf and the Watchman | John Murray |
| Khurrum Rahman | Homegrown Hero | HQ |
| Holly Watt | To The Lions | Raven Books |
| Tim Willocks | Memo From Turner | Jonathan Cape |
CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
| G.D. Abson | Motherland | Mirror Books |
| Claire Askew | All The Hidden Truths | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Alex Dahl | The Boy At The Door | Head of Zeus |
| Mark Griffin | When Darkness Calls | Little, Brown – Piatkus |
| Chris Hammer | Scrublands | Headline – Wildfire |
| Vicky Newham | Turn A Blind Eye | HQ |
| Laura Shepherd-Robinson | Blood and Sugar | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| Catherine Steadman | Something In The Water | Simon & Schuster |
| Søren Sveistrup, tr. Caroline Waight | The Chestnut Man |
Penguin Random House |
| Vanda Symon | Overkill | Orenda |
CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
| Sue Black | All That Remains | Transworld – Doubleday |
| Mikita Brottman | An Unexplained Death | Canongate |
| Rachael Brown | Trace | Scribe UK |
| Claire Harman | Murder by the Book | Viking |
| Kirk Johnson | The Feather Thief | Hutchinson |
| Helena Kennedy | Eve Was Shamed | Chatto & Windus |
| Sarah Langford | In Your Defence | Transworld – Doubleday |
| Ben Macintyre | The Spy and the Traitor | Viking |
| Hallie Rubenhold | The Five | Transworld – Doubleday |
| David Wilson | My Life with Murderers | Little, Brown – Sphere |
CWA International Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Translator | Publisher |
| Dov Alfon | A Long Night in Paris | Daniella Zamir | Maclehose Press |
| Karin Brynard | Weeping Waters | Maya Fowler & Isobel Dixon | Europa – World Noir |
| Gianrico Carofiglio | The Cold Summer | Howard Curtis | Bitter Lemon Press |
| Keigo Higashino | Newcomer | Giles Murray | Little, Brown |
| Håkan Nesser | The Root of Evil | Sarah Death | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| Cay Rademacher | The Forger | Peter Millar | Arcadia Books |
| Andrea Camilleri | The Overnight Kidnapper | Stephen Sartarelli | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| Kjell Ola Dahl | The Courier | Don Bartlett | Orenda Books |
| Martin Holmén | Slugger | A A Prime | Pushkin Vertigo |
| Jørn Lier Horst | The Katherina Code | Anne Bruce | Penguin – Michael Joseph |
CWA Sapere Historical Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Author | Title | Publisher |
| Laura Shepherd-Robinson | Blood & Sugar | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| S.G. Maclean | Destroying Angel | Quercus Fiction |
| Martin Edwards | Gallows Court | Head of Zeus |
| Abir Mukherjee | Smoke and Ashes | Harvill Secker |
| C.J. Sansom | Tombland | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| S.W. Perry | The Angel’s Mark | Corvus |
| Alex Reeve | The House on Half Moon Street | Raven Books |
| Jim Kelly | The Mathematical Bridge | Allison & Busby |
| Ray Celestin | The Mobster’s Lament | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| Liam McIlvanney | The Quaker | Harper Fiction |
The CWA Short Story Dagger 2019 Longlist
| Title | Author | Collection | Publisher |
| Room Number Two | Andrea Camilleri, tr. Stephen Sartarelli | Death at Sea | Pan Macmillan – Mantle |
| How Many Cats Have You Killed? | Mick Herron | Ten Year Stretch – Edited by Martin Edwards and Adrian Muller | No Exit Press |
| Death Becomes Her | Syd Moore | The Strange Casebook | Point Blank |
| I Detest Mozart | Teresa Solana, tr. Peter Bush | The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and Other Stories | Bitter Lemon Press |
| Paradise Gained | Teresa Solana, tr. Peter Bush | The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other Stories | Bitter Lemon Press |
| The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing | Danuta Reah | The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing and other fantastic Female Fables | Fantastic Books Publishing |
| Strangers in a Pub | Martin Edwards | Ten Year Stretch – Edited by Martin Edwards and Adrian Muller | No Exit Press |
| Bag Man | Lavie Tidhar | The Outcast Hours – Edited by Mahvesh Murad & Jared Shurin | Solaris |
CWA Dagger In The Library 2019 Longlist
Selected by nominations from libraries.
- M.C. Beaton
- Simon Beckett
- Mark Billingham
- Christopher Brookmyre
- John Connolly
- Kate Ellis
- Sophie Hannah
- Graham Masterton
- Denise Mina
- C.J. Sansom
- Cath Staincliffe
- Jacqueline Winspear
CWA Debut Dagger 2019 Longlist
For the opening of a crime novel from a writer without a traditional publishing contract.
| Title | Author |
| Wake | Shelley Burr |
| Self-Help for Serial Killers: Let Your Creativity Bloom | Mairi Campbell-Jack |
| The Mourning Light | Jerry Krause |
| The Fruits of Rashness | Michael Fleming |
| Down the Well | Carol Glaser |
| Hardways | Catherine Hendricks |
| The Right Man | Anna Maloney |
| The Firefly | David Smith |
| A Thin Sharp Blade | Fran Smith |
| In Wolf’s Clothing | Matthew Smith |
Shortlists for the Daggers will be announced in the summer and the winners will be announced at the Dagger Awards dinner in London on 24 October, for which tickets will shortly be available. Visit www.thecwa.co.uk for more information or email admin@thecwa.co.uk .
Margery Allingham Short Story Competition
The Margery Allingham short story competition is open to published and unpublished writers alike and has become one to look out for, highlighting excellent writers. The story itself must be unpublished.
The winner was announced and the £500 prize awarded by one of the judges, Janet Laurence. The winner was Ray Bazowski with his story ‘A Perfect Murderer’ and the runner-up was Rosie de Vekey with ‘Decluttering’. The competition is a joint initiative between the Margery Allingham Society and the CWA.
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