The Crime Writers’ Association

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.

 

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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