The CWA Dagger Awards 2018 was a sumptuous event full of glamour, with the glitterati of the crime publishing world in attendance: publishers, agents and especially authors. It was tense and nerve-wracking as the shortlists were read out, and terrific hearing whoops of joy from publishers when their author’s name was announced as winner. The after-dinner speaker Jude Tindall regaled us with lots of fascinating information about crime on TV, especially the series she co-creates, Father Brown, and our M/C Barry Forshaw was as erudite and witty as ever. Martin Edwards, chair of the CWA, was a popular winner of the Dagger in the Library, Steve Cavanagh the Gold Dagger winner was a big favourite and the year’s Diamond Dagger winner, American crime-writing colossus Michael Connelly, was applauded to the rooftops. The food was tasty too – London’s Grange City Hotel do a splendid job of making this a stand-out occasion. Congratulations to all the winners, and commiserations to the shortlisted writers who didn’t carry off a Dagger this year.