The Crime Writers’ Association

Diamond Dagger 2025

Winner


Mick Herron

Slow Horses author receives highest accolade in crime writing

Mick Herron is the 2025 recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger – the highest accolade in the genre.

The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey; the awards started in 1955 with its first award going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark.

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Herron studied English Literature at Oxford, where he continues to live. He began writing fiction while working as a sub editor in London.

His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, was published in 2003. This was the start of Herron’s detective Zoë Boehm series, set in Oxford.

In 2008, inspired by world events, he began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010. Some years later, it was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as one of “the twenty greatest spy novels of all time.”

A #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, the Slough House thrillers were adapted into an Apple TV series, starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, and have been published in twenty-five languages.

Herron has a long association with the CWA, becoming a member in 2004. Two of his books in the Slough House series have received a Dagger:Dead Lions won the CWA Gold Dagger in 2013, and Spook Street the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2017.

Herron’s Zoë Boehm series is to be adapted into a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Herron is also the author of the highly acclaimed standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours.

Vaseem Khan, Chair of the CWA, said: “Mick’s success is nothing short of phenomenal. His Slough House series revived the spy thriller, and more; it shaped our cultural landscape, dominating our shelves and screens. This accolade reflects his remarkable achievements to date, and acknowledges his position in the crime writing pantheon.”

 

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