The Crime Writers’ Association

CWA Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) is on the hunt to find the best unpublished short mystery story. Entries are being invited for the 2021 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story competition, with just weeks before deadline closes on 26 February for th...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with Maggie Hamand

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I am a former journalist, a novelist and creative writing lecturer at the University of Hull. I studied biochemistry as a first degree and have a Masters in theology so science...


Kemptown Bookshop

Cathy Hayward of Kemptown Bookshop talks to Elly Griffiths Cathy Hayward is only the third owner of Kemptown Bookshop, Brighton’s oldest independent bookstore. She was a long-time fan of the shop, which has been on St George’s Road since 1976,...


CWA Announce Longlists for Prestigious Crime Writing Daggers

The Crime Writers Association announced the much anticipated longlists for the annual Dagger awards at a reception during CrimeFest in Bristol on the evening of Friday 19 May. The Chair of the CWA, Martin Edwards, author of The Golden Age of Murder, ...


Debut Dagger Checklist

Have you followed the rules? This is the easy bit, so don’t risk disqualification by exceeding the word limit (don’t do this, not by even a few words) or forget to take your name off the manuscript. Word count for the entry form is that o...


Private: Winning the Debut Dagger by C J Carver

I entered the Debut Dagger on a complete whim. Despite feeling buoyant having finished my novel Blood Junction, I was hesitating over the entry fee, convinced I’d never win, let alone get shortlisted. It was only because a friend of mine said the...


Dagger in the Library

Dagger in the Library  The Dagger in the Library is a prize for a body of work by an established writer of crime fiction or non-fiction who has long been popular with borrowers from libraries. It also rewards authors who have supported libraries an...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with Jem Tugwell

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I’m a crime fiction author with a Crime Writing MA from City University. No Signal is the second book in the iMe series and follows my debut novel Proximity. In a past life,...


Private: What a Difference a Dagger Makes: Debut Dagger winner Bill Crotty tells of doors that have opened since the award

I had never won anything in my life.  Absolutely nothing.  Lucky dips were never lucky; not a single raffle ever ended with my ticket being called.  School sports day was a wasteland.  No kind of race did I ever win: sack, three-l...


In Memory of Helen Cadbury – by Marnie Riches

The world of crime fiction mourns one of its brightest and best this month. Those in the crime-writing community who were lucky enough to call Helen Cadbury a friend knew that she had secondary cancer. But we didn’t expect her to depart this world ...


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