The Crime Writers’ Association

Private: Into the River: how a last-minute decision led to an award-winning bestseller, by Mark Brandi

In a river, on the outskirts of an isolated country town, two young brothers discover a wheelie bin, partly submerged beneath a fallen tree. Curious, the older brother goes closer to investigate. He steps carefully across the tree’s smooth trunk, ...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with Marissa De Luna

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I grew up in Goa and moved to England when I was a teenager. I now live in Oxford with my husband and two children and work as a Development Manager for a housing association i...


Bookshop of the Month – December 2021: Griffin Books

Griffin Books in Penarth is one of those shops writers love to be invited to. It’s run by the amazing Mel Griffin who bought the shop nine years ago and turned it into a real community hub – with brilliantly run book events. What inspired you ...


National Crime Reading Month 2018 Underway

National Crime Reading Month, an initiative promoted by the CWA, is now underway, with libraries, bookshops and writing festivals throughout the country hosting events and talks this month with authors speaking about their books and the world of crim...


CWA Dagger Awards Winners Announced

The Crime Writers’ Association have presented their final 2015 CWA Dagger Awards to authors Smith Henderson, Karin Slaughter and Michael Robotham. At the CWA Dagger Awards reception, which took place at Malmaison, London on Tuesday evening, the...


CWA Debut Dagger Writing Competition 2021 Now Open for Entries

Aspiring authors are invited to submit the opening of their novel to the coveted Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Debut Dagger competition 2021. The international writing competition opened for entries on October 1. Entrants must send in their firs...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with AJ Waines

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. My name is AJ Waines. I used to be a psychotherapist and have an irrepressible curiosity over the secrets people keep, their hidden motives for radical actions and the ‘masks...


Writers in Residence – at home with Rachel Sargeant

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I’m a full-time author, living in Gloucestershire. Brought up in Lincolnshire, I have also lived in London, Shropshire, Germany and Wales and like to feature places I know i...


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...


Emerging Author Dagger

Emerging Author Dagger The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger) is an international competition, open to anyone in the world writing in English, for a crime novel opening (max. 3,000 words) and synopsis (max. 1,500 words). The crime no...


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