The Crime Writers’ Association

Historical Dagger

This award is for the best historical crime novel, first published in the UK in English during the judging period, set in any period up to 50 years prior to the year in which the award will be made. For novels that involve passages set later than this time period, at least three quarters of the book should be set in an earlier period.


Historical Dagger 2023 Shortlisted


DV Bishop

The Darkest Sin

Pan Macmillan

Cesare Aldo is facing another case which will demand all his ingenuity and tact: a man has been found, stabbed, in a convent, and shortly after an officer of the law is dredged up from the Arno. Political and … More


2023 shortlist


2023 longlist

 

Title of book Author name Publisher name Imprint
The Darkest Sin DV Bishop Pan Macmillan   Macmillan
Blackstone Fell Martin Edwards Head of Zeus Aries
Two Storm Wood Philip Gray Penguin Random House UK Harvill Secker
The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys Jack Jewers Moonflower Publishing Moonflower Books
The Bookseller of Inverness SG MacLean Quercus Quercus Fiction
The Clockwork Girl Anna Mazzola Orion  
Death at the Dolphin Gretta Mulrooney Joffe Books  
The Homes JB Mylet Profile Books  Viper
The Bangalore Detectives Club Harini Nagendra Little, Brown Constable
Blue Water Leonora Nattrass Profile Books  Viper
Hear No Evil Sarah Smith John Murray Press Two Roads
The Mushroom Tree Mystery Ovidia Yu Little, Brown Constable

The 2024 Judges

Professor Edward James (Chair)
Edward James is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at University College Dublin. He has published numerous papers on the archaeology, art and history of early medieval Europe. He is also an enthusiastic reader of science fiction and fantasy. In 2017 the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with their Distinguished Scholarship Award.

Charlotte Beyer
Dr Charlotte Beyer is Senior Lecturer in English Studies at University of Gloucestershire. She has published widely on crime fiction and contemporary literature. She is the author of Murder in a Few Words: Gender, Genre and Location in the Crime Short Story (2020), Contemporary Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Writing Back to History and Oppression (2021), and six edited books, including Teaching Crime Fiction (2018).

Paul Burke

Paul Burke
Paul writes The Verdict column for NB magazine, interviews, articles and features for Crime Fiction Lover, Crime Time and the European Literature Network. He also edits and presents the Crime Time FM podcast and is a book collector and lover of crime fiction.

Farah Mendlesohn

Farah Mendlesohn is an academic with the title Emerita Professor from Anglia Ruskin University, where she was Head of English. She has always enjoyed reading crime fiction, but is also particularly interested in historical fiction. She is working on a major study of the children’s historical writer Geoffrey Trease.

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