The Crime Writers' Association

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

This Year's Winner

November Road
Lou Berney
Harper Fiction

Weaving together a love story and a chase thriller set against the backdrop of JFK’s assassination, Lou Berney’s sparse prose creates an atmosphere of jeopardy and terror interwoven with great tenderness and beauty. The period setting is skilfully realised, and the sense of dread laced through the story builds to an overwhelming conclusion.

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Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller, ‘one simply has to turn the pages’. Eligible books in this category are thrillers set in any period and include, but are not limited to, spy fiction, psychological thrillers and action/adventure stories.

Shortlist

The Judges 2021

Corinne Turner (Chair)

Corinne has managed and helped develop authors’ literary estates for around 30 years. She is Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and also owns and manages the literary estate of children’s author, Willard Price.

David Headley

David Headley is the managing director of Goldsboro Books, a much admired, leading independent bookseller, based in central London. He is also the managing director of the D H H Literary Agency.

Myles Allfrey

Myles Allfrey is a Kent-based podiatrist with a keen interest in crime fiction. Myles is a sometime book reviewer and co-founder of CrimeFest, the crime-writing convention held in Bristol.

Thanhmai Bui_Van Thanhmai Bui-Van

Thanhmai has been a bookseller, book buyer and now works in sales at Titan Books. Crime fiction has been a constant in her book career and she says, ‘over the years it’s been a pleasure discovering new authors.’

Karen Blewett

Karen worked in the publishing industry for over 20 years, in a variety of senior financial and commercial roles for Dorling Kindersley and Little, Brown. While her day job involved numbers and systems, her first love has always been reading.

Tom FlemingTom Fleming

Tom Fleming is the longstanding deputy editor of Literary Review. He also writes for The Spectator, The TLS and Apollo, among other publications.

2020 Shortlist

Title Author Publisher
November Road Lou Berney Harper Fiction
This is Gomorrah Tom Chatfield Hodder & Stoughton
One Way Out AA Dhand Bantam Press
Between Two Evils  Eva Dolan Raven Books
Cold Storage David Koepp HQ
The Whisper Man Alex North Michael Joseph

2020 Longlist

Title Author Publisher
A Shadow Intelligence Oliver Harris Little, Brown
Between Two Evils Eva Dolan Raven Books
Cemetery Road Greg Iles Harper Fiction
Cold Storage David Koepp HQ
Keep You Close Karen Cleveland Bantam Press
November Road Lou Berney Harper Fiction
One Way Out AA Dhand Bantam Press
Perfect Kill Helen Fields Avon
The Chain Adrian McKinty Orion Fiction
The King’s Evil Andrew Taylor Harper Fiction
The River Peter Heller Weidenfeld & Nicolson
The Whisper Man Alex North Michael Joseph
This is Gomorrah Tom Chatfield Hodder & Stoughton