The Crime Writers' Association

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

This year's winner

Bluebird, Bluebird
Attica Locke
Serpent's Tail

This thrillingly written examination of racial tensions in the American South is evocative and provocative. The personal jeopardy of the protagonist – a black cop in a white world where it may be dangerous to find the killer – is subtly interwoven with America’s racial fault lines past and present. If the distinction between ‘crime’ and ‘literary’ fiction is ever killed off, Locke will be a prime suspect.

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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

Corinne Turner

Corinne has managed and helped develop authors’ literary estates for nearly 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.

Mark Lawson

Mark is an English journalist, broadcaster and author, specialising in culture and the arts. He regularly moderates panels for events such as the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

Ali Karim

Ali is the Assistant Editor of Shots eZine and writes and reviews for many US Magazines and Ezines. He was awarded the 2011 David Thompson Memorial Award for Special Services to the Crime and Thriller Genre and in 2013 awarded the Don Sandstrom Lifetime achievement award for services to Crime and Mystery Fandom.
Karim is also an associate member of The Crime Writers Association [CWA]; an associate member of International Thriller Writers Inc. [ITW] and a former literary judge for both best debut novel and best thriller; and an associate member of the Private Eye Writers of America [PWA], and one of the judges of Deadly Pleasures Magazine’s Barry Awards. Karim is also a Board Member to Bouchercon [The World Mystery and Crime Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon 2015 held in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Donna Moore

Donna is an avid reader, writer and occasional reviewer of crime fiction. She is co-host of Crimefest and also does the programming for Magna cum Murder in Indiana. In her day job, she is an adult literacy tutor and is also currently undertaking a PhD.

Zoe Aquilina

Zoe began her career in the book trade as a bookseller before working for many years in the field of intellectual property and literary estate management. More recently, she worked for a leading literary agency before taking on the varied challenges of parenthood! Zoe now works as a freelance intellectual property consultant and editor.

Marek Pruszewicz

Marek  is on the board of Ian Fleming Publications. He was a senior editor in BBC News for nearly 20 years and a writer of history features for its website. He’s now director of communications for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, a global NGO.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2018 Longlist

Author Title Publisher
Adam Brookes The Spy’s Daughter Sphere
Joseph Finder The Switch Head of Zeus
Mick Herron London Rules John Murray Publishers
Emily Koch If I Die Before I Wake Harvill Secker
Attica Locke Bluebird, Bluebird Serpent’s Tail
Colette McBeth An Act of Silence Wildfire
Abir Mukherjee A Necessary Evil Harvill Secker
Gin Phillips Fierce Kingdom Doubleday
C J Tudor The Chalk Man Michael Joseph
Don Winslow The Force HarperFiction