Daggers Flying Everywhere

There’s been lots of news coming out today from the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, being held in Harrogate, England.

To begin, we can now broadcast the first five winners of Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards for 2011. They are as follows:

CWA International Dagger: Three Seconds, by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström, translated by Kari Dickson (Quercus)

Also nominated: The Wings of the Sphinx, by Andrea Camilleri, translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Mantle); Needle in a Haystack, by Ernesto Mallo, translated by Jethro Soutar (Bitter Lemon Press); The Saint-Florentin Murders, by Jean-François Parot, translated by Howard Curtis (Gallic); River of Shadows, by Valerio Varesi, translated by Joseph Farrell (MacLehose); An Uncertain Place, by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker); and Death on a Galician Shore, by Domingo Villar, translated by Sonia Soto (Abacus)

(Editor’s note: Astute readers of Karen Meek’s Euro Crime blog had predicted a different result in this category, betting on Vargas’ An Uncertain Place, instead.)

CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction: The Killer of Little Shepherds, by Douglas Starr (Simon & Schuster)

Also nominated: The Invention of Murder, by Judith Flanders (HarperCollins); Slaughter on a Snowy Morn, by Colin Evans (Icon Books); In the Place of Justice, by Wilbert Rideau (Profile); The Murder Room, by Michael Capuzzo (Michael Joseph); and Mr. Briggs’ Hat, by Kate Colquhoun (Little, Brown)

CWA Short Story Dagger: “Homework,” by Phil Lovesey (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Vol. 8, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; Constable & Robinson)

Also nominated: “Wednesday’s Child,” by Ken Bruen (from First Thrills, edited by Lee Child; Forge); “The Princess of Felony Flats,” by Bill Cameron (from First Thrills); “East of Suez, West of Charing Cross Road,” by John Lawton (from Agents of Treachery, edited by Otto Penzler; Vintage); and “The Dead Club,” by Michael Palmer and Daniel Palmer (from First Thrills)

CWA Debut Dagger (for not-yet-published works): What Hidden Lies, by Michele Rowe (South Africa)

Also nominated: A Burial Place for Strangers, by Sharon Hunt (Canada); A Quiet Night in Entebbe, by Peter Wynn Norris (UK); A Vicious Indulgence, by Annie Hauxwell (Australia); Biographies of a Victim, by Gunnar Lange-Nielsen (Norway); The Boy Who Loved Penguins, by S.W.C. Webb (UK); The Greengrocers and Fruiterers’ Convention, by Martin Ungless (UK); Hide and Seek, by Sarah Darby (UK); Men of the Rose, by Jessica Ramage (UK); The Outrageous Behaviour of Left-Handed Dwarves, by Graham Brack (UK); The Temp, by Luke Melia (UK); and Unveiled Threats, by Stephanie Light (UK)

CWA Dagger in the Library: Mo Hayder

Also nominated: S.J. Bolton (Bantam Press); William Brodrick (Little, Brown); R.J. Ellory (Orion); Jason Goodwin (Faber and Faber); Elly Griffths (Quercus); Sophie Hannah (Hodder & Stoughton); John Harvey (William Heinemann); Susan Hill (Vintage); Graham Hurley (Orion); Peter James (Macmillan); Philip Kerr (Quercus); Phil Rickman (Quercus/Corvus); C.J. Sansom (Macmillan); Andrew Taylor (Penguin); and L.C. Tyler (Macmillan)

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In addition, an announcement was made today of “three key book longlists and one shortlist for the [2011] Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on ITV3, celebrating the very best of British and International crime thriller fiction.” Here are those contenders.

CWA Gold Dagger:

• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, by Tom Franklin (Pan)

• Hanging Hill, by Mo Hayder (Bantam Press)

• Snowdrops, by A.D. Miller (Atlantic Books)

• The Cypress House, by Michael Koryta (Hodder & Stoughton)

• The End of the Wasp Season, by Denise Mina (Orion)

• The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton (Orion)

• The Villa Triste, by Lucretia Grindle (Pan)

• White Heat, by M.J McGrath (Mantle)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:

• An Agent of Deceit, by Chris Morgan Jones (Mantle)

• Before I Go to Sleep, by S.J. Watson (Doubleday)

• Cold Rain, by Craig Smith (Myrmidon)

• Savages, by Don Winslow (Heinemann)

• The Cobra, by Frederick Forsyth (Corgi)

• The Good Son, by Michael Gruber (Corvus)

• The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton (Orion)

• The Trinity Six, by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:

• Before I Go to Sleep, by S.J. Watson (Doubleday)

• Into the Darkest Corner, by Elizabeth Haynes (Myriad)

• Kiss Me Quick, by Danny Miller (Robinson)

• Or the Bull Kills You, by Jason Webster (Chatto & Windus)

• Sister, by Rosamund Lupton (Piatkus)

• The Dead Woman of Juárez, by Sam Hawken (Serpent’s Tail)

• The Dogs of Rome, by Conor Fitzgerald (Bloomsbury)

• The Poison Tree, by Erin Kelly (Hodder)

ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger:

• The Sixth Man, by David Baldacci (Macmillan)

• Worth Dying For, by Lee Child (Bantam)

• Good As Dead, by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)

• Dead Man’s Grip, by Peter James (Macmillan)

• Before the Poison, by Peter Robinson (Hodder)

Shortlists for the first three categories will be released in mid-August.

Meanwhile, the British public is being invited to cast ballots for the ITV3 People’s Bestseller Dagger. Voting begins tomorrow, July 23. Click here for more information.