Carving Up the Daggers

During a celebratory dinner held earlier this evening at Kings Place in London, the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced which books and authors had won six of its prestigious annual prizes.

The CWA International Dagger: TIE -- Alex, by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne (Quercus); and The Ghost Riders of Ordebec, by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker)

Also nominated: The Missing File, by D.A. Mishani, translated by Steven Cohen (Quercus); Two Soldiers, by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström, translated by Kari Dickson (Quercus); Death in Sardinia, by Marco Vichi, translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Hodder & Stoughton); and The Collini Case, by Ferdinand von Schirach, translated by Anthea Bell (Michael Joseph)

The CWA Non-Fiction Dagger: Midnight in Peking, by Paul French (Penguin Viking)

Also nominated: The Boy in the River, by Richard Hoskins (Pan Macmillan); Against a Tide of Evil, by Mukesh Kapila, with Damien Lewis (Mainstream); A Fine Day for a Hanging, by Carol Ann Lee (Mainstream); Injustice, by Clive Stafford Smith (Random House); and Murder at Wrotham Hill, by Diana Souhami (Quercus)

The CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger: The Scent of Death, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: The Heretics, by Rory Clements (John Murray); Pilgrim Soul, by Gordon Ferris (Corvus); The Paris Winter, by Imogen Robertson (Headline); Dead Men and Broken Hearts, by Craig Russell (Quercus); and The Twelfth Department, by William Ryan (Mantle)

The CWA Short Story Dagger: “Come Away with Me,” by Stella Duffy (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; Constable)

Also nominated: “Method Murder,” by Simon Brett (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10); “Stairway C,” by Piero Colaprico (from Outsiders, edited by Ben Faccini; MacLehose Press); “The Case of Death and Honey,” by Neil Gaiman (from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime, Volume 10); “Ferengi,” by Carlo Lucarelli (from Outsiders); and “Lost and Found,” by Zoë Sharp (from Vengeance, edited by Lee Child; Corvus)

The CWA Dagger in the Library: Belinda Bauer

Also nominated: Alison Bruce, Gordon Ferris, Christopher Fowler, Elly Griffiths, and Michael Ridpath

The CWA Debut Dagger: Finn Clarke (UK), Call Time

Also nominated: Aine Oomhnaill (Ireland), The Assassin’s Keeper; Sue Dawes (UK), TAG; Alex Sweeney (UK), Working in Unison; Marie Hannan-Mandel (USA), Lesson Plan for Murder; Ron Puckering (UK), Honour or Justice; David Evans (UK), Torment; Jayne Barnard (Canada), When the Bow Breaks; D.B. Carew (Canada), Fighting Darkness: The Killer Trail; Mike Craven (UK), Born in a Burial Gown; Emma Melville (UK), The Journeyman; and Joanna Dodd (UK), A Cure for All Evils

Lee Child received this year’s Diamond Dagger.

In addition, longlists of nominees were announced for three other annual CWA commendations:

The CWA Gold Dagger:

• Rubbernecker, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam/Transworld)

• The Shining Girls, by Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins)

• Tequila Sunset, by Sam Hawken Serpent’s Tail)

• Dead Lions, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

• Rage Against the Dying, by Becky Masterman (Orion)

• Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Say You’re Sorry, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)

• The Kings of Cool, by Don Winslow (Heinemann)

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:

• Ghostman, by Roger Hobbs (Transworld)

• The Uninvited, by Liz Jensen (Bloomsbury)

• The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, by Malcolm Mackay
(Pan Macmillan)

• Ratlines, by Stuart Neville (Random House)

• The Sentinel, by Mark Oldfield (Head of Zeus)

• The Poison Tide, by Andrew Williams (John Murray)

• Capital Punishment, by Robert Wilson (Orion)

The CWA John Creasey Dagger:

• Ghostman, by Roger Hobbs (Doubleday)

• Something You Are, by Hanna Jameson (Head of Zeus)

• The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, by Malcolm Mackay (Mantle)

• Rage Against the Dying, by Becky Masterman (Orion)

• Norwegian by Night, by Derek B. Miller (Faber and Faber)

• Shadow of the Rock, by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury)

• The City of Shadows, by Michael Russell (Avon)

• City of Blood, by M.D. Villiers (Harvill Secker).

These last longlists are supposed to be trimmed to four titles apiece by later in the summer, with the eventual winners to be revealed during the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards this coming fall.

(Hat tip to It’s a Crime! [Or a Mystery …])