London Full of Specsavers Award Winners

Robert Harris wins the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for An Officer and a Spy. (Photo © 2014 by Ali Karim)

Thanks to The Rap Sheet’s indefatigable chief UK correspondent, Ali Karim, we can now tally up the winners of the 2014 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards. The announcements were made and the commendations presented during a downright glamorous event held this evening at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year: This Dark Road to Mercy, by Wiley Cash (Doubleday/Transworld)

Also nominated: The First Rule of Survival, by Paul Mendelson (Constable); How the Light Gets In, by Louise Penny (Sphere/Little Brown); and Keep Your Friends Close, by Paula Daly (Bantam/Transworld)

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger: The Axeman’s Jazz, by Ray Celestin (Mantle)

Also nominated: The Devil in the Marshalsea, by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton); The Silent Wife, by A.S.A Harrison (Headline); and The Strangler Vine, by M.J. Carter (Penguin Fig Tree)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger: An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris (Random House)

Also nominated: Apple Tree Yard, by Louise Doughty (Faber and Faber); I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes (Transworld); and Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles (Harper Collins)

Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read: Entry Island, by Peter May (Quercus)

Also nominated: Before We Met, by Lucie Whitehouse (Bloomsbury); Letters to My Daughter’s Killer, by Cath Staincliffe (C&R Crime); Treachery, by S.J. Parris (HarperCollins); The Tilted World, by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly (Mantle); and Watch Me, by James Carol (Faber & Faber)

The Film Dagger: Cold in July

Also nominated: Dom Hemingway, Filth, Prisoners, and Starred Up

The TV Dagger: Happy Valley

Also nominated: Line of Duty, Series 2; Sherlock, Series 3; The Bletchley Circle, Series 2; and The Honourable Woman

The International TV Dagger: True Detective, Season 1

Also nominated: Fargo, Season 1; Inspector Montalbano, Series 9; Orange Is the New Black, Season 2; and The Bridge, Series 2

The Best Actor Dagger: Matthew McConaughey for True Detective

Also nominated: Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock; Shaun Evans for Endeavour; Martin Freeman for Fargo and Sherlock; and Steve Pemberton for Happy Valley

The Best Actress Dagger: Keeley Hawes for Line of Duty

Also nominated: Brenda Blethyn for Vera; Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Honourable Woman; Sarah Lancashire for Happy Valley; and Anna Maxwell Martin for Death Comes to Pemberley and The Bletchley Circle

The Best Supporting Actor Dagger: James Norton for Happy Valley

Also nominated: Mark Gatiss for Sherlock; David Leon for Vera; Mandy Patinkin for Homeland; and Billy Bob Thornton for Fargo

The Best Supporting Actress Dagger: Amanda Abbington for Sherlock

Also nominated: Vicky McClure for Line of Duty; Helen McCrory for Peaky Blinders; Gina McKee for By Any Means; and Michelle Monaghan for True Detective

In addition, authors Denise Mina and Robert Harris were inducted into the British Crime Writers’ Association’s Hall of Fame “in recognition of their contributions to the genre.”

Congratulations to all of the nominees!