Extolling the Genius of Criminal Plotting

Thanks to Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim, who was in London, England, for this evening’s presentations of the 2017 Dagger Awards, we now have a full rundown of the winners. These commendations are sponsored by the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA).

CWA Gold Dagger:
The Dry, by Jane Harper (Little, Brown)

Also nominated: The Beautiful Dead, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam Press); Dead Man’s Blues, by Ray Celestin (Mantle); Spook Street, by Mick Herron (John Murray); The Girl in Green, by Derek B. Miller (Faber and Faber); and A Rising Man, by Abir Muckerjee (Harvil Secker)

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
Spook Street, by Mick Herron (John Murray)

Also nominated: You Will Know Me, by Megan Abbott (Picador); The Killing Game, by J.S. Carol (Bookouture); We Go Around in the Night Consumed by Fire, by Jules Grant (Myriad Editions); Redemption Road, by John Hart (Hodder & Stoughton); and The Constant Soldier, by William Ryan (Mantle)

CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger: Tall Oaks, by Chris
Whitaker (Twenty 7)

Also nominated: The Pictures, by Guy Bolton (Point Blank); Ragdoll, by Daniel Cole (Trapeze); Distress Signals, by Catherine Ryan Howard (Corvus); Sirens, by Joseph Knox (Doubleday); and Good Me, Bad Me, by Ali Land (Michael Joseph)

CWA Non-fiction Dagger:
Close But No Cigar: A True Story of Prison Life in Castro’s Cuba,
by Stephen Purvis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Also nominated: A Dangerous Place, by Simon Farquhar (History Press); The Scholl Case: The Deadly End of a Marriage, by Anja Reich-Osang (Text); The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer, by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury); A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II, by A.T. Williams (Jonathan Cape); and Another Day in the Death of America, by Gary Younge (Guardian Faber)

CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger:
A Rising Man, by Abir Muckerjee (Harvil Secker)

Also nominated: The Devil’s Feast, by M.J. Carter (Fig Tree); The Ashes of Berlin, by Luke McCallin (No Exit Press); The Long Drop, by Denise Mina (Harvil Secker); By Gaslight, by Steven Price (Point Blank); and The City in Darkness, by Michael Russell (Constable)

CWA International Dagger:
The Dying Detective, by Leif G.W. Persson; translated by
Neil Smith (Doubleday)

Also nominated: A Cold Death, by Antonio Manzini, translated by Anthony Shugaar (4th Estate); A Fine Line, by Gianrico Carofiglio, translated by Howard Curtis (Bitter Lemon Press); Blood Wedding, by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne (MacLehose Press); Climate of Fear, by Fred Vargas, translated by Sian Reynolds (Harvill Secker); The Legacy of the Bones, by Dolores Redondo, translated by Nick Caister and Lorenza Garcia (Harper)

CWA Short Story Dagger:
“The Trials of Margaret,” by L.C. Tyler (from Motives for Murder, edited by Martin Edwards; Sphere)

Also nominated: “The Assassination,” by Leye Adenle (from Sunshine Noir, edited by Anna Maria Alfieri and Michael Stanley; White Sun); “Murder and Its Motives,” by Martin Edwards (from Motives for Murder); “The Super Recogniser of Vik,” by Michael Ridpath (from Motives for Murder); “What You Were Fighting For,” by James Sallis (from The Highway Kind, edited by Patrick Millikin; Mulholland); and “Snakeskin,” by Ovidia Yu (from Sunshine Noir)

CWA Debut Dagger (for unpublished writers):
Strange Fire, by Sherry Larkin

Also nominated: The Reincarnation of Himmat Gupte, by Neeraj Shah; Lost Boys, by Spike Dawkins; Red Haven, by Mette McLeodl; and Broken, by Victoria Slotover

In addition, Mari Hannah—whose capturing of this year’s Dagger in
the Library honor was previously announced—picked up her prize. Novelist Ann Cleeves was presented with the Diamond Dagger, and tonight’s master of ceremonies, author-critic Barry Forshaw, was given a Red Herring Award for services to the CWA.

Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees alike.

SEE MORE: “Video Footage from 2017 CWA Dagger Awards, London,” by Ali Karim (Shotsmag Confidential).