Culling from the Crowd

During a festive reception at CrimeFest, taking place this weekend in Bristol, England, the UK Crime Writers’ Association announced its shortlists of nominees for the 2024 Dagger Awards.

Gold Dagger:
• Over My Dead Body, by Maz Evans (Headline)
• The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus)
• Tell Me What I Am, by Una Mannion (Faber and Faber)
• Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto (HQ)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline)
• Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber and Faber)
• The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka (Harvill Secker)
• Gaslight, by Femi Kayode (Raven)
• Drowning, by T.J. Newman (Simon & Schuster)

ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• In the Blink of an Eye, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Golden Gate, by Amy Chua (Corvus)
• The Maiden, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
• West Heart Kill, by Dann McDorman (Raven)
• Go Seek, by Michelle Teahan (Headline)
• The Tumbling Girl, by Bridget Walsh (Gallic)

Historical Dagger:
• Clara & Olivia, by Lucy Ashe (Magpie)
• Harlem After Midnight, by Louise Hare Harlem (HQ)
• A Bitter Remedy, by Alis Hawkins (Canelo)
• Viper's Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)
• Scarlet Town, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
• Voices of the Dead, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• Red Queen, by Juan Gómez-Jurado,
translated by Nick Caistor (Macmillan)
• The Sins of Our Fathers, by Åsa Larsson,
translated by Frank Perry (Maclehose Press)
• Nothing Is Lost, by Cloé Mehdi,
translated by Howard Curtis (Europa Editions UK)
• The Consultant, by Im Seong-sun,
translated by An Seong Jae (Raven)
• The Prey, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton)
• My Husband, by Maud Ventura,
translated by Emma Ramadan (Hutchinson Heinemann)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• The Art Thief, by Michael Finkel (Simon & Schuster)
• No Ordinary Day: Espionage, Betrayal, Terrorism and Corruption—The Truth Behind the Murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, by Matt Johnson with John Murray (Ad Lib)
• Devil’s Coin: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen, by Jennifer McAdam with Douglas Thompson (Ad Lib)
• Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of Murder and Mercy, by Alex Mar (Bedford Square)
• How Many More Women?: The Silencing of Women by the Law and How to Stop It, by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida (Endeavour)
• Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, by Nicholas Shakespeare (Vintage)

Short Story Dagger:
• “Safe Enough,” by Lee Child (from An Unnecessary Assassin, edited by Lorraine Stevens; Rivertree)
• “The Last Best Thing,” by Mia Dalia (from Bang!: An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction, edited by Andrew Hook; Head Shot Press)
• “The Also-Rans,” by Benedict J. Jones (from Bang!: An Anthology of Modern Noir Fiction)
• “The Divide,” by Sanjida Kay (from The Book of Bristol, edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks; Comma Press)
• “The Spendthrift and the Swallow,” by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
• “Best Served Cold,” by F.D. Quinn (from An Unnecessary Assassin)

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”):
• Louise Candlish
• M.W. Craven
• Cara Hunter
• Anthony Horowitz
• L.J. Ross

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
• Canelo
• Headline (Hachette)
• Joffe Books
• Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House)
• Pushkin Press
• Simon & Schuster

Debut Dagger (“for the opening of a crime novel by an
unpublished writer”):
• Burnt Ranch, by Katherine Ahlert
• Unnatural Predators, by Caroline Arnoul
• Makoto Murders, by Richard Jerram
• Not a Good Mother, by Karabi Mitra
• Long Way Home, by Lynn McCall
• The Last Days of Forever, by Jeremy Tinker
• The Blond, by Megan Toogood

The longlist of 2024 contenders is available here.

This year’s winners will be announced during an awards ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on July 4.