New Talents Among Dagger Champs

Last night, during a “gala dinner” at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London, England, the British Crime Writers’ Association announced the winners of its coveted 2024 Dagger Awards.

Gold Dagger:
Tell Me What I Am, by Una Mannion (Faber & Faber)

Also nominated: Over My Dead Body, by Maz Evans (Headline); The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron (Baskerville); Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane (Abacus); Black River, by Nilanjana Roy (Pushkin Vertigo); and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Sutanto (HQ)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper (Faber & Faber)

Also nominated: All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby (Headline); Ozark Dogs, by Eli Cranor (Headline); The Mantis, by Kotaro Isaka (Harvill Secker); Gaslight, by Femi Kayode (Raven); and 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)

Also nominated: 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); and The Tumbling Girl, by Bridget Walsh (Gallic)

Historical Dagger:
Viper's Dream, by Jake Lamar (No Exit Press)

Also nominated: Clara & Olivia, by Lucy Ashe (Magpie); Harlem After Midnight, by Louise Hare Harlem (HQ); A Bitter Remedy, by Alis Hawkins (Canelo); Scarlet Town, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper); and Voices of the Dead, by Ambrose Parry (Canongate)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger: My Husband, by Maud Ventura, translated by Emma Ramadan (Hutchinson Heinemann)

Also nominated: 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); and The Prey, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb (Hodder & Stoughton)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction: Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, by Nicholas Shakespeare (Vintage)

Also nominated: 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); and How Many More Women?: The Silencing of Women by the Law and How to Stop It, by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida (Endeavour)

Short Story Dagger: “The Divide,” by Sanjida Kay (from The Book of Bristol, edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks; Comma Press)

Also nominated: “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 Spendthrift and the Swallow,” by Ambrose Parry (Canongate); and “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”): Anthony Horowitz

Also nominated: Louise Candlish, M.W. Craven, Cara Hunter,
and L.J. Ross

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”): Pushkin Press

Also nominated: Canelo, Headline (Hachette), Joffe Books, Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House); and Simon & Schuster

Debut Dagger (“for the opening of a crime novel by an unpublished writer”): Makoto Murders, by Richard Jerram

Also nominated: Burnt Ranch, by Katherine Ahlert; Unnatural Predators, by Caroline Arnoul; Not a Good Mother, by Karabi Mitra; Long Way Home, by Lynn McCall; The Last Days of Forever, by Jeremy Tinker; and The Blond, by Megan Toogood

Red Herring Award: Jean Briggs and Dea Parkin
Diamond Dagger Recipients: Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke

A CWA news release quotes Maxim Jakubowski, chair of the Daggers Committee, as calling this “yet another remarkable year of crime writing in which our impartial judges have uncovered a crop of wonderful books. In a year in which many of our ‘big beasts’ had new books, it’s refreshing to see so many new names and talents winning. And a momentous occasion for independent publishers who have swooped on the majority of the awards and, in particular, Faber & Faber who have achieved a rare double of Gold and Steel Daggers.”

(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)