Dagger Designees

The British Crime Writers’ Association today released its longlists of contenders for the 2026 Dagger Awards, in 11 categories. Coming next in this process will be the revelation of shortlists on May 28, followed by an announcement of the year’s Dagger winners in July.

KAA Gold Dagger:
• Carnival of Lies, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
• Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie, by James Lee Burke (Orion)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre)
• The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press)
• The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Viper)
• A Voice in the Night, by Simon Mason (Riverrun)
• The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
• Hotel Ukraine, by Martin Cruz Smith (Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark (Zaffre)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• The Chemist, by A.A. Dhand (HQ Fiction)
• A Dead Draw, by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer)
• A Sting in Her Tale, by Mark Ezra (No Exit Press)
• Burying Jericho, by William Hussey (Zaffre)
• Such Quiet Girls, by Noelle Ihli (Pan)
• The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
• We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• The Devil Takes Bitcoin, by Jake Adelstein (Scribe)
• Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland, by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus Crime)
• Saffie, by David Collins (Silvertail)
• The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB, by Gordon Corera (William Collins)
• The Murder Game, by John Curran (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
• The CIA Book Club: The Best-Kept Secret of the Cold War, by Charlie English (William Collins)
• Murderland, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet)
• The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, and a True Story of Murder, by Thomas Harding (Michael Joseph)
• A Spy in the Family, by Paul Henderson and David Gardner (Mirror)
• The Cleveland Street Scandal, by Neil Root (The History Press)
• That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)
• The Illegals, by Shaun Walker (Profile)

Historical Dagger:
• A Granite Silence, by Nina Allan (Riverrun)
• Spoiler’s Prey, by Robin Blake (Severn House)
• Benecula, by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Polygon)
• The Mourning Necklace, by Kate Foster (Mantle)
• The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (Swift Press)
• The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Viper)
• Barvick Falls, by Rob McInroy (Tippermuir)
• The Devil’s Draper, by Donna Moor (Fly on the Wall Press)
• Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
• Cairo Gambit, by S.W. Perry (Corvus)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
• A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• Home Before Dark, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir,
translated by Victoria Cribb (Orenda)
• Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse,
translated by Florian Duijsens (Faber & Faber)
• Scars of Silence, by Johana Gustawsson,
translated by David Warriner (Orenda)
• The Lake, by Jørn Lier Horst,
translated by Anne Bruce (Penguin Random House)
• Seesaw Monster, by Kotaro Isaka,
translated by Sam Malissa (Penguin Random House)
• Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić,
translated by Matt Robinson (Bitter Lemon Press)
• The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö,
translated by Kristian London (Bonnier)
• Big Bad Wool, by Leonie Swann,
translated by Amy Bojang (Allison & Busby)
• The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda)
• Strange Pictures, by Uketsu,
translated by Jim Rion (Pushkin Press)

Whodunnit Dagger (for “cosy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime” stories):
• The Christmas Cracker Killer, by Alexandra Benedict
(Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Queen Who Came in from the Cold, by S.J. Bennett (Zaffre)
• Etiquette for Lovers and Killers, by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Fleet)
• Little Secrets, by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns Publishing UK)
• A Queer Case, by Robert Holtom (Titan)
• The Margaret Code, by Richard Hooton (Sphere)
• A Cinnamon Falls Mystery, by R.L. Killmore (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Other People’s Houses, by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere)
• Not Another Bloody Christmas, by Jo Middleton (Avon)
• A Trial in Three Acts, by Guy Morpuss (Viper)
• A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (Baskerville)
• Bad Influence, by C.J. Wray (Orion)

Twisted Dagger (for “psychological and suspense thrillers”):
• What Happens in the Dark, by Kia Abdullah (HQ Fiction)
• Her Many Faces, by Nicci Cloke (Harvill Secker)
• Some of Us Are Liars, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)
• The House of Water, by Fflur Dafydd (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Macmillan)
• Scenes from a Tragedy, by Carole Hailey (Corvus)
• Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Century)
• The Bodies, by Sam Lloyd (Bantam)
• The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)
• 59 Minutes, by Holly Seddon (Orion)

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger:
• The Malt Whiskey Murders, by Natalie Jayne Clark (Polygon)
• Etiquette for Lovers and Killers, by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Fleet)
• The Peak, by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins)
• The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenberg (Sphere)
• The Lost Detective, by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine)
• The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey (Hemlock Press)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Coram House, by Bailey Seybolt (Raven)
• A Beautiful Family, by Jennifer Trevelyan (Mantle)
• Holy City, by Henry Wise (No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger:
• “Arlene,” by William Boyle (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos: New Stories Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Maxim Jakubowski;
No Exit Press)
• “Split Your Silver Tongue,” by S.A. Cosby (from Birds, Strangers
and Psychos)
• “Chest,” by Ragnar Jónasson (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
• “The Karpman Drama Triangle,” by Denise Mina (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
• “Full Circle,” by Abir Mukherjee (from Playing Dead: Short Stories in Honour of Simon Brett by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards; Severn House)
• “The Apple Falls Not Far,” by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)
• “Once Upon a Time in New Jersey,” by Zoë Sharp and John Lawton (from CrimeFest: Leaving the Scene Celebrating 16 Years, edited by Adrian Muller; No Exit Press)
• “Strangers on a School Bus,” by Peter Swanson (from Birds,
Strangers and Psychos)
• “Waiting,” by Michael Wood (from Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me, edited by Samantha Lee Howe; Telos)

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”):
• Ben Aaronovitch
• Damien Boyd
• Reverend Richard Coles
• Rhys Dylan
• Paula Hawkins
• J.D. Kirk
• Clare Mackintosh
• Freida McFadden (aka Sara Cohen)
• Abir Mukherjee
• Tim Sullivan
• Robert Thorogood

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
• Allison & Busby
• Baskerville (John Murray/Hachette)
• Bitter Lemon Press
• Constable (Little, Brown)
• Faber & Faber
• Harvill Vintage (Penguin Random House)
• Muswell Press
• No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
• Pan Macmillan
• Polygon (Birlinn)
• Simon & Schuster
• Viper (Profile Books)

In addition, actor-turned-novelist Mark Billingham is slated to receive the 2026 CWA Diamond Dagger, a prize that “recognises authors whose crime-writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.”