Dispensing Daggers

A bit over a month after announcing its shortlist of candidates, the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has revealed the winners of its 2026 Dagger Awards, “celebrating the very best in crime writing.”

KAA Gold Dagger: The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)

Also nominated: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline); Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph); The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder Fiction); The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press); and The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)

Also nominated: The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper); The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster UK); A Sting in Her Tale, by Mark Ezra (No Exit Press); Such Quiet Girls, by Noelle Ihli (Pan); The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre); and We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction: That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)

Also nominated: Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland, by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus Crime); 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); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet); and The Illegals, by Shaun Walker (Profile)

Historical Dagger: A Granite Silence, by Nina Allan (Riverrun)

Also nominated: Barvick Falls, by Rob McInroy (Tippermuir); The Devil’s Draper, by Donna Moor (Fly on the Wall Press); Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville); The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle); and A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger: The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda)

Also nominated: Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse, translated by Florian Duijsens (Faber & Faber); The Lake, by Jørn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce (Penguin Random House); Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić, translated by Matt Robinson (Bitter Lemon Press); Big Bad Wool, by Leonie Swann, translated by Amy Bojang (Allison & Busby); and Strange Pictures, by Uketsu, translated by
Jim Rion (Pushkin Press)



Whodunnit Dagger (for “cosy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime” stories): A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (Baskerville)

Also nominated: The Christmas Cracker Killer, by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK); Little Secrets, by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns Publishing UK); Etiquette for Lovers and Killers, by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Fleet); A Queer Case, by Robert Holtom (Titan); and Bad Influence, by C.J. Wray (Orion)

Twisted Dagger (for “psychological and suspense thrillers”): We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

Also nominated: 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); Scenes from a Tragedy, by Carole Hailey (Corvus); and The Bodies, by Sam Lloyd (Bantam)

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger: The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey (Hemlock Press)

Also nominated: The Peak, by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins); The Lost Detective, by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine); The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper); Coram House, by Bailey Seybolt (Raven); and Holy City, by Henry Wise (No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger: “The Apple Falls Not Far,” by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)

Also nominated: “Split Your Silver Tongue,” by S.A. Cosby (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos: New Stories Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; No Exit Press); “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); “Strangers on a School Bus,” by Peter Swanson (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos); and “Waiting,” by Michael Wood (from Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me, edited by Samantha Lee Howe; Telos)

Emerging Author (for unpublished novels): Blind Side of the Sun,
by Michael Nikitin

Also nominated: Ill Met by Murder, by Rod Cookson; The Man Who Fit the Case, by Sophia Georghiou; Just a Simple Wedding, by Kate Koester; The Fixer, by Lorna Mathew; The Madam of Morningside, by Rebecca McFarland; and The Pattern of Absence, by Melisssa Tonkin

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established
crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”): Tim Sullivan

Also nominated: Paula Hawkins; J.D. Kirk; Clare Mackintosh; Freida McFadden; and Abir Mukherjee

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

Also nominated: Faber & Faber; No Exit Press (Bedford Square); Pan Macmillan; Simon & Schuster; and Viper (Profile)

Red Herring Award Recipient: Fiona Veitch Smith (for service
to the CWA)

Diamond Dagger Recipient: Mark Billingham

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and runners-up!