Revue of Reviewers: 7-6-26

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

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!

Grading Sleuthhounds

I spent the last few days out of town, so missed the announcement of this year’s Shamus Award nominees, made by the Private Eye Writers of America. Below are those contenders, in four categories.

Best P.I. Hardcover:
• The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
• Photograph, by Brian Freeman (Blackstone)
• Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown)
• Gray Dawn, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown)
• Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur)

Best First P.I. Novel:
• Chase Harlem, by Elise Burke Brown (Rising Action)
• Miles in Time, by Lee Mathew Goldberg (Wise Wolf)
• Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski (Datura)
• Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, by Josh Mendoza (Inkshares)
• The Witch’s Orchard, by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur)

Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel:
• The Hook and the Eye, by Raymond Benson (Ian Fleming)
• Sunday or the Highway, by Cindy Fazzi (Thomas & Mercer)
• City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best)
• Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)
• Catch Me on a Blue Day, by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey)

Best P.I. Short Story:
• “The Roosevelt Affair,” by Adam Meyer
(from Crimeucopia: A Coterie of Dicks; Murderous Ink Press)
• “The One Cry,” by F.H. Batacan
(from Accidents Happen, by F.H. Batacan; Soho Crime)
• “Dr. Bones,” by Libby Cudmore
(Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May/June)
• “Hours on the Phone,” by Gregory Fallis (EQMM, July/August)
• “The Shadows,” by Charles John Harper (EQMM, May/June)

The winners will be declared during the opening ceremonies at Bouchercon 2026, to be held in Calgary, Alberta, from October 21 to 25. Click here to learn more about that convention.

Who’s Ready to Party in Stirling?

Organizers of the international crime-fiction event Bloody Scotland today released their longlist of nominees for the 2026 McIlvanney Prize:

• The Hollow Boys, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• 138 Main Street, by Gavin Bell (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Quite Ugly One Evening, by Chris Brookmyre (Abacus)
• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Bantam)
• Unknown, by Heather Critchlow (Canelo Crime)
• Solitary Agents, by David Goodman (Headline)
• We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion)
• Rat Race, by Callum McSorley (Pushkin Vertigo)
• The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Polygon)
• The Pinnacle, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Liar Thief, by May Rinaldi (Black Spring Crime)

This award is named for novelist William McIlvanney (Laidlaw) and is intended to honor “the best Scottish Crime book of the year.” It’s sponsored by The Glencairn Glass.

The winner will be announced on Friday, September 18, along with this year’s recipient of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. There are five contenders for that latter commendation, all penned by women and all but one of them also a candidate for the McIlvanney:

• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Bantam)
• Original Sins, by Linda Duncan McLaughlin (Into Books)
• We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
• Liar Thief, by May Rinaldi (Black Spring Crime)

These presentations are elements of the schedule for the 2026 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, which will take place in Stirling, Scotland, from September 18 to 20.

The Choices Just Keep Coming

With today marking the start of July, it’s time for an update on the status of The Rap Sheet’s selection of new summer books.

As you know by now, I am in the habit of adding titles to my quarterly picks lists as their period of prime relevancy rolls on. This season’s inventory is no different. The count started above 400, and I’ve expanded it with more than a dozen other works since its posting on June 7. Among the extras: Bone Horn, by Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain (Soft Skull); The Grapevine, by Alexandra Sokoloff and Craig Robertson (Blackstone); The Propaganda Murders, by Lynn Brittney (Iris); Don’t Look Away, by Daniel Kenitz (Scribner); Mr. and Mrs. Dixon Hide a Body, by Jennifer Holdich (Sourcebooks Landmark); Deliverance, by Saima Mir (Point Blank); A Killing in Lagos, by Amen Alonge (Quercus); and Faculty of Liars, by R.L. Heber (Point Blank).

Again, click here to see the full roster.

Dobyns Reaches His Finish Line

Stephen Dobyns, the New Jersey-born poet, ex-reporter and former English professor, and crime fictionist, died on June 14 at age 85. Among his many books were 11 novels starring Charlie Bradshaw, described by The Thrilling Detective Web Site as a onetime cop and “small-town private eye in Saratoga Springs, New York.” The first entry in that series was Saratoga Longshot, which reached print in 1976. The final Bradshaw yarn appeared in 2017 under the title Saratoga Payback. He also penned standalone works of crime fiction, such as Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? (2015) and The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini (1988).

In a Facebook post this week, editor, critic, and occasional Rap Sheet contributor Jim Thomsen explained that he’d been in the midst of composing an article for Substack about Dobyn’s 1987 noir yarn, A Boat Off the Coast, when he learned of the author’s demise. At the conclusion of that article, he notes:

I’m a big admirer of Stephen Dobyns, though I’m guessing he’s neither the first or even hundred and first name you might think of when you think of a “noir author,” nor was he the type to habituate the hotel bar at a Bouchercon-type conclave and thus gain the slavish admiration of the social-media class.

First, because he’s primarily thought of as a poet (fourteen published volumes of verse since 1972). Second, because his fiction worked in many idioms. His first published novel, A Man of Little Evils (1973), was a John le Carré-like spy novel set in England. And soon after he wrote the first of eleven non-noirish private-detective novels set in Saratoga Springs, New York, and starring the hangdog, sad-sack Charlie Bradshaw. The rest of his novels, while all having elements of crime, defy easy categorization beyond “literary,” and his latter-day efforts had something of a madcap comic bent, as witnessed by his last, Is Fat Bob Dead Yet?

Some of his crime novels are noir-inflected, but only A Boat Off the Coast has the bullet that hits the noir bone.

According to an online obituary, “a memorial service will be held in September” in Connecticut, where Dobyns passed away.

Pünd’s Concluding Chapter

Americans who have wondered lately when the TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s third Susan Ryeland mystery, Marble Hall Murders, might finally be aired should be pleased to hear that PBS has scheduled its run to begin on Sunday, September 6.

This six-part presentation of Horowitz’s third and reportedly final Ryeland whodunit will bring back Lesley Manville as the book editor-cum-sleuth, with Tim McMullan again playing fictional detective Atticus Pünd. The story finds Ryeland shepherding into print a novel that relaunches the Atticus Pünd detective series, following the death (in Magpie Murders) of its creator, Alan Conway. This new author is Eliot Chace, troubled heir to the fortune of his grandmother Miriam, a renowned children’s book author. While Miriam’s long-ago death hadn’t appeared at all suspicious, Eliot raises doubts by centering his tale on the murder of a Miriam stand-in. The puzzle’s solution is in Eliot’s book, which imagines a newly retired Pünd called in to solve the slaying of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who had grown frightened of her husband. But before Susan can find the concealed solution, she becomes the prime suspect in another slaying.

A trailer for the coming series can be enjoyed here.

Revealing Fingerprints

It seems like yesterday—and indeed, it was just a bit over a month ago—that we were announcing the finalists for this year’s Fingerprint Awards, to be presented at London’s 2026 Capital Crime festival. Well, that event has been taking place over the last three days, and we now have the winners of those prizes. They come in eight categories.

Audiobook of the Year:
Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Simon & Schuster Audio)

Also nominated: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline); We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion); Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Macmillan); and Artificial Wisdom, by Thomas R. Weaver (Transworld Digital)

True Crime Book of the Year:
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, by Virginia Roberts-Guiffre (Doubleday)

Also nominated: Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet); A History of Modern Britain in Twenty Murders, by Professor David Wilson (Sphere); and A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children, by Haley Cohen Gilliland (Avid Reader Press)

Debut Crime Book:
Deadline, by Steph McGovern (Macmillan)

Also nominated: Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus); Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph); The Day of the Roaring, by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press); and This Is Not a Game, by Kelly Mullen (Century)

Genre-Busting Book:
Kill Them with Kindness, by Will Carver (‎Orenda)

Also nominated: Little Red Death, by A.K. Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK); Blood Like Ours, by Stuart Neville (Simon & Schuster UK); Small Fires, by Ronnie Turner (Orenda); and Manhattan Down, by Michael Cordy (Bantam)

Historical Crime Book of the Year:
The Burning Grounds, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill)

Also nominated: The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle); The Rush, by Beth Lewis (Viper); Dangerous, by Essie Fox (Orenda); and Marble Hall Murders, by Anthony Horowitz (Century)

Thriller Book of the Year:
Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell (Century)

Also nominated: The Chemist, by A.A. Dhand (HQ); Human Remains, by Jo Callaghan (Simon & Schuster UK); The Man Made of Smoke, by Alex North (Michael Joseph); and Some of Us Are Liars, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)

Overall Crime Book of the Year:
The Final Vow, by M.W. Craven (Constable)

Also nominated: The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper); Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre); The Good Father, by Liam Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre); and We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

Thalia Procter Lifetime Achievement Award: Trisha Jackson, publishing director for fiction at publisher Pan Macmillan

Publishing Crime Book Campaign of the Year: Pan MacMillan, for The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Commending the Best of This Genre

Harrogate International Festivals this morning announced its shortlist of nominees for the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, which is intended to recognize the “most prestigious crime fiction” published in the UK and Ireland. From an original list of 18 titles, the following six remain:

• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
• Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney (Pan Fiction)
• The Frozen People, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre)

Readers are now invited to choose their favorite from among these books by clicking here. Voting will close on Thursday, July 16, at 23:59 GMT. The winner is to be revealed on Thursday, July 23, the opening night of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lambda Literary offers the recipients of its 38th Annual Lambda Awards (the “Lammys”) for excellence in LGBTQ+ books. Taking top honors in the Best LGBTQ+ Mystery category is A Queer Case, by Robert Holtom (Titan). The other finalists were Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter, by Samantha Crewson (Crooked Lane); Girl Falling, by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron); Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur); and The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler (Kensington).

“Bold and Brave” Win the Day

Sisters in Crime Australia recently released its longlists of books being considered for the 2026 Davitt Awards, “celebrating excellence in crime writing by Australian women.”

Adult Fiction:
• At Café 64, by Shaeden Barry (Echo)
• Lyrebird, by Jane Caro (Allen & Unwin)
• Unfinished Business, by Shankari Chandran (Ultimo Press)
• Skull River, by Pip Fioretti (Affirm Press)
• When She Was Gone, by Sara Foster (HarperCollins Australia)
• Revelation Beach, by Susan Francis (Wild Dingo Press)
• Learned Behaviours, by Zeyneb Gamieldien (Ultimo Press)
• Unbury the Dead, by Fiona Hardy (Affirm Press)
• Mad Mabel, by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan Australia)
• The Canvas Killings, by Elise Janes (JETT)
• The Bluff, by Joanna Jenkins (Allen & Unwin)
• Melaleuca, by Angie Faye Martin (HQ Fiction)
• The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey (HarperCollins Australia)
• The Prospect, by Fleur McDonald (HarperCollins Australia)
• Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Allen & Unwin)
• Nemesis, by Patricia Wolf (Echo)

Non-fiction:
• Groomed, by Sonia Orchard (Simon & Schuster)
• Outrageous Fortunes: The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-writer, and Her Criminal Son, by Megan Brown and Lucy Sussex (Black Inc.)
• The Red House, by Kate Wild (Allen & Unwin)

Young Adult:
• What Have They Done to Liza McLean? by Amy Doak (Penguin Random House Australia)
• A Murder Is Going Down, by Kate Emery (Allen & Unwin)
• We Saw What You Started, by Carla Salmon (Pan Macmillan Australia)

Children’s Books:
• Run, by Sarah Armstrong (Hardie Grant Children’s)
• The Girl and the Ghost, by Jacqueline Harvey (Penguin Random
House Australia)
• Oceanforged: The Wicked Ship, by Amelia Mellor (Simon &
Schuster Australia)
• True South, by Gisela Ervin-Ward (Midnight Sun)
• Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend (Hachette Children’s)
• Promises and Other Lies, by Sue Whiting (Walker)

Ruth Wykes, who chairs the Davitt Awards judging panel, is quoted as saying these works “were the ones that entertained, challenged, taught us, and stayed with us long after we had read the final chapters. Stories that were bold and brave, or beautifully nuanced.”

This year’s shortlists are to be announced in July, and at that same time, voting will commence for the 2026 Readers’ Choice Award. All of the winners are to be declared in August or September.

The Davitt Awards are named for Ellen Davitt (1812-1879), the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud (1865).

Revue of Reviewers: 6-15-26

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.