Cutting Down the Daggers

Six weeks after releasing its longlists of nominees for the 2026 Dagger Awards, in 12 categories, Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association has announced its shortlisted contenders.

KAA Gold Dagger:
• 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)
• The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder Fiction)
• The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press)
• The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
• 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)
• We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• 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, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet)
• That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)
• The Illegals, by Shaun Walker (Profile)

Historical Dagger:
• A Granite Silence, by Nina Allan (Riverrun)
• 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)
• A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)
• Scenes from a Tragedy, by Carole Hailey (Corvus)
• The Bodies, by Sam Lloyd (Bantam)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger:
• The Peak, by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins)
• 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)
• Holy City, by Henry Wise (No Exit Press)

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

Emerging Author (for unpublished novels):
• 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
• Blind Side of the Sun, by Michael Nikitin
• 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”):
• Paula Hawkins
• J.D. Kirk
• Clare Mackintosh
• Freida McFadden
• Abir Mukherjee
• Tim Sullivan

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
• Bitter Lemon Press
• Faber & Faber
• No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
• Pan Macmillan
• Simon & Schuster
• Viper (Profile)

All of the winners will be declared during a CWA gala dinner n July.

Revue of Reviewers: 5-24-26

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

Particularly Promising Premieres

I spent the better part of this week entertaining a friend who’d flown in from Minneapolis, so I wasn’t exactly on top of the crime-fiction news. That meant I missed alerting readers to the half-dozen nominees for the 2026 McDermid Debut Award. They are:

• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Penguin Random House)
• The Exes, by Leodora Darlington (Michael Joseph)
• Innocent Guilt, by Remi Kone (Quercus)
• The Quiet, by Barnaby Martin (Pan Macmillan)
• A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (John Murray)
• How to Get Away With Murder, by Rebecca Philipson (Penguin Random House)

According to a news release, “The shortlist for this year’s McDermid Debut Award, named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, showcases ‘original and assured’ new voices writing across a broad range of subgenres … Now in its third year, the award has established a successful track record for discovering emerging talent, with the two previous winning books, Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (2024) and A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (2025), going on to become bestsellers.”

The latest prize recipient is set to be announced on Thursday, July 23, which is opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.

The Blog in Young Adulthood

Today marks two decades—a full 20 years, folks!—since I began posting here in The Rap Sheet. If we consider this (generously) as a job, then it’s the longest one I’ve ever held down. It’s also the one that has brought me the smallest amount of remuneration. But of course I didn’t set out to become rich by blogging about crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. My intention was to celebrate the depth and breadth of this genre, and to express my enduring appreciation for its growth and evolution. I hope I have accomplished that so far.

On the blog’s 10th birthday, I traced my history as a book critic and how it led me to launch The Rap Sheet. So I won’t readdress all of that today. I had once imagined making a big deal of this anniversary (with T-shirts and special postings and more), but decided in the end that, all I really wanted to do was send out my appreciation to the blog’s readers for sticking with it for so long and saying such nice things about it along the way. This journey has presented occasional difficulties, yet it has been predominately rewarding, and I hope to continue writing and editing The Rap Sheet for many years to come.

Thank you, one and all!

How Nice for “Mice”

The 2026 British Book Awards—aka the “Nibbies”—were handed out this week in 17 categories. Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder (Raven, 2024) took top honors in the Crime & Thriller division, with judges calling it “exquisitely written” and labeling its protagonist, Edwardian barrister Gabriel Ward KC, a “memorable sleuth.”

Smith’s novel beat out four others to claim that prize. They were: Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph); The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Borough Press); The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Viking); The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Bantam); and The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press).

The British Book Awards are administered by The Bookseller.

Fingered for Favor

Organizers of this year’s Capital Crime festival in London, England, have announced their finalists for the 2026 Fingerprint Awards. These prizes are said to “champion the very best in crime writing from the past year across the globe, as voted for by readers.”



There are seven categories of contenders for the Fingerprints, but below are three of the most interesting.

Overall Crime Book of the Year:
• The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• The Final Vow, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
• Quantum of Menace, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre)
• The Good Father, by Liam Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
• We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

Debut Crime Book:
• Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus)
• Deadline, by Steph McGovern (Macmillan)
• Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph)
• The Day of the Roaring, by Nina Bhadreshwar (Hemlock Press)
• This Is Not a Game, by Kelly Mullen (Century)

True Crime Book of the Year:
• Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday)
• Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, by Virginia Roberts-Guiffre (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)
• 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)

Click right here to see the shortlists of nominees in all seven Fingerprint Award divisions for 2026. Between now and Saturday, May 30, readers are invited to vote online for their favorites. The winners will be revealed during a special presentation on Capital Crime’s opening night, Thursday, June 18.

Set to Consider in Calgary

While we’re on the subject of crime-fiction commendations, today also brings news of which stories and authors have been chosen as finalists for the 2026 Anthony Awards “for excellence in crime fiction.”

Best Hardcover Novel:
• All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur)
• The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)
• Death of an Ex, by Delia Pitts (Minotaur)
• King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Pine
and Cedar)

Best First Novel:
• History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook
(Soho Crime)
• Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
• Mask of the Deer Woman, by Laurie L. Dove (Berkley)
• The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (Morrow)
• Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best)
• Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)

Best Paperback Original/E-Book/Audiobook Original Novel:
• Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River)
• Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
• River of Lies, by James L'Etoile (Oceanview)
• This Violent Heart, by Heather Levy (Montlake)
• Tricks of Fortune, by Lina Chern (Bantam)

Best Short Story:
• “AITA for Using My Husband’s Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson,” by Mindy Carlson (from Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means? edited by Jeff Circle; Kindle/Audible)
• “Brotherly Love,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter; Level Short)
• “Finding Jimmy Baldwin,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater)
• “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic)
• “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press)
• “The Skies Are Red,” by Richie Narvaez (from On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito; Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Best Juvenile or YA:
• Death in the Cards, by Mia P. Manansala (Delacorte Press)
• Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf)
• Risky Pursuit, by Nancy G. West, (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books)
• The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson
(Quill Tree)
• Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History, by Chris Chan (Level Best)

Best Critical or Non-fiction Work:
• Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilbert King (Flatiron)
• L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood, by Anne Soon Choi
(Third State)
• Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)
• The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, by
Pagan Kennedy (Vintage)
• Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay, Level Tru)

Best Anthology or Collection:
• Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed: Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Don Bruns (Down & Out)
• Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater)
• Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Short)
• On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)
• Whatever Kills the Pain, by C.W. Blackwell (Rock and a Hard Place)

The winners in each of these seven categories will be chosen by attendees at this year’s Bouchercon in Calgary, Alberta, and announced during a ceremony on October 24.

Thrill Seeking Rewarded

Southern California crime-fictionist Robert Crais has been enjoying a great deal of good news lately. The Big Empty (2025), the 20th installment in his long-running series about Los Angeles private eye Elvis Cole, recently won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. Now it has also picked up a 2026 Thriller Award.

That news was trumpeted just last night during Thrillerfest XXI in New York City. Here are all six of the authors who carried off prizes from the International Thriller Writers (ITW) organization:

Best Standalone Novel: Cross My Heart, by Megan Collins (Atria)

Also nominated: Zigzag Girl, by Ruth Knafo Setton (Black Spring Press); The Burning Library, by Gilly Macmillan (Morrow); The Locked Ward, by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press); and So Happy Together, by Olivia Worley (Minotaur)

Best Series Novel: The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Chain Reaction, by James Byrne (Minotaur); Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur); The Tourists, by Christopher Reich (Thomas & Mercer); and Terminal Moonlight, by Vincent Zandri
(Down & Out)

Best First Novel: Party of Liars, by Kelsey Cox (Minotaur)

Also nominated: Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Pamela Dorman); Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava (Scout Press); History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime); and Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)
 
Best Audiobook: The White Crow, by Michael Robotham; narrated by Katy Sobey (Simon & Schuster)

Also nominated: King of Ashes, by S. A. Cosby; narrated by Adam Lazarre-White (Macmillan); The Wasp Trap, by Mark Edwards; narrated by John Hopkins and Anna Burnett (Simon & Schuster); Best Offer Wins, by Marisa Kashino; narrated by Cia Court (Macmillan); When Devils Sing, by Xan Kaur; narrated by Michael Crouch, Anjali Kunapaneni, Jennifer Pickens, and Landon Woodson (Macmillan); and The Cheaters Wife, by C.N. Mabry and N’Dia Rae; narrated by Ruffin Prentiss and Machelle Williams (Simon Maverick)

Best Young Adult Novel: The Silenced, by Diana Rodriguez
Wallach (Delacorte Press)

Also nominated: Murder Between Friends, by Liz Lawson (Delacorte Press); This Stays Between Us, by Margot McGovern (Penguin Young Readers); Shiny Happy People, by Clay McLeod Chapman (Delacorte Press); and The Thrashers, by Julie Soto (Wednesday)

Best Short Story: “The Violent Season,” by Jessica Van Dessel (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, July/August 2025)

Also nominated: “Level Up,” by Katrina Carrasco (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater); “The Seduction of Dr. Dimension,” by Scott William Carter (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November/December 2025); “Eleven Numbers,” by Lee Child (Amazon Original Stories); and “False Note,” by David Lagercrantz (Amazon Original Stories)

In addition, an ITW news release says the following people received “special recognition” during the convention’s awards banquet:

• 2026 ThrillerMaster, Lisa Scottoline
• 2026 ThrillerMaster, Harlan Coben
• 2026 Silver Bullet Award, Douglas Preston
• 2026 Spotlight Guest, Rachel Howzell Hall
• 2026 Spotlight Guest, Luis Alberto Urrea
• 2026 Thriller Legend, Barbara Peters
• 2026 ThrillerFan, Jordon Moblo
• 2026 Thriller Volunteer of the Year, James L'Etoile

Revue of Reviewers: 5-7-26

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