Evidence of Excellence

We can’t say we weren’t warned. Late last week, the British Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) said it would announce its longlists of nominees for the 2020 Dagger Awards today—and now we have those, nine categories of books, authors, and publishers deemed by judges to be the best on offer in the United Kingdom.

CWA Gold Dagger:
• What You Pay For, by Claire Askew (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Beyond Reasonable Doubt, by Gary Bell (Raven)
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Harper)
• Black Summer, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
• Forced Confessions, by John Fairfax (Little, Brown)
• The Guest List, by Lucy Foley (Harper)
• The Lantern Men, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• Silver, by Chris Hammer (Wildfire)
• Joe Country, by Mick Herron (John Murray)
• The Bear Pit, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
• Throw Me to the Wolves, by Patrick McGuinness (Jonathan Cape)
• Death in the East, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• The Whisper Man, by Alex North (Michael Joseph)
• That Left Turn at Albuquerque, by Scott Phillips (Soho Crime)
• Good Girl, Bad Girl, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)
• No One Home, by Tim Weaver (Michael Joseph)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
• November Road, by Lou Berney (Harper)
• This Is Gomorrah, by Tom Chatfield (Hodder & Stoughton)
• Keep You Close, by Karen Cleveland (Bantam Press)
• One Way Out, by A.A. Dhand (Bantam Press)
• Between Two Evils, by Eva Dolan (Raven)
• Perfect Kill, by Helen Fields (Avon)
• A Shadow Intelligence, by Oliver Harris (Little, Brown)
• The River, by Peter Heller (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Cemetery Road, by Greg Iles (Harper)
• Cold Storage, by David Koepp (HQ)
• The Chain, by Adrian McKinty (Orion)
• The Whisper Man, by Alex North (Michael Joseph)
• The King’s Evil, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger:
• Your House Will Pay, by Steph Cha (Faber and Faber)
• Trust Me, I'm Dead, by Sherryl Clark (Verve)
• My Lovely Wife, by Samantha Downing (Michael Joseph)
• Little White Lies, by Philippa East (HQ)
• Whirligig, by Andrew James Greig (Fledgling Press)
• This Dark Little Place, by A.S. Hatch (Serpent’s Tail)
• A Death in the Medina, by James Von Leyden (Constable)
• Hold Your Tongue, by Deborah Masson (Corgi)
• Black Sun, by Owen Matthews (Bantam Press)
• The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone, by Felicity McLean (Point Blank)
• The Wreckage, by Robin Morgan-Bentley (Trapeze)
• The Man on the Street, by Trevor Wood (Quercus)

Sapere Books Historical Dagger:
• In Two Minds, by Alis Hawkins (The Dome Press)
• Metropolis, by Philip Kerr (Quercus)
• The Bear Pit, by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)
• Death in the East, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)
• The Serpent’s Mark, by S.W. Perry (Corvus)
• The Anarchists’ Club, by Alex Reeve (Raven)
• Liberation Square, by Gareth Rubin (Michael Joseph)
• The Bone Fire, by S.D. Sykes (Hodder & Stoughton)
• The King’s Evil, by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)
• The Man That Got Away, by Lynne Truss (Raven)
• Sorry for the Dead, by Nicola Upson (Faber and Faber)
• The Paper Bark Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
• The Catholic School, by Edoardo Albinati;
translated by Anthony Shugaar (Picador)
• Summer of Reckoning, by Marion Brunet;
translated by Katherine Gregor (Bitter Lemon Press)
• The Godmother, by Hannelore Cayre;
translated by Stephanie Smee (Old Street)
• Like Flies from Afar, by K. Ferrari;
translated by Adrian Nathan West (Canongate)
• November, by Jorge Galán;
translated by Jason Wilson (Constable)
• Blood Song, by Johana Gustawsson;
translated by David Warriner (Orenda)
• The Cabin, by Jørn Lier Horst;
translated by Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph)
• The Fragility of Bodies, by Sergio Olguin;
translated by Miranda France (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Grab a Snake by the Tail, by Leonardo Padura;
translated by Peter Bush (Bitter Lemon Press)
• Little Siberia, by Antti Tuomainen;
translated by David Hackston (Orenda)

Short Story Dagger:
• “Dead Weight,” by Fiona Cummins (from Exit Wounds, edited by
Paul B. Kane and Marie O’Regan; Titan)
• “Connecting the Dots,” by Jeffery Deaver (from Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; Titan)
• “The Bully,” by Jeffery Deaver (from Exit Wounds)
• “The New Lad,” by Paul Finch (from Exit Wounds)
• “The Washing,” by Christopher Fowler (from Invisible Blood)
• “Bryant and May and The Devil’s Triangle,” by Christopher Fowler (from Bryant and May: England’s Finest, by Christopher Fowler; Doubleday)
• “#Me Too,” by Lauren Henderson (from Invisible Blood)
• “The Recipe,” by Louise Jensen (from Exit Wounds)
• “Kittens,” by Dean Koontz (from Exit Wounds)
• “Easily Made,” by Syd Moore (from The Twelve Strange Days of Christmas, by Syd Moore; Point Blank Press)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
• Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee,
by Casey Cep (William Heinemann)
• Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists,
by Julia Ebner (Bloomsbury)
• Corrupt Bodies: Death and Dirty Dealing in a London Morgue,
by Peter Everett (Icon)
• Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod,
by Caroline Goode (Oneworld)
• Red River Girl: A Journey into the Dark Heart of Canada, by Joanna Jolly (Virago)
• She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (Bloomsbury Circus)
• The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury, by Sean O’Connor
(Simon & Schuster)
• The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking, by Adam Sisman (Profile)
• The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective, by Susannah
Stapleton (Picador)
• Dead Fashion Girl: A Situationist Detective Story, by Fred Vermorel (Strange Attractor Press)
 
Dagger in the Library:
• Benjamin Black
• Christopher Brookmyre
• Jane Casey
• Paul Finch
• Alex Gray
• Mick Herron
• Quintin Jardine
• Lisa Jewell
• Erin Kelly
• Adrian McKinty
• Denise Mina
• James Oswald

Debut Dagger:
• Lowlands, by Barbara Austin
• The Spae-Wife, by Anna Caig
• Undercut, by Loraine Fowlow
• Whipstick, by Leanne Fry
• Pesticide, by Kim Hays
• Blogger’s End, by Jack Kapica
• Emergency Drill, by Nicholas Morrish
• Revolution Never Lies, Josephine Moulds
• Bitter Lake, by Michael Munro
• Grim Fairy Tale, by Karen Taylor
• Dark Pastimes, by Jane Wing
• A Generation of Vipers, by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
 
Publishers’ Dagger:
• Allison & Busby
• Bitter Lemon
• Harvill Secker
• Head of Zeus
• HQ
• Michael Joseph
• Orenda
• Orion
• Pushkin Vertigo
• Raven
• Severn House
• Sphere

A shortlist of nominees is expected sometime later this year, to be followed by the actual awards presentation on October 22 (either a traditionally glitzy public gathering or, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, an online-only function). During that same ceremony, Martin Edwards will receive the 2020 Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, “the highest honour in British crime writing.”

Meanwhile, the CWA wants it known that “Della Millward has won the 2020 CWA Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize for A Time to Confess. She receives £500, a selection of Margery Allingham books and two passes to the international crime writing convention CrimeFest in 2021. Highly commended were Lauren Everdell for Voices and Laila Murphy with Sting in the Tail. The Margery Allingham Society, set up to honour and promote the writings of the great Golden Age author, works with the CWA to operate and fund the writing competition.”