Press Release: CWA Dagger Awards 2020 Longlists Announced

The 2020 longlists for the prestigious CWA Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime writing genre, have been announced.

The world-famous Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.

The longlist for the CWA Gold Dagger – the award for best crime novel – sees last year’s winner, MW Craven, return with the second book in his Poe series, Black Summer. Craven is up against stiff competition with established and multi-award-winning authors including Elly Griffiths for The Lantern Men, Mick Herron with Joe Country and Abir Mukherjee’s Death in the East all on the list.

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is famed for showcasing blockbuster thrillers – past winners include Gillian Flynn and Robert Harris. 2020’s longlist is dominated by the new guard of the genre who are now fixtures on the awards’ calendar. It includes AA Dhand for One Way Out, the fourth in his D I Harry Virdee series set in Bradford, The Whisper Man by Alex North – a Richard and Judy book club pick dubbed the biggest thriller of 2019 (also longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger) – and Eva Dolan with Between Two Evils. Dolan was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger in 2016. Also on the longlist is another coveted Richard and Judy pick, My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing, a riveting psychological suspense described by Marie Claire magazine as ‘the next Gone Girl’.

Linda Stratmann, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: “The CWA Dagger longlists showcase crime authors – established and new – at the top of their game. They reveal the wide and diverse nature of the genre and why it is so hugely relevant. Crime novels, stories and non-fiction can be social commentary, entertainment and escapism, an exploration of human nature and reflections of a nation’s psyche. The talent in these longlists demonstrate why crime is the UK’s most popular and enduring genre. The CWA Dagger awards are unparalleled for their reputation and longevity. We are proud to provide a platform for debut, emerging and established authors, and to honour the very best in crime writing.”

The much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels. Among the new class of 2020 to watch for is Owen Matthews with Black Sun – a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month dubbed the outstanding, page-turning thriller of 2020. Matthews is up against a similarly praised title, Little White Lies by Philippa East, acclaimed for being an addictive, unputdownable thriller. Trevor Wood, who served in the Royal Navy for 16 years, makes the list with The Man on the Street, set in his home city Newcastle, featuring a homeless veteran grappling with PTSD, dubbed by Lee Child as ‘an instant classic’.

Andrew Taylor and Abir Mukherjee flex their writing muscles appearing in two Dagger categories. Taylor’s The King’s Evil (also up for an Ian Fleming Steel Dagger) and Abir Mukherjee’s Death in the East (also longlisted for the Gold Dagger) are both on the Sapere Books Historical Dagger longlist. They contend with Metropolis, the capstone of a fourteen-book journey through the life of Philip Kerr’s signature character, Bernhard Genther, completed just before Kerr’s untimely death. 

The longlist for best historical crime novel also features SG Maclean who won the Dagger last year for Destroying Angel, she returns with The Bear Pit. Lynne Truss is in contention with The Man That Got Away, as is Nicola Upson for Sorry for the Dead and Alis Hawkins for In Two Minds.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger sees one of Finland’s most-acclaimed and award-winning writers, Antti Tuomainen with Little Siberia translated by David Hackston. The ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ has seen his novels translated into 25 languages. In a tightly contested longlist, he’s up against the winner of the prestigious French mystery prize 2018 Grand Prix de Littérature policière, Marion Brunet whose novel Summer of Reckoning is translated by Katherine Gregor.

The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. The 2020 CWA Short Story Dagger sees giants of the genre go head to head. It features two short stories from Jeffery Deaver – Connecting the Dots and The Bully. He’s up against fellow American Dean Koontz, who hit the headlines for predicting the coronavirus outbreak in his 1981 novel, The Eyes of Darkness. Koontz is on the longlist for his short story, Kittens.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction features Casey Cep, a staff writer at the New York Times whose first book Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, has received acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Also on the longlist is The Professor and the Parson by Adam Sisman which reveals how an unlikely Casanova and blacklisted clergyman conned his way around the world and was praised as a ‘white knuckle roller-coaster ride of fibs and frauds’ in the Sunday Telegraph. He joins Red River Girl by Joanna Jolly, an astonishing feat of investigation from the award-winning BBC reporter and documentary maker, focussed on the efforts to seek justice of the murder of teenager Tina Fontaine.

The Dagger in the Library is voted on exclusively by librarians, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year sees firm favourites from the genre including Mick Herron, Erin Kelly, Lisa Jewell and Denise Mina on the longlist.

One of the most exciting highlights of the awards is the Debut Dagger competition, open to unknown and uncontracted writers. Names to watch include Anna Caig, who also writes for the Sheffield Telegraph, for The Spae-Wife.

This year also features the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, launched in 2019, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing. 

The CWA Dagger shortlist will be announced later in the year before the glittering awards ceremony due to take place on 22 October with guest speaker, the TV presenter turned crime novelist, Richard Osman. The 2020 Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, the highest honour in British crime writing, will be awarded to Martin Edwards on the night. 

The CWA has also announced 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.

One of the UK’s most prominent societies for the promotion and promulgation of crime writing, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey; the awards began in 1955 with the first going to Winston Graham, best known for Poldark. They are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing.

The Longlist in Full:

GOLD DAGGER

Claire Askew: What You Pay For (Hodder & Stoughton)

Gary Bell: Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Raven Books)

Lou Berney: November Road (Harper Fiction)

MW Craven: Black Summer (Constable)

John Fairfax: Forced Confessions (Little, Brown)

Lucy Foley: The Guest List (Harper Fiction)

Elly Griffiths: The Lantern Men (Quercus Fiction)

Chris Hammer: Silver (Wildfire)

Mick Herron: Joe Country (John Murray)

SG MacLean: The Bear Pit (Quercus Fiction)

Patrick McGuinness: Throw Me to the Wolves (Jonathan Cape)

Abir Mukherjee: Death in the East (Harvill Secker)

Alex North: The Whisper Man (Michael Joseph)

Scott Phillips: That Left Turn at Albuquerque (Soho Crime)

Michael Robotham: Good Girl, Bad Girl (Sphere)

Tim Weaver: No One Home (Michael Joseph)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Lou Berney: November Road (Harper Fiction)

Tom Chatfield: This is Gomorrah (Hodder & Stoughton)

Karen Cleveland: Keep You Close (Bantam Press)

AA Dhand: One Way Out (Bantam Press)

Eva Dolan: Between Two Evils (Raven Books)

Helen Fields: Perfect Kill (Avon)

Oliver Harris: A Shadow Intelligence (Little, Brown)

Peter Heller: The River (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Greg Iles: Cemetery Road (Harper Fiction)

David Koepp: Cold Storage (HQ)

Adrian McKinty: The Chain (Orion Fiction)

Alex North: The Whisper Man (Michael Joseph)

Andrew Taylor: The King’s Evil (Harper Fiction)

JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Steph Cha: Your House Will Pay (Faber & Faber)

Sherryl Clark: Trust Me, I'm Dead (Verve Books)

Samantha Downing: My Lovely Wife (Michael Joseph)

Philippa East: Little White Lies (HQ)

Andrew James Greig: Whirligig (Fledgling Press)

AS Hatch: This Dark Little Place (Serpent's Tail)

James Von Leyden: A Death in the Medina (Constable)

Deborah Masson: Hold Your Tongue (Corgi)

Owen Matthews: Black Sun (Bantam Press)

Felicity McLean: The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone (Point Blank)

Robin Morgan-Bentley: The Wreckage (Trapeze)

Trevor Wood: The Man on the Street (Quercus Fiction)

SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER

Alis Hawkins: In Two Minds (The Dome Press)

Philip Kerr: Metropolis (Quercus Fiction)

SG MacLean: The Bear Pit (Quercus Fiction)

Abir Mukherjee: Death in the East (Harvill Secker)

SW Perry: The Serpent’s Mark (Corvus)

Alex Reeve: The Anarchists’ Club (Raven Books)

Gareth Rubin: Liberation Square (Michael Joseph)

SD Sykes: The Bone Fire (Hodder & Stoughton)

Andrew Taylor: The King’s Evil (Harper Collins)

Lynne Truss: The Man That Got Away (Raven Books)

Nicola Upson: Sorry for the Dead (Faber & Faber)

Ovidia Yu: The Paper Bark Tree Mystery (Constable)

 

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Edoardo Albinati: The Catholic School, translated by Anthony Shugaar (Picador)

Marion Brunet: Summer of Reckoning, translated by Katherine Gregor (Bitter Lemon Press)

Hannelore Cayre: The Godmother, translated by Stephanie Smee (Old Street Publishing)

K Ferrari: Like Flies from Afar, translated by Adrian Nathan West (Canongate Books)

Jorge Galán: November, translated by Jason Wilson (Constable)

Johana Gustawsson: Blood Song, translated by David Warriner (Orenda Books)

Jørn Lier Horst: The Cabin, translated by Anne Bruce (Michael Joseph)

Sergio Olguin: The Fragility of Bodies, translated by Miranda France (Bitter Lemon Press)

Leonardo Padura: Grab a Snake by the Tail, translated by Peter Bush (Bitter Lemon Press)

Antti Tuomainen: Little Siberia, translated by David Hackston (Orenda Books)

 

SHORT STORY DAGGER

Fiona Cummins: Dead Weight in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)

Jeffery Deaver: Connecting the Dots in Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)

Jeffery Deaver: The Bully in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)

Paul Finch: The New Lad in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)

Christopher Fowler: The Washing in Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)

Christopher Fowler: Bryant and May and The Devil's Triangle in Bryant and May: England's Finest (Doubleday)

Lauren Henderson: #Me Too in Invisible Blood, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)

Louise Jensen: The Recipe in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)

Dean Koontz: Kittens in Exit Wounds, edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books) 

Syd Moore: Easily Made in 12 Strange Days of Christmas (Point Blank Press)

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Casey Cep: Furious Hours (William Heinemann)

Julia Ebner: Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Peter Everett: Corrupt Bodies (Icon Books)

Caroline Goode: Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod (Oneworld Publications)

Joanna Jolly: Red River Girl (Virago)

Jodi Kantor & Megan Twohey: She Said (Bloomsbury Circus)

Sean O’Connor: The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury (Simon & Schuster)

Adam Sisman: The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking (Profile Books)

Susannah Stapleton: The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective (Picador)

Fred Vermorel: Dead Fashion Girl: A Situationist Detective Story (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

Barbara Austin: Lowlands

Anna Caig: The Spae-Wife 

Loraine Fowlow: Undercut 

Leanne Fry: Whipstick 

Kim Hays: Pesticide

Jack Kapica: Blogger’s End 

Nicholas Morrish: Emergency Drill

Josephine Moulds: Revolution Never Lies

Michael Munro: Bitter Lake 

Karen Taylor: Grim Fairy Tale

Jane Wing: Dark Pastimes

Sarah Yarwood-Lovett: A Generation of Vipers

 

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER

Allison & Busby

Bitter Lemon

Harvill Secker

Head of Zeus

HQ

Michael Joseph

Orenda

Orion

Pushkin Vertigo

Raven

Severn House

Sphere