2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year - Winner

Congratulations to Adrian McKinty for winning the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year for The Chain.

The books shortlisted were:

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Joe Country by Mick Herron
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

Read more about his win at the Theakston Website.

Blurb from Amazon:

YOUR PHONE RINGS.

A STRANGER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD.

TO FREE THEM YOU MUST ABDUCT SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD.

YOUR CHILD WILL BE RELEASED WHEN YOUR VICTIM'S PARENTS KIDNAP ANOTHER CHILD.

IF ANY OF THESE THINGS DON'T HAPPEN:
YOUR CHILD WILL BE KILLED.

VICTIM. SURVIVOR. ABDUCTOR. CRIMINAL.
YOU WILL BECOME EACH ONE.

YOU ARE NOW PART OF THE CHAIN

CrimeFest Awards 2020 - Winners

From the CrimeFest newsletter, the winners of this year's Awards are as follows (Shortlists are here):

Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award
- Laura Shepherd-Robinson for Blood & Sugar (Mantle)

With thanks to convention and award sponsor Specsavers. Courtesy of the sponsor, the winner also receives £1,000.

Audible Sounds of Crime Award
for Best Unabridged Crime Audiobook
- Lee Child for Blue Moon, read by Jeff Harding (Penguin Random House Audio)

With thanks to award sponsor Audible UK. Courtesy of the sponsor, the winners share £1,000.

eDunnit Award

for Best Crime eBook
- Holly Watt for To The Lions (Raven Books)

H.R.F. Keating Award
for Best Biography or Non-Fiction Book related to Crime Fiction

- John Curran for The Hooded Gunman (HarperCollins Crime Club)

Last Laugh Award
for Best Humorous Crime Novel

- Helen FitzGerald for Worst Case Scenario (Orenda Books)

CrimeFest Award for Best Crime Novel for Children (ages 8-12)
- Thomas Taylor for Malamander (Walker Books)


CrimeFest Award for Best Crime Novel for Young Adults (ages 12-16)
- Kathryn Evans for Beauty Sleep (Usborne Publishing)

All the winners received a Bristol Blue Glass Award and will be offered complimentary attendance and panel appearances at CRIMEFEST 2021.

Huge congratulations to all!

Review: Death in Fancy Dress by Anthony Gilbert

I recently posted my review of DEATH IN FANCY DRESS by Anthony Gilbert on my library's Facebook page:

DEATH IN FANCY DRESS was first published in 1933 and is one of the latest ‘golden era’ crime novels to be reissued by British Library Publishing and comes with an introduction by Martin Edwards and two short stories from 1939 featuring an Inspector Field.

The main story is a non-series novel narrated by one Tony Keith, a lawyer, who along with his carefree adventuring friend Jeremy - is summoned first to the Secret Service and then to Tony’s old Manor house home to track down the mastermind behind a blackmail ring which has resulted in many deaths. Jeremy is all set on marrying the daughter of the house but trickily she is already engaged to their secret service contact and it’s not long before she has announced her intention of marrying a third party, a dastardly cousin who seems to have got away with murder in the past.

The suspense builds as many people announce that she will not marry her cousin and of course the title comes true, a body is discovered after the fancy dress party…

With the party not taking part until towards the end of the book there is little sleuthing done by our two young men at first and chance plays a hand in revealing a vital clue. Tony, however, makes for an amusing narrator and the resolution is satisfying and one that makes you revisit earlier events in your mind. Despite being written by a woman – real name Lucy Malleson – women don’t come out of this too well and there are some outdated attitudes of the time to contend with. Nonetheless this is an enjoyable classic country house mystery.

As well as, as Anthony Gilbert, the author also wrote as Anne Meredith and her ‘Portrait of a Murder’ has also been published by the British Library.

Website Updates: June 2020

I've recently updated the main files on the Euro Crime website. "Euro Crime" includes both British and other European crime fiction writers (that have been published in English); non-British/European born crime writers who are strongly associated with British/European crime fiction (eg. Donna Leon), and crime writers in translation from outside of Europe.

Please note that due to a Windows 10 reinstallation and associated issues(!) I am currently unable to generate new website files from my master database, so these uploads are from my last set of files ie 4 June 2020. Hence the new releases page has fewer titles for June than my earlier post of June releases. I will continue to post the monthly lists on this blog and hope for a quick resolution to my IT woes!

My usual reminders regarding the New Releases page:

1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to when it's published in the UK.

2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).

As always, if you spot something wrong or missing, please do let me know.

Here's a summary of the usual updates:

The Author Websites page now lists 1087 sites.

In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 2824 authors (14410 titles of which 3109 are reviewed**).
**Some reviews will be provided by the Crime Review website. (Separate post to follow with more information).

I've added new bibliographies for: Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, Edoardo Albinati, Maria Adolfsson, Guillermo Arriaga, Heine Bakkeid, Marco Balzano, Hazel Barkworth, Enzo Bartoli, Vicki Bradley, Vivien Brown, Marion Brunet, J P Carter, HS Chandler, Jane Cockram, Caroline Corcoran, Merilyn Davies, Leona Deakin, Rachel Donohue, Victoria Dowd, Jessica Eames, Bella Ellis, Katrine Engberg, Andrew Ewart, K Ferrari, Caz Finlay, David Foenkinos, Fiona Gartland, Claire Gradidge, Michael Grant, S M Hardy, Alexander Hartung, A S Hatch, Romy Hausmann, M K Hill, Noelle Holton, Thomas Horst, Jorn Lier & Enger Diane Jeffrey, Anna Johannsen, Imogen Kealey, Sarah Linley, Chris Lloyd, Sam Lloyd, Gytha Lodge, Stefan Malmström, Ruth Mancini, Nicola Martin, Maria Luisa Minarelli, Hugh Montgomery, Jessica Moor, Robin Morgan-Bentley, Riku Onda, Stephen O'Rourke, Daisy Pearce, Anne Penketh, Mercedes Pinto Maldonado, Hye-young Pyun, Nicola Rayner, Hannah Reed, Marit Reiersgaard, Gemma Rogers, Vanessa Savage, Katharine Schellman, Lars Schutz, Helen Sedgwick, Max Seeck, Mi-ae Seo, Adania Shibli, Will Shindler, Maryla Szymiczkowa, Russ Thomas, James von Leyden, H C Warner, Daisy Waugh, Kate Weinberg, S R White, Olga Wojtas, Klaus-Peter Wolf and Suzanne M Wolfe.


I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jane Adams, Stefan Ahnhem, Rennie Airth, Boris Akunin, Tasha Alexander, Hania Allen, Lin Anderson, M J Arlidge, Ross Armstrong, Claire Askew, Stephanie Austin, Jackie Baldwin, Jean-Luc Bannalec, Jo Bannister, Quentin Bates, M C Beaton, Simon Beckett, Connie Berry, Parker Bilal, Mark Billingham, Michelle Birkby, Benjamin Black, Cara Black, Helen Black, Saul Black, Jenny Blackhurst, Sara Blaedel, Sam Blake, Robin Blake, Rachael Blok, Hilary Bonner, Stephen Booth, Sam Bourne, Tom Bradby, Harry Brett, Simon Brett, Dougie Brimson, Neil Broadfoot, Steph Broadribb, Frances Brody, Simone Buchholz, Fiona Buckley, Sheila Bugler, Michel Bussi, Massimo Carlotto, Donato Carrisi, Will Carver, Jane Casey, Kimberley Chambers, Julia Chapman, Paul Charles, Clare Chase, Lee Child, Alys Clare, Cassandra Clark, Ann Cleeves, Rory Clements, Anne Coates, Tammy Cohen, Martina Cole, C J Cooke, Jane Corry, Mike/M W Craven, Elle Croft, Deborah Crombie, A J Cross, Judith Cutler, K O/Kjell Ola Dahl, Nadia Dalbuono, Paula Daly, Martin Davies, Michelle Davies, Lindsey Davis, Sandrone Dazieri, Louisa de Lange, Will Dean, A A Dhand, Katerina Diamond, Joël Dicker, P C/Paul Doherty, Louise Doughty, Claire Douglas, Mark Douglas-Home, Teresa Driscoll, Charlotte Duckworth, Martin Edwards, Jim Eldridge, Emily Elgar, Jessica Ellicott, Kate Ellis, Nuala Ellwood, Clare Empson, Caroline England, Kjell Eriksson, Fiona Erskine, John Fairfax, Alice Feeney, Jessica Fellowes, Charles Finch, Paul Finch, Mick Finlay, Rebecca Fleet, Christopher Fowler, Dick Francis, Guy Fraser-Sampson, Nicci French, Alan Furst, Mario Giordano, Andrew Grant, Alex Gray, Elly Griffiths, Emily Gunnis, Peter Guttridge, Tarquin Hall, M R/Matthew Hall, Abdelilah Hamdouchi, Adam Hamdy, Mari Hannah, Sophie Hannah, Zhou Haohui, C S Harris, Cora Harrison, Sarah Hawkswood, Sam Hayes, James Hazel, Veronica Heley, Kate Helm, Mick/M Herron, Susan Hill, Suzette A Hill, Matt Hilton, Chan Ho-Kei, Anne Holt, Anthony Horowitz, Jorn Lier Horst, Anna Lee Huber, Linda Huber, Arlene Hunt, Graham Hurley, Olivia Isaac-Henry, Katja Ivar, Jo Jakeman, Quintin Jardine, You-Jeong Jeong, Lisa Jewell, Doug Johnstone,, Serge Joncour, Philip Gwynne Jones, Lesley Kara, Emma Kavanagh, Jessie Keane, Jim Kelly, Tony Kent, Lars Kepler, Simon Kernick, T E Kinsey, Emily Koch, Roberta Kray, Volker Kutscher, Lynda La Plante, Camilla Lackberg, Peter Laws, John Lawton, Stephen Leather, Donna Leon, Howard Linskey, Catherine Lloyd, Rosamund Lupton, Rachel Lynch, Bonnie MacBird, Asia MacKay, Susan Elia MacNeal, Adrian Magson, Iain Maitland, Michael J Malone, Marco Malvaldi, David Mark, Alyssa Maxwell, Peter May, Margaret Mayhew, Val/V.L. McDermid, Brian McGilloway, Claire McGowan, Andy McNab, Ben McPherson, Catriona McPherson, A D Miller, Danny Miller, Caroline Mitchell, Dreda Say Mitchell, J S Monroe, Phoebe Morgan, Roger/R N Morris, Mandy Morton, Frank/T F Muir, Abir Mukherjee, Elizabeth Mundy, Barbara Nadel, Sarah J Naughton, Jo Nesbo, Hakan Nesser, Chris Nickson, John Niven, Dominic Nolan, Mads Peder Nordbo, Liz Nugent, Carlene O'Connor, Gerard O'Donovan, Nick Oldham, Darren O'Sullivan, B A Paris, Alan Parks, S J Parris, Ben Pastor, Vikki Patis, David Pearson, Andrea Penrose, Anne Perry, Chris Petit, Louise Phillips, Malcolm Pryce, D M Quincy, Jenny Quintana, Caro Ramsay, Deanna Raybourn, Sarah Rayne, Rebecca Reid, Kate Rhodes, Rachel Rhys, Marnie Riches, Mike Ripley, Peter Robinson, Jacqui Rose, Borge Roslund, Anders & Hellstrom, Jacob Ross, Laura Joh Rowland, Pauline Rowson, Priscilla Royal, Kate Saunders, Simon Scarrow, Robert Scragg, Joanne Sefton, EV Seymour, Gerald Seymour, Zoe Sharp, William Shaw, Sara Sheridan, Mel Sherratt, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, C J Skuse, Alexander McCall Smith, Anna Smith, Martin Cruz Smith, Jo Spain, Sally Spedding, Sally Spencer, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael Stanley, Katherine Stansfield, Mel/Melvin R Starr, Catherine Steadman, Jesper Stein, Susie Steiner, Viveca Sten, Karen Lee Street, Theresa Talbot, Emma Tallon, Andrew Taylor, C L Taylor, Sherry Thomas, Will Thomas, Lesley Thomson, Mark Timlin, S K Tremayne, M J Trow, C J Tudor, Luca Veste, MB Vincent, Martyn Waites, B P Walter, Martin Walker, Alex Walters, Ruth Ware, Holly Watt, Ashley Weaver, Matt Wesolowski, Chris Whitaker, Nicola White, Kevin Wignall, Michael Wood, A Yi, Seishi Yokomizo, David Young, Juli Zeh and Yigal Zur.

New Releases - June 2020

Here's a snapshot of what I think was published for the first time in paperback or hardback, in June 2020 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). Apologies for the continuing delay with these posts. I do hope to get July's list up soon.

If I've missed anything or got the date wrong, do please leave a comment. There's been a lot of moving of dates.

Adams, Kate P - Sleep Like the Dead #3 Charleton House Mysteries, Derbyshire
Allen, Jo - Death on Coffin Lane #3 DCI Jude Satterthwaite, Lake District
Arlidge, M J - All Fall Down #9 Helen Grace, Southampton Police
Bailey, Murray - Singapore Killer #5 Ash Carter
Batchelor, Penny - My Perfect Sister
Bates, Quentin - Cold Malice #7 Gunnhildur, Police Sergeant, Reykjavik, Iceland
Campbell, Colin - Catawba Point #7 Jim Grant
Candlish, Louise - The Other Passenger
Cotterill, Colin - The Delightful Life of a Suicide Pilot #15 Dr Siri Paiboun, Laos
Craven, M W - The Curator #3 Washington Poe
Diamond, Katerina - The Heatwave
Evans, Claire - The Graves of Whitechapel
Fleet, Kim - Devil's Chimney #3 Eden Grey, Cheltenham
Hamilton, Karen - The Last Wife
Hanley, C B - Cast the First Stone #6 Edwin Weaver, C13
Heald, Ruth - I Know Your Secret
Ivar, Katja - Deep as Death #2 Hella Mauzer
James, Ed - Gone in Seconds #2 Detective Max Carter
Jenkins, Victoria - The Accusation
Jennings, Luke - Killing Eve: Die For Me #3 Villanelle, Russian Assassin
Kabler, Jackie - The Perfect Couple
Keogh, Valerie - The Perfect Life
King, Laurie R - Riviera Gold #16 Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes
Kirk, JD - A Whisper of Sorrows #6 DCI Logan
Knight, Alex - Hunted
Land, Caro - Confessions #2 Natalie Bach
Lane, Andrew - The Bizarre Investigations of Sherlock Holmes #1 Short Stories
Logan, TM - The Catch
MacDonald, Siobhan - Guilty
MacDonald, Dee - A Body in the Village Hall 1 Kate Palmer, Cornwall
Macmillan, Gilly - To Tell You the Truth
Marsh, JJ - White Night #10 Beatrice Stubbs
Marsh, JJ - Odd Numbers
Marston, Edward - Rage of the Assassin #5 Bow Street Rivals
Martin, Faith - A Fatal Truth #5 Ryder & Loveday, Oxford, 1960s
McKenna, Clara - Murder at Blackwater Bend #2 Stella and Lyndy, 1905
Meyrick, Denzil - Jeremiah's Bell #8 DCI Daley
Mistry, Liz - Broken Silence #2 DS Nikki Parekh
O'Connor, Carlene - Murder in Galway #1 Tara Meehan
Pearce, Daisy -The Missing
Pearse, Lesley - Liar
Rhys, Rachel - Island of Secrets
Robertson, Craig - Watch Him Die
Ryder, John - First Shot #1 Grant Fletcher, Georgia, USA
Sanderson, Lesley - I Know You Lied
Sheridan, Sara - Highland Fling #8 Mirabelle Bevan (retired Secret Service), 1950s
Templeton, Aline - Devil's Garden #3 DI Kelso Strang
Thompson, Derek - Long Shadows
Vincent, MB - A Death in the Woods (ebook only) #2 Jess Castle, academic-turned-detective, Castle Kidbury
Ward, Rachel - Expiry Date #3 Ant and Bea
Watkins, Roz - Cut to the Bone #3 DI Meg Dalton, Derbyshire

US Cozy Review: Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott

Welcome to another entry in my irregular feature: US cozy review. I recently posted this review on  my library's Facebook page.

I also posted about a way to find 'US cozies' on the Birmingham Library Catalogue  which might be useful if your Library Service uses Spydus.

Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott

Several tragedies lead Boston Librarian Addie Greyborne to move to the small New England coastal town of Greyborne Harbor. She has inherited her previously unknown great aunt’s estate including a large house and rare book collection. Addie decides to set up her own second-hand and rare books, book-shop, called ‘Beyond the Page’.

Addie has barely opened her new store when things begin to happen including nearly being run-over, a feud with her business neighbour from one side of her shop, a new friendship with her neighbour from the other side of her shop, Serena of SerenaTEA, and a burglary almost under her nose.

The action doesn’t stop there with Addie being persistently targetted at home and at work with actual and attempted break-ins. Fortunately her new friend Serena’s [handsome] brother is the chief of police…

When her friend is arrested for murder Addie decides to clear her friend’s name with or without the police’s help.

This is the first in a new series and the author’s debut. It is quite busy, with never a dull moment. The fairly complicated plot revolves around books and offers some insight into rare-book dealing. It does take a while for the main characters to catchup with the reader regarding why Addie is suffering all these events but it is an enjoyable read overall, if a little frustrating at times.

If you like crime books that don’t contain any or much swearing, mostly off the page violence and a dash of romance with the mystery then this could be for you.

2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year - Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year has been announced. You can vote for one of them until midday 17th July. From their website:

"Have your say. Vote for the ONE shortlisted book that you feel most deserves to be crowned the 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. If you voted during the longlist stage,  you can now vote again for your favourite shortlist book as no previous votes are counted when deciding the winner.

Voting for this stage closes at noon on the 17th July, with the winner being announced on the 23rd July in our digital awards ceremony."

The shortlist by author surname:

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald
The Lost Man by Jane Harper
Joe Country by Mick Herron
The Chain by Adrian McKinty
Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee

CWA Daggers 2020 - Longlists

Here is the press release announcing the CWA Dagger Longlists. The winners will be announced on 22 October.

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 Longlists 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