2017 Dagger awards longlists

UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced its outstanding longlists – Dagger awards longlists.

Diamond Dagger Winner

 Ann Cleeves is the CWA Diamond Dagger winner. The Dagger award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.


Ann Cleeves has written 30 novels and is translated into as many languages.  She holds a remarkable record: she is the only living author to have two major drama series on TV – Vera and Shedland.

The Gold Dagger

The Gold Dagger is awarded to the best crime novel of the year. It was originally created in 1955, under the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award.

2017 Longlist

The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer (Bantam Press)

Dead Man’s Blues by Ray Celestin (Mantle)

The Girl Before by J P Delaney (Quercus)

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith (No Exit Press)

Little Deaths by Emma Flint (Picador)

The Dry by Jane Harper (Little Brown)

Spook Street by Mick Herron (John Murray)

Sirens by Joseph Knox (Doubleday)

Ashes of Berlin by Luke McCallin (No Exit Press)

The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller (Faber & Faber)

The Rising Man by Abir Muckerjee (Harvill Secker)

Darktown  by Thomas Mullen (Little Brown)

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller – that “one simply has to turn the pages”. Stories are set in any period and include, but are not limited to, spy fiction and/or action/ adventure stories.

Longlist

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (Picador)

Kill the Next One by Frederico Axat (Text Publishing)

The Twenty Three by Linwood Barclay (Orion Fiction)

The Killing Game by J S Carol (Bookouture)

The Heat by Garry Disher (Text Publishing)

A Hero in France by Alan Furst (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

We Go Around in the Night Consumed By Fire by Jules Grant (Myriad Editions)

Moskva by Jock Grimood (Michael Joseph)

The One Man by Andrew Gross (Macmillan)

Redemption Road by John Hart (Hodder & Stoughton)

Spook Street by Mick Herron (John Murray Publishers)

Dark Asset by Adrian Magson (Severn House)

Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty (Serpent’s Tail)

The Constant Soldier by William Ryan (Mantle)

The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jack Serong (Text Publishing)

Jericho’s War by Gerald Seymour (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter (Century)

Broken Heart by Tim Weaver (Penguin)

International Dagger

This award is for crime novels (defined by the broadest definition including thrillers, suspense novels and spy fiction) as long as the book was not originally written in English and has been translated into English for UK publication during the Judging Period.

Longlist

A Cold Death by Antonio Manzini (trans by Antony Shugaar, 4th Estate)

A Fine Line by Gianrico Carofiglio (trans by Howard Curtis, Bitter Lemon Press)

A Voice In The Night by Andrea Camilleri (trans by Stephen Sartarelli, Mantle)

Blackout by Marc Elsberg (trans by Marshall Yarbrough, Black Swan)

Blood Wedding by Pierre Lemaitre (trans by Frank Wynne, Maclehose Press)

Climate Of Fear by Fred Vargas (trans by Siân Reynolds, Harvill Secker)

Death In The Tuscan Hills by Marco Vichi (trans by Stephen Sartarelli, Hodder & Stoughton)

The Bastards Of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio De Giovanni (trans by Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)

The Dying Detective Leif by G W Persson (trans by Neil Smith, Doubleday)

The Legacy Of The Bones by Dolores Redondo (trans by Nick Caister & Lorenza Garcia, Harper Fiction)

When It Grows Dark by Jorn Lier Horst (trans by Anne Bruce, Sandstone Press)

Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

This award is for any non-fiction work on a crime related theme by an author of any nationality as long as the book was first published in the UK in English during the Judging Period. This award encompasses, though is not limited to, non-fiction works relating to true crime, historical crime, crime-related biography and crime-fiction literature.

Longlist

A Dangerous Place by Simon Farquhar (The History Press Ltd)

Close But No Cigar: A True Story of Prison Life in Castro’s Cuba by Stephen Purvis (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

The Scholl Case: The Deadly End of a Marriage by Anja Reich-Osang (Text Publishing)

Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes by Michael Sims (Bloomsbury Publishing)

The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale (Bloomsbury Publishing)

A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II by A. T. Williams (Jonathan Cape)

The Ice Age: A Journey into Crystal-Meth Addiction by Luke Williams (Scribe Publications)

Another Day in the Death of America by Gary Younge (Guardian Faber Publishing)

Dagger in the Library

The Dagger in the Library is a prize for a body of work by a crime writer that users of libraries particularly admire and it is one of the most prestigious crime writing awards in the UK.

Shortlist

Kate Ellis

Tana French

Mari Hannah

James Oswald

C. J. Sansom

Andrew Taylor

Short Story Dagger

This award is for any crime short story first published in the UK in English in a publication that pays for contributions, or broadcast in the UK in return for payment, during the Judging Period.

Longlist

The Assassination by Leye Adenle in Sunshine Noir (White Sun Books)

Murder and its Motives by Martin Edwards in Motives for Murder (Sphere)

Alive or Dead by Michael Jecks in Motives for Murder (Sphere)

The Super Recogniser of Vik by Michael Ridpath in Motives for Murder (Sphere)

What You Were Fighting For by James Sallis in The Highway Kind (Mulholland Books)

The Trials of Margaret by LC Tyler in Motives for Murder (Sphere)

Snakeskin by Ovidia Yu in Sunshine Noir (White Sun Books)

Debut Dagger Longlist

Camera Obscura by Richard McDowell

Strange Fire by Sherry Larkin

The Reincarnation of Himmat Gupte by Neeraj Shah

The Swankeeper’s Wife by Augusta Dwyer

Hardways by Catherine Hendricks

Lost Boys by Spike Dawkins

Victorianoir by Kat Clay

Red Haven by Mette McLeod

In the Shadow of the Tower by Clive Edwards

Broken by Victoria Slotover

Endeavour Historical Dagger

This award is for the best historical crime novel, first published in the UK in English during the Judging Period, set in any period up to 35 years prior to the year in which the award will be made.

Longlist

The Devil’s Feast by M.J. Carter (Fig Tree)

The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes (Doubleday Ireland)

The Black Friar by S.G. MacLean (Quercus)

The Ashes of Berlin by Luke McCallin (No Exit Press)

The Long Drop by Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)

A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)

Darktown by Thomas Mullen (Little, Brown)

By Gaslight by Steven Price (Point Blank)

The City in Darkness by Michael Russell (Constable)

Dark Asylum by E.S. Thomson (Constable)