Gold Dagger (Best Novel)

SUNSET SWING by Ray Celestin – Winner
Pan Macmillan • Mantle

BEFORE YOU KNEW MY NAME by Jacqueline Bublitz
Little, Brown • Sphere
RAZORBLADE TEARS by Sa Cosby
Headline Publishing Group • Headline
THE UNWILLING by John Hart
Bonnier Books UK • Zaffre
THE SHADOWS OF MEN by Abir Mukherjee
Penguin Random House • Harvill Secker
THE TRAWLERMAN by William Shaw
Quercus • riverrun

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (Best Thriller)

DEAD GROUND by MW Craven – Winner
Little, Brown • Constable

FIND YOU FIRST by Linwood Barclay
HarperCollins • HQ
THE PACT by Sharon Bolton
Orion Publishing Group
THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE by Steve Cavanagh
Orion Publishing Group
RAZORBLADE TEARS by Sa Cosby
Headline Publishing Group
DREAM GIRL by Laura Lippman
Faber

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

THE APPEAL by Janice Hallett – Winner
Profile Books • Viper Books

WELCOME TO COOPER by Tariq Ashkanani
Thomas & Mercer
REPENTANCE by Eloísa Díaz
Orion Publishing Group • Weidenfeld & Nicolson
THE MASH HOUSE by Alan Gillespie
Unbound • Unbound Digital
WHERE RAVENS ROOST by Karin Nordin
HarperCollins • HQ
HOW TO KIDNAP THE RICH by Rahul Raina
Little, Brown
WAKING THE TIGER by Mark Wightman
Hobeck Books

Historical Dagger

SUNSET SWING by RAY CELESTIN – Winner
Pan Macmillan • Mantle

APRIL IN SPAIN by John Banville
Faber
CROW COURT by Andy Charman
Unbound
NOT ONE OF US by Alis Hawkins
Canelo
EDGE OF THE GRAVE by Robbie Morrison
Pan Macmillan • Macmillan
A CORRUPTION OF BLOOD by Ambrose Parry
Canongate

Crime Fiction in
Translation Dagger

HOTEL CARTAGENA by Simone Buchholz – Winner
Translated by Rachel Ward
Orenda Books

BULLET TRAIN by Kotaro Isaka
Translated by Sam Malissa
Penguin Random House • Harvill Secker
OXYGEN by Sacha Naspini
Translated by Clarissa Botsford
Europa Editions UK
PEOPLE LIKE THEM by Samira Sedira
Translated by Lara Vergnaud
Bloomsbury Publishing • Raven Books
THE RABBIT FACTOR by Antti Tuomainen
Translated by David Hackston
Orenda Books

Diamond Dagger

C. J. Sansom

Editor’s Comment: SUNSET SWING by Ray Celestin is the big, double winner here. I was delighted that M. W. Craven’s DEAD GROUND won the Steel Dagger. It was on my “best” list for last year. I guess that U.S. publishers don’t put much weight on CWA Dagger winners because neither Ray Celestin nor M. W. Craven have U.S. publishers (yet). I’ve heard that will change soon — at least for Mike Craven.

Larry Gandle is still reading some of the nominees and will critique them in a future issue of Deadly Pleasures. He speaks very highly of THE PACT by Sharon Bolton. But he didn’t think that SUNSET SWING should have won over RAZORBLADE TEARS.