The shortlist for the Crime Writers’ Association’s prestigious Dagger awards has been announced.
Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.
This year’s shortlists showcase the range and depth of the genre, from historical fiction, to thrillers and classic whodunnits.
As well as championing established authors of the genre, it also provides a platform for debut and emerging talent.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “This year’s shortlist is a fantastic reflection of the extraordinary breadth and diversity of crime fiction today, and a celebration of authors from debuts to established names, whose creative talents ensure that the genre continues to grow from strength to strength.”
The coveted KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime novel of the year.
Shortlisted novels are S.A Cosby with King of Ashes, Abigail Dean’s The Death of Us, Holly Jackson with Not Quite Dead Yet, Vaseem Khan’s The Girl in Cell A, Ariel Lawhon with The Frozen and Lara Shepherd-Robinson’s The Art of a Lie, a novel that also makes the Historical Dagger shortlist.
S.A. Cosby is the only author to be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards. As well as Gold, the American author of “Southern noir” is also in contention for the Short Story Dagger and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the year.
Also shortlisted for the Steel Dagger is the standalone thriller by BookTok sensation Noelle W Ihli, Such Quiet Girls inspired by the real-life 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping. She’s up against the global bestselling author Karin Slaughter for We Are All Guilty Here, Tariq Ashkanani’s The Midnight King, Robert Crais with The Big Empty, Mark Ezra’s A Sting in her Tale and Liam McIlvanney’s The Good Father.
Joining Laura Shepherd-Robinson, authors Nina Allan, Rob McInroy, Donna Moore, Alan Parks and Sally Smith make the Historical Dagger shortlist. The historical novels span 18th century London to 1920s Glasgow, from stories inspired by gritty true crimes to a cosy Christmas mystery.
The Twisted Dagger for psychological suspense shortlist features Sarah Pinborough, the author behind the New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes with a haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here Now. She’s up against Kia Abdullah, Nicci Cloke, Fiona Cummins, Carole Hailey and Sam Lloyd.
The Whodunnit Dagger for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Alexandra Benedict, Victoria Goldman, Anna Fitzgerald Healy, Robert Holtom, Mel Pennant and CJ Wray in the running.
The global reach of the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
International authors include two German writers – Karsten Dusse with his bestselling dark comedy series, Murder Mindfully and Leonie Swann with her mystery novel, Big Bad Wool, the anticipated follow-up to her breakout hit, Three Bags Full that follows a flock of sheep as they try to solve a murder.
The shortlist also sees Norway’s Jørn Lier Horst, the Croatian writer and journalist Jurica Pavicic, Finland’s Antti Tuomainen, and Strange Pictures – a novel from the Japanese YouTuber and writer, Uketsu.
Their translators are also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera and Shaun Walker’s The Illegals, profiling Russia’s most audacious spies, reflecting the enduring fascination with espionage and true crime, alongside Shadow of The Bridge by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee, John Curran’s The Murder Game, Caroline Fraser’s Murderland, and Susannah Stapleton with That Dark Spring.
The Short Story Dagger features S.A. Cosby, alongside the acclaimed Scottish author Denise Mina and the bestselling Abir Mukherjee. The Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards celebrating short-form storytelling.
The Dagger in the Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with readers over time. On this year’s shortlist are Paula Hawkins, best known for her huge hit, Girl on the Train alongside JD Kirk, Clare Mackintosh, Freida McFadden, Abir Mukherjee and Tim Sullivan.
The CWA Daggers are also known for providing a platform for emerging talent, with the much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger and the Emerging Author Dagger competition, sponsored by Fiction Feedback; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted debut authors have signed publishing deals to date.
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success, with leading imprints including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster shortlisted against Bitter Lemon Press, No Exit Press and Viper.
The CWA Diamond Dagger, sponsored by Karen Baugh Menuhin, is awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2026 was awarded to Mark Billingham.
The winners are announced at the CWA gala dinner awards night in July.
The shortlists in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)
Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Holly Jackson Not Quite Dead Yet (Penguin Random House/Michael Joseph)
Vaseem Khan The Girl in Cell A (Hodder Fiction).
Ariel Lawhon The Frozen (River Swift Press)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson The Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mantle)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Tariq Ashkanani The Midnight King (Profile Books/Viper)
S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)
Robert Crais The Big Empty (Simon & Schuster UK)
Mark Ezra A Sting in her Tale (Bedford Square Publishers/ No Exit Press)
Noelle W Ihli Such Quiet Girls (Pan Macmillan/ Pan)
Liam McIlvanney The Good Father (Bonnier Books UK/Zaffre)
Karin Slaughter We Are All Guilty Here (HarperCollins Publishers)
ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee Shadow of The Bridge: The Delphi Murders and The Dark Side of The American Heartland (Pegasus Books/Pegasus Crime)
Gordon Corera The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB (HarperCollins/ William Collins)
John Curran The Murder Game (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
Caroline Fraser Murderland (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
Susannah Stapleton That Dark Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)
Shaun Walker The Illegals (Profile Books)
Historical Dagger
Nina Allan A Granite Silence (Quercus/riverrun)
Rob McInroy Barvick Falls (Tippermuir Books)
Donna Moore The Devil’s Draper (Fly on the Wall Press)
Alan Parks Gunner (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
Laura Shepherd-Robinson The Art of a Lie (Pan Macmillan/Mangle)
Sally Smith A Case of Life and Limb (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
Karsten Dusse Murder Mindfully (Faber) translated by Florian Duijsens
Jørn Lier Horst The Lake (Penguin Random House) translated by Anne Bruce
Jurica Pavicic Red Water (Bitter Lemon Press) translated by Matt Robinson
Leonie Swann Big Bad Wool (Allison & Busby) translated by Amy Bojang
Antti Tuomainen The Winter Job (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston
Uketsu Strange Pictures (Pushkin Press) translated by Jim Rion
Whodunnit Dagger
Alexandra Benedict The Christmas Cracker Killer (Simon & Schuster UK)
Victoria Goldman Little Secrets (Three Crowns Publishing UK/self-published)
Anna Fitzgerald Healy Etiquette for Lovers & Killers (Little, Brown Book Group/Fleet)
Robert Holtom A Queer Case (Titan Books)
Mel Pennant A Murder for Miss Hortense (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
CJ Wray Bad Influence (Orion Fiction)
Twisted Dagger
Kia Abdullah What Happens in the Dark (HarperCollins/HQ Ficiton)
Nicci Cloke Her Many Faces (Penguin Random House UK/Harvill)
Fiona Cummins Some of Us are Liars (Pan Macmillan/Macmillan)
Carole Hailey Scenes From A Tragedy (Atlantic Books/Corvus)
Sam Lloyd The Bodies (Transworld/Bantam)
Sarah Pinborough We Live Here Now (Orion Fiction)
ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger
Sam Guthrie The Peak (HarperCollins Publishers)
Elspeth Latimer The Lost Detective (Story Machine)
Laura McCluskey The Wolf Tree (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Zoë Rankin The Vanishing Place (Profile Books/Viper)
Bailey Seybolt Coram House (Bloomsbury Publishing/Raven Books)
Henry Wise Holy City (Bedford Square Publishers/No Exit Press)
Short Story Dagger
SA Cosby ‘Split Your Silver Tongue’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Denise Mina ‘The Karpman Drama Triangle’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Abir Mukherjee ‘Full Circle’ in Playing Dead: Short Stories by Members of the Detection Club (Severn House)
Ambrose Perry ‘The Apple Falls Not Far’ (Canongate)
Peter Swanson ‘Strangers on a School Bus’ in Birds, Strangers and Psychos (No Exit Press)
Michael Wood ‘Waiting’ in Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me (Telos Publishing)
Emerging Author
Rod Cookson, Ill Met By Murder
Sophia Georghiou, The Man Who Fit the Case
Kate Koester, Just a Simple Wedding
Lorna Mathew, The Fixer
Rebecca McFarland, The Madam of Morningside
Michael Nikitin, Blind Side of the Sun
Melisssa Smith, The Pattern of Absence
Dagger in the Library
Paula Hawkins
JD Kirk
Clare Mackintosh
Freida McFadden
Abir Mukherjee
Tim Sullivan
Best Crime & Mystery Publisher
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
Viper (Profile Books)
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For logos/Dagger/ author images for media use, go to: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XW6oH0AaiHlvVmMYepDE6I8YhuoTx2uA?usp=sharing
CWA Dagger Judging Panels
The judges, who have been deliberating on the submissions from publishers include leading authors, bloggers, newspaper reviewers, academics, and media professionals.
You can view the judging panel for each category on the CWA website: The Daggers — The Crime Writers’ Association (thecwa.co.uk)
Dagger Sponsors
Kevin Anderson & Associates – Sponsors of the Gold Dagger
Kevin Anderson & Associates is a premier editorial services firm specialising in ghostwriting, editing, and publishing consultation for ambitious authors.
Staffed by Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling publishing professionals, it operates in the UK and USA, empowering authors on their publishing journey with ghost-writing services, book editing, book coaching and writer retreats.
ALCS – Sponsors of the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 100,000 members, and since 1977 has paid around £500 million to writers.
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd – Sponsors of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd is the Fleming family-owned company that looks after the James Bond literary brand, by promoting and making available all of Ian Fleming’s 007 books across the world. They also keep the brand alive through the publication of new stories by authors such as Anthony Horowitz, William Boyd, Jeffery Deaver, Sebastian Faulks, Raymond Benson, John Gardner, Kingsley Amis, Samantha Weinberg, Steve Cole and Charlie Higson. Alongside James Bond publishing, the company also manages the rights for Fleming’s two non-fiction books and his only children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
International Literary Properties (ILP) – Sponsors of the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
International Literary Properties works with authors, playwrights, managers of literary estates, and individual heirs to help realize the value from book and play-based intellectual property. ILP acquire all or partial rights to literary intellectual property, including books, plays and books of musicals. ILP own, nurture and champion a substantial number of properties, many authored by household names, in genres as diverse as mystery, crime, classic literature, non-fiction, and children’s. Its experienced team works closely with award-winning TV, film, and stage producers across the world.
Maxim Jakubowski – Sponsor of the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger is sponsored by former CWA Chair, Maxim Jakubowski, in honour of his wife Dolores Jakubowski, who was a translator and university lecturer but now suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Fiction Feedback – Sponsor of the Emerging Author Debut
Fiction Feedback was established in 2008 by editor Dea Parkin, the CWA’s secretary then coordinator for eight years. Her guiding principle is to provide exceptionally helpful services to writers, while properly rewarding her stable of freelance editors for their expertise. As a result, writers return for Fiction Feedback critiques and editing year after year.
Morgen Witzel – Sponsor of the Historical Dagger in memory of his wife, Dr Marilyn Livingstone.
Morgen Witzel is a writer and lecturer. Together with Marilyn Livingstone, writing under the pen names A.J. MacKenzie and R.L. Graham, they wrote thirteen historical crime novels and thrillers, set in locations as diverse as Europe in the Middle Ages, Romney Marsh during the era of smuggling, the Canadian frontier in the War of 1812 and the last fatal voyage of the Lusitania.
Under their own names, they also wrote two works of historical non-fiction analysing the battles of Crécy and Poitiers. Separately, Morgen teaches ethics and leadership at the University of Exeter Business School and is the author of numerous books and articles on these and other subjects.
About the CWA
About the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA)
The CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey.
Its aim is to support, promote and celebrate this most durable, adaptable, and successful of genres, both fiction and non-fiction, and the authors who write within it. The CWA runs the prestigious Dagger awards, which celebrate the best in crime writing.
A thriving, growing community with a membership encompassing authors of all ages and at all stages of their careers, the CWA is UK-based, yet attracts many members from overseas.
It supports author members, plus literary agents, publishers, bloggers, and editors with a monthly magazine; a digital monthly newsletter from sister organisation the Crime Readers’Association, showcasing CWA authors’ books and events that goes to circa 12,000 subscribers; and Case Files, a bimonthly ezine highlighting new books by CWA members.www.thecra.co.uk
The CWA supports as yet unpublished writers with a bespoke group, The Debuts, many of whom enter the Debut Dagger competition and the Margery Allingham Short Mystery competition.
The CWA run an annual conference and hold chapter meetings throughout the UK, so members can access face-to-face networking and socialising.
It also runs National Crime Reading Month in June: www.crimereading.com
The CWA supports libraries and booksellers, with three Library Champions and a Booksellers Champion. It has links with various festivals and other writers’ organisations, such as the Society of Authors.
Home – The Crime Writers’ Association
To view past winners, or find out more, please visit https://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers