At Cause & Effect PR, we were proud to once more announce the CWA Dagger Awards to the press.
Each year, the awards have grown bigger in stature and media profile.
2026 saw over 250 news articles for the awards. Highlights include features in The Independent, The Express, BBC Online, and Bookseller focussing on Mark Billingham being awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger earlier in the year.
The shortlist was also picked up by PA Media, as was the winners’ announcement.
The awards ceremony was hosted in London on 2 July, and also hosted half a dozen TV news crews from Japan in attendance.
Coverage book’s algorithms state the media had an estimated reach of millions. You can view it here.
Read on for the full Press Release announcing the 2026 winners…
Crime Writers’ Association Announces 2026 Dagger Winners
The winners of the prestigious 2026 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have 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.
The awards were announced [11pm, 2 July] at the CWA gala dinner at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, London.
The coveted KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Abigail Dean for The Death of Us, a haunting literary thriller that examines how a violent crime reverberates through a marriage over decades. Dean transitioned from a successful legal career—including working as a lawyer at Google—to become one of the UK’s most acclaimed contemporary thriller writers.
S.A. Cosby, the only author to be shortlisted for an unprecedented three Dagger awards, took home the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which honours the best thriller of the year, with his book, King of Ashes.
Cosby is one of the most celebrated crime writers working today, regularly praised by Barack Obama in his Books of the Year selections, known for blending fast-paced noir thrillers with sharp explorations of race, class, masculinity, and life in the modern American South. He worked in construction, retail and security, writing on the side, before breaking through with the acclaimed novel, Blacktop Wasteland.
King of Ashes, is a Southern Gothic crime epic inspired in part by The Godfather. The novel combines family drama, organized crime, revenge, and long-buried secrets.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “It is a genuine pleasure to congratulate every winner of this year’s Daggers. The range and quality on display are a reminder of just how much vitality there is in crime fiction and how it continues to push at its own boundaries, and this year’s winners are leading that charge. Congratulations.”
Nina Allan received the Historical Dagger for A Granite Silence, an atmospheric mystery that uses the disappearance of a young girl in 1930s Aberdeen to explore memory, truth, and the stories communities tell themselves about tragedy. Nina made a name for herself in the Science Fiction genre, but her literary thrillers cross categories and have been highly praised by critics.
The Twisted Dagger for psychological suspense went to Sarah Pinborough, for her haunting Gothic novel, We Live Here Now. Pinborough is best-known for her New York Times bestselling breakout novel (and hit Netflix show) Behind Her Eyes. We Live Here Now was praised for its eerie atmosphere and signature Pinborough-style ending.
The Whodunnit Dagger for books with an intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery, sees Mel Pennant take home the award for A Murder for Miss Hortense.
A playwright, screenwriter, and novelist A Murder for Miss Hortense is Pennant’s breakthrough novel featuring the sharp-witted Jamaican-born retired nurse living in Birmingham who investigates a murder. The book was praised for combining a compelling mystery with a warm portrayal of the Windrush generation and Caribbean-British life.
The global reach of the genre is showcased in the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
Finland’s Antti Tuomainen came top in a hotly contended category, with The Winter Job.
Tuomainen is one of Finland’s most internationally acclaimed crime writers, often described as the “King of Helsinki Noir” and dark comedy. His translator David Hackston, is also recognised in the award, which is sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to Susannah Stapleton for That Dark Spring.
Stapleton is a historian specialising in uncovering forgotten stories from the early twentieth century, particularly women’s stories. That Dark Spring is an absorbing true-crime mystery that reopens the unsolved 1929 death of an eccentric British artist in Provence, revealing a world of secrets, rivalries, and unanswered questions.
The Daggers are one of few high-profile genre awards that celebrate the short story. This year’s recipient of the Short Story Dagger goes to Ambrose Parry for The Apple Falls Not Far. Ambrose Parry is the joint pen name of Scottish crime novelist Chris Brookmyre and his wife, former consultant anaesthetist Marisa Haetzman.
The Dagger in the Library, voted for by librarians, recognises authors whose bodies of work have resonated with readers over time. Tim Sullivan took the accolade in a stellar shortlist that included Paula Hawkins, Clare Mackintosh, Freida McFadden, and Abir Mukherjee.
An accomplished television writer-director, Tim Sullivan reinvented himself as a bestselling crime novelist through the hugely successful DS George Cross mysteries, combining classic detective fiction with a distinctive neurodivergent protagonist.
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.
Laura McCluskey received the Creasey First Novel Dagger with The Wolf Tree. The Australian writer, editor, actor and filmmaker worked across theatre and film, before becoming a novelist. The Wolf Tree is an atmospheric crime thriller set on the fictional Hebridean island of Eilean Eadar, party inspired by her Scottish family heritage and research into Scottish folklore.
The Emerging Author Dagger went to Michael Nikitin for Blind Side of the Sun.
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher category recognises the publishers behind the genre’s success. The respected independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press beat heavyweights including Faber & Faber, Pan Macmillan, No Exit Press and Simon & Schuster to the award.
Founded in London in 2003 by François and Frédéric von Hurter and Laurence Colchester, Bitter Lemon Press specialises in bringing award-winning crime, noir, mystery, and thriller novels from around the world into English, often through new translations.
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.
Mark Billingham said: “I could not be more thrilled or honoured. To be added to a list that features most of my literary heroes is fantastic.”
The winners in full:
CWA KAA Gold Dagger
Abigail Dean The Death of Us (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
S. A. Cosby King of Ashes (Headline)
ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
Susannah Stapleton That Dark Spring (Pan Macmillan/Picador)
Historical Dagger
Nina Allan A Granite Silence (Quercus/riverrun)
Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
Antti Tuomainen The Winter Job (Orenda Books) translated by David Hackston
Whodunnit Dagger
Mel Pennant A Murder for Miss Hortense (John Murray Press/Baskerville)
Twisted Dagger
Sarah Pinborough We Live Here Now (Orion Fiction)
ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger
Laura McCluskey The Wolf Tree (HarperCollins/Hemlock Press)
Short Story Dagger
Ambrose Perry ‘The Apple Falls Not Far’ (Canongate)
Emerging Author
Michael Nikitin, Blind Side of the Sun
Dagger in the Library
Tim Sullivan
Best Crime & Mystery Publisher
Bitter Lemon Press
Diamond Dagger
Mark Billingham
ENDS
Notes to Editors
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 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