Daggers 2008
Diamond
Duncan Lawrie
International
Steel
Non-Fiction
New Blood
Historical
Library
Short Story
Debut
Daggers Forum
Our sponsor
Diamond
Duncan Lawrie
International
Steel
Non-Fiction
New Blood
Historical
Library
Short Story
Debut
Daggers Forum
Our sponsor
Here are the shortlists for the CWA / Duncan Lawrie Daggers 2008, which were announced at a reception at the British Library on 3rd June. The winners were announced at the Awards Dinner, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in London's Park Lane on Thursday 10th July. More details are on the individual dagger pages — follow the links in the text or those in the left margin.
An innovation this year is the Daggers forum where, in the run-up to the Awards Dinner, you could discuss the books shortlisted for the Duncan Lawrie Dagger and the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger.
| James Lee Burke | The Tin Roof Blowdown | Orion |
| Colin Cotterill | Coroner's Lunch | Quercus |
| Frances Fyfield | Blood From Stone | Sphere (Little, Brown) |
| Steve Hamilton | Night Work | Orion |
| Laura Lippman | What the Dead Know | Orion |
| RN Morris | A Vengeful Longing | Faber & Faber |
More information on the Duncan Lawrie Dagger page.
| Andrea Camilleri (Italy) | The Patience of the Spider (Picador, Macmillan) | Translated by Stephen Sartarelli |
| Stieg Larsson (Sweden) | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (MacLehose Press, Quercus) | Translated by Reg Keeland |
| Dominique Manotti (France) | Lorraine Connection (EuroCrime, Arcadia Books) | Translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz |
| Martin Suter (Germany) | A Deal with the Devil ( EuroCrime, Arcadia Books) | Translated by Peter Millar |
| Fred Vargas (France) | This Night's Foul Work (Harvill Secker, Random House) | Translated by Sîan Reynolds |
More information on the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger page.
This year’s CWA Duncan Lawrie Daggers Awards will take place on Thursday 10th July at the Four Seasons Hotel, Park Lane – a prestigious venue for the world’s top crime prize of £20,000. (The closing date for applications was Thursday 26th June.)
The evening will start with a drinks reception in the Oak & Pine rooms at 6.30 pm, to be followed by Dinner in the Ballroom at 7.45 pm
Our Guest of Honour: Gyles Brandreth
Black tie preferred.
Publishers had until 17 April to nominate books for the Duncan Lawrie, International, Steel, Non-Fiction and New Blood Daggers. Any UK publisher could enter books provided that the book is relevant to the appropriate award and was published between June 1 2007 and May 31 2008. (For the biennial Non-Fiction Dagger the earlier date is June 1 2006.) For reference, this link takes you to the competition rules.
Further information may be obtained from the CWA Dagger Liaison Officer, Meg Gardiner, by emailing .
Sue Grafton
photo: Steven Hum
The twenty-third Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing, has been awarded to the best-selling American novelist, Sue Grafton. Her Kinsey Millhone alphabet series of PI mystery novels have won numerous awards in her native America. The latest number one best-seller, T is for Trespass, was published in the US in December 2007 and will be out in Macmillan hardback in the UK in April 2008.
On hearing of the award, Ms Grafton said: “News of my being named the 2008 recipient of the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger so astonished me that I thought at first it was a practical joke. I'm thrilled with the news and honored at the prospect.”
Ms Grafton was presented with her dagger at a champagne reception at the Gore Hotel, Kensington, London on May 7th. You can find a report o that event on the Cartier Diamond Dagger page.
The Ellis Peters Historical Award carries a prize of £3,000 and is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters. It is awarded in the autumn.