2009 Dagger Shortlists
Gold
International
Steel
John Creasey
Library
Short Story
Debut
Daggers forum
Rules
Gold
International
Steel
John Creasey
Library
Short Story
Debut
Daggers forum
Rules
When nominations closed on 17 April, 988 entries had been put forward for the seven Crime Writers’ Association Daggers in contention this year. These prestigious awards celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing, and the first four Daggers were announced at a drinks reception held at the Tiger Tiger nightspot in London on the evening of July 15. The final three Daggers were announced at an awards evening hosted by comedian Alan Davies at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Wednesday 21st October, and due to be televised on ITV3 at 9pm on Tuesday 27th October. Details of these winners are on another part of this site.
The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement. This page summarises the books and authors who, while they did not get the coveted CWA Dagger, reached the very high standard needed to be shortlisted. CWA Chair Margaret Murphy said: “The strength of the Daggers shortlists, and even those writers who missed out, shows that crime writing remains in good shape.”
All shortlisted books had their first UK publication in the year from 1st June, 2008 to 31st May, 2009.
The Crime Writers’ Association’s Gold Dagger carries a prize of £2500 and is awarded for the top crime novel of the year. It is sponsored by BooksDirect and was won this year by William Brodrick for A Whispered Name. The other shortlisted books were:
Kate Atkinson: When Will There Be Good News? (Black Swan/Transworld)
Mark Billingham: In the Dark (Little, Brown)
Lawrence Block: Hit and Run (Orion)
MR Hall: The Coroner (Pan Macmillan)
Gene Kerrigan: Dark Times In The City (Harvill Secker)
More information on the Gold Dagger page
The Crime Writers’ Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger carries a prize of £2000. Ian Fleming said there was one essential criterion for a good thriller - that ‘one simply has to turn the page’; this is one of the main characteristics that the judges were looking for. It is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd and was won this year by John Hart for The Last Child. The other shortlisted books were:
Michael Connelly: The Brass Verdict (Orion)
Gillian Flynn: Dark Places (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Charlie Newton: Calumet City (Bantam Press)
Daniel Silva: Moscow Rules (Michael Joseph)
Olen Steinhauer: The Tourist (HarperCollins)
Andrew Williams: The Interrogator (John Murray)
More information on the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger page
The Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger carries a prize of £1000, and is awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers. It is sponsored by Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead and was won this year by Johan Theorin with Echoes from The Dead. The other shortlisted books were:
David Fuller Sweetsmoke (Abacus)
James Green Bad Catholics (Luath Press)
Rod Madocks No Way To Say Goodbye (Five Leaves)
Robert Rotenberg Old City Hall (John Murray)
Dan Waddell The Blood Detective (Penguin)
More information on the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger page
Unlike most other literary prizes, the Dagger in the Library is awarded not for an individual book but for the author’s body of work. Authors are nominated by UK libraries and Readers’ Groups and judged by a panel of librarians. The £1500 prize is sponsored by the publishers Random House and was won this year by Colin Cotterill.
The other authors on the 2009 shortlist were:
Simon Beckett
R J Ellory
Ariana Franklin
Peter James
Michael Robotham
More information on the Dagger in the Library page
For crime, thriller, suspense or spy fiction novels which have been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication. £1000 prize money for the author and £500 for the translator, and won by Fred Vargas for The Chalk Circle Man, translated by Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker):
Karin Alvtegen, Shadow, translated by McKinley Burnett, (Canongate)
Arnaldur Indriðason, The Arctic Chill, translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)
Stieg Larsson, The Girl who played with Fire, translated by Reg Keeland (MacLehose Quercus)
Jo Nesbø, The Redeemer, translated by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker)
Johan Theorin, Echoes from the Dead, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Doubleday)
More information on the International Dagger page.
Any crime short story first published in the UK in English in return for payment. The £1500 prize was won by Sean Chercover for One Serving of Bad Luck from Killer Year. The other stories in contention were:
Lawrence Block: Speaking of Lust from Crime Express series (Five Leaves Publications)
Laura Lippman: Cougar from Two of the Deadliest (Hodder & Stoughton)
Peter Robinson: The Price of Love from The Blue Religion (Quercus)
Zoë Sharp: Served Cold from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime (Constable & Robinson)
Chris Simms: Mother’s Milk from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime (Constable & Robinson)
More information on the Short Story Dagger page.
The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. The first prize, sponsored by Orion, is £500 plus two free tickets to the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards and night’s stay for two in a top London hotel. This year’s winner is Catherine O’Keefe for The Pathologist. The other shortlisted authors were:
Frank Burkett: A View from the Clock Tower (Australia)
Aoife Clifford: My First Big Book of Murder (Australia)
CJ Harper: Backdrop (USA)
Madeleine Harris-Callway: The Land of Sun and Fun (Canada)
Renata Hill: Sex, Death and Chocolate (Canada)
Mick Laing: The Sirius Patrol (UK)
Susan Lindgren: Forgotten Treasures (USA)
Danielle Ramsay: Paterfamilias (UK)
Germaine Stafford: A Vine Time for Trouble (Italy)
Martin Ungless: Idiot Wind (UK)
Alan Wright: Murder at the Séance (UK)
More information on the Debut Dagger page
Established for the best historical crime novel (set in any period up to 35 years prior to the year in which the award will be made) by an author of any nationality, the award commemorates the life and work of Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) (1913-1995), a prolific author perhaps best known as the creator of Brother Cadfael. It was won this year by Philip Kerr with his wartime novel If The Dead Rise Not. The other shortlisted titles were:
Rennie Airth: The Dead of Winter (Macmillan)
Shona MacLean: The Redemption of Alexander Seaton (Quercus)
Mark Mills: The Intelligence Officer (HarperCollins)
Andrew Williams: The Interrogator (John Murray)
Laura Wilson: An Empty Death (Orion Publishing Group)
More information on the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award.
.