This year’s Crime Writers’ Association Short Story Dagger has been won by Sean Chercover for One Serving of Bad Luck from Killer Year, edited by Lee Child, and published by Mira. The other shortlisted enties, in alphabetical order, were:
Lawrence Block: Speaking of Lust from Crime Express series (Five Leaves Publications)
Judges’ comments: Four tales of lasciviousness and its fatal aftermath by one of the godfathers of the genre.
Laura Lippman: Cougar from Two of the Deadliest edited by Elizabeth George (Hodder & Stoughton)
Judges’ comments: A serrated knife in the gut of gender politics by an expert practitioner of the genre.
Peter Robinson: The Price of Love from The Blue Religion edited by Michael Connelly (Quercus)
Judges’ comments: A boy finally understands the brutal criminal implications of an incident in his childhood.
Zoë Sharp: Served Cold from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Constable & Robinson)
Judges’ comments: Justice, revenge, danger. All elements of a tale of lost love and its tragic consequences.
Chris Simms: Mother’s Milk from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Constable & Robinson)
Judges’ comments: A deceptively low key story of a thief and a conman who has the tables painfully turned on him.
Simon Brett is a radio presenter, man of the theatre and writer of civilized and witty crime entertainments.
Ayo Onatade - not content with running the lives of senior judges, she is also a well-connected crime journalist.