Information from Crime Writers Association accessed 8/12/10
2010 Finalists
CWA Gold Dagger
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton
Shadowplay by Karen Campbell
The Way Home by George Pelecanos
CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
A Loyal Spy by Simon Conway
Innocent by Scott Turow
The Dying Light by Henry Porter
The Gentlemen's Hour by Don Winslow
CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
Acts of Violence by Ryan David Jahn
Rupture by Simon Lelic
The Holy Thief by William Ryan
The Pull of the Moon by Diane Janes
The Cartier Diamond Dagger is sponsored by Cartier, who have done so since its inception in 1986. The CWA committee selects writers nominated by the membership. Nominees have to meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality.
2010 Val McDermid
2009 Andrew Taylor
2008 Sue Grafton
2007 John Harvey
2006 Elmore Leonard
2005 Ian Rankin
2004 Lawrence Block
2003 Robert Barnard
2002 Sara Paretsky
2001: Lionel Davidson
2000: Peter Lovesey
1999: Margaret Yorke
1998: Ed McBain
1997: Colin Dexter
1996: H.R.F.Keating
1995: Reginald Hill
1994: Michael Gilbert
1993: Ellis Peters
1992: Leslie Charteris
1991: Ruth Rendell
1990: Julian Symons
1989: Dick Francis
1988: John le Carré
1987: P D James
1986: Eric Ambler
THE CWA GOLD DAGGER
The Crime Writers' Association first created its award for best crime novel of the year in 1955, under the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award: the first winner was Winston Graham for The Little Walls. The award was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960. From 1969 to 2005, a Silver Dagger was also awarded to the runner up.
Between 1995 and 2002, the awards were sponsored by The Macallan, distillers of the finest Single Highland Malt Whisky, and named The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers.
For the three years 2006 to 2008 the Gold Dagger was renamed the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in honour of its sponsor, the Duncan Lawrie Private Bank.
Up to and including 2005, books in translation were eligible for this prize. In 2006 on, a separate Dagger, The CWA International Dagger was introduced for books in translation, recogniseing the work of the translator as well as that of the original author.
The CWA Gold Dagger
2009: A Whispered Name (Little, Brown) - William Brodrick
The CWA Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger
2008: Blood From Stone (Sphere) - Frances Fyfield
2007: The Broken Shore (Quercus) - Peter Temple
2006: Raven Black (Pan Macmillan) - Ann Cleeves
The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction
2005 Gold: Silence of the Grave (The Harvill Press) - Arnaldur Indridason (translator: Bernard Scudder)
Silver: Deadly Web (Headline) - Barbara Nadel
2004 Gold: Blacklist (Hamish Hamilton)- Sara Paretsky
Flesh and Blood (Heinemann)- John Harvey
2003 Gold: Fox Evil (Macmillan) - Minette Walters
Silver: Half-Broken Things (Hodder & Stoughton) - Morag Joss
The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction
2002 Gold: The Athenian Murders (Abacus) - Jose Carlos Samoza
Silver: The Final Country (HarperCollins) - James Crumley
2001 Gold: Sidetracked (The Harvill Press) - Henning Mankell
Silver: Forty Words for Sorrow (HarperCollins) - Giles Blunt
2000 Gold: Motherless Brooklyn (Faber & Faber) - Jonathan Lethem
Silver: Friends in High Places (Heinneman) - Donna Leon
1999 Gold: A Small Death in Lisbon (HarperCollins) - Robert Wilson
Silver: Vienna Blood (Cape) - Adrian Mathews
1998 Gold: Sunset Limited (Orion) - James Lee Burke
Silver: Manchester Slingback (Picador) - Nicholas Blincoe
1997 Gold: Black And Blue (Orion) - Ian Rankin
Silver: Three to get Deadly (Viking) - Janet Evanovich
1996 Gold: Popcorn - Ben Elton
Silver: Bloodhounds (LittleBrown) - Peter Lovesey
1995 Gold: The Mermaids Singing - Val McDermid
Silver: The Summons (LittleBrown) - Peter Lovesey
The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction
1994 Gold: The Scold's Bridle - Minette Walters; Silver: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow Peter Hoeg
1993 Gold: Cruel and Unusual - Patricia Cornwell; Silver: Fatlands - Sarah Dunant
1992 Gold: The Way Through the Woods - Colin Dexter; Silver: Bucket Nut - Liza Cody
1991 Gold: King Solomon's Carpet - Barbara Vine; Silver: Deep Sleep - Frances Fyfield
1990 Gold: Bones and Silence - Reginald Hill; Silver: The Late Candidate Mike Phillips
1989 Gold: The Wench is Dead - Colin Dexter; Silver: The Shadow Run - Desmond Lowden
1988 Gold: Ratking - Michael Dibdin; Silver: Toxic Shock Sara Paretsky
1987 Gold: A Fatal Inversion - Barbara Vine; Silver: Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow
1986 Gold: Live Flesh - Ruth Rendell; Silver: A Taste for DeathPD James
1985 Gold: Monkey Puzzle - Paula Gosling; Silver: Last Seen Alive - Dorothy Simpson
1984 Gold: The Twelfth Juror - B.M.Gill; Silver: The Tree of Hands Ruth Rendell
1983 Gold: Accidental Crimes - John Hutton; Silver: The Papers of Tony Veitch - William McIlvanney
1982 Gold: The False Inspector Dew - Peter Lovesey; Silver: Ritual Murder - ST Haymon
1981 Gold: Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith ; Silver: The Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter
1980 Gold: The Murder of the Maharajah - H.R.F.Keating; Silver: Monk's Hood - Ellis Peters
1979 Gold: Whip Hand - Dick Francis; Silver: Service of all the Dead - Colin Dexter
1978 Gold: The Chelsea Murders - Lionel Davidson; Silver: Waxwork - Peter Lovesey
1977 Gold: The Honourable Schoolboy - John le Carre; Silver: Laidlaw - William McIlvanney
1976 Gold: A Demon in my View - Ruth Rendell; Silver: Rogue Eagle - James McClure
1975 Gold: The Seven per cent solution - Nicholas Meyer; Silver: The Black Tower - PD James
1974 Gold: Other Paths to Glory - Anthony Price; Silver: The Grosvenor Square Goodbye - Francis Clifford
1973 Gold: The Defection of A.J.Lewinter - Robert Littell; Silver: A Coffin for Pandora - Gwendoline Butler
1972 Gold: The Levanter - Eric Ambler; Silver: The Rainbird Pattern - Victor Canning
1971 Gold: The Steam Pig - James McClure; Silver: Shroud for a Nightingale - PD James
1970 Gold: Young Man I Think You're Dying - Joan Fleming; Silver: The Labyrinth Makers - Anthony Price
1969 Gold: A Pride of Heroes - Peter Dickinson; Silver: Another Way of Dying - Francis Clifford
The CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction
1968: Skin Deep (The Glass-sided Ants' Nest)
1967: Murder Against the Grain - Emma Lathen
1966: A Long Way to Shiloh - Lionel Davidson
1965: The Far Side of the Dollar - Ross Macdonald
1964: The Perfect Murder - H.R.F.Keating
1963: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - John le Carre
1962: When I Grow Rich - Joan Fleming
1961: The Spoilt Kill - Mary Kelly
1960: The Night of Wenceslas - Lionel Davidson
Crossed Red Herring Awards
1959: Passage of Arms - Eric Ambler
1958: Someone from the Past - Margot Bennett
1957: The Colour of Murder - Julian Symons
1956: The Second Man - Edward Grierson
1955: The Little Walls - Winston Graham
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller was introduced in 2002 and is sponsored by Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Publications Ltd to celebrate the best of contemporary thriller writing. The winning author is awarded £2000 and also receives a unique 'steel dagger', which is handcrafted and inspired by the weapon used by Special Forces during World War II. The judges are agents, authors, booksellers and reviewers.
2009: The Last Child (John Murray) - John Hart
2008: Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith
2007: Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - Gillian Flynn
2006: Mr Clarinet (Michael Joseph) - Nick Stone
2005: Brandenburg (Orion) - Henry Porter
2004: Garden of Beasts (Hodder & Stoughton) - Jeffery Deaver
2003: The Small Boat of Great Sorrows (Transworld Bantam) - Dan Fesperman
2002: The Sirius Crossing (Faber and Faber) - John Creed
THE JOHN CREASEY DAGGER
The 'New Blood' Dagger for the best first book by a previously unpublished writers is awarded in memory of crime writer John Creasey (1908-1973), crime writer, creator of The Toff and CWA founder.
The current sponsors are 2006 winner Louise Penny, and Michael Whitehead.
The award, previously The John Creasey Memorial Award, was sponsored from its introduction in 1973 till 2002 by publisher Chivers Press; from 2003 it was sponsored by BBC Audiobooks.
The John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger is voted on by past winners.
2009: Echoes From The Dead (Doubleday) - Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy
2008: The Bethlehem Murders (Atlantic Books) - Matt Rees
2007: Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - Gillian Flynn
2006: Still Life (Hodder Headline) - Louise Penny
2005: Running Hot (Maia Press) - Dreda Say Mitchell
2004: Amagansett (Fourth Estate) - Mark Mills
2003: Mission Flats (Bantam) - William Landay
2002: The Cutting Room (Canongate) - Louise Welsh
2001: The Earthquake Bird (Picador) - Susanna Jones
2000: God is a Bullet - Boston Teran
1999: Lie in the Dark - Dan Fesperman
1998: Garnet Hill - Denise Mina
1997: Body Politic - Paul Johnston
1996: no award
1995: One for the Money - Janet Evanovich
1995: A Grave Talent - Laurie R King
1994: Big Town - Doug J Swanson
1993: no award
1992: The Ice House - Minette Walters
1991: Devil in a Blue Dress - Walter Mosley
1990: Postmortem - Patricia Cornwell
1989: A Real Shot in the Arm - Annette Roome
1988: Death's Bright Angel - Janet Neel
1987: Dark Apostle - Denis Kilcommons
1986: Tinplate - Neville Steed
1985: The Latimer Mercy - Robert Richardson
1984: A Very Private Enterprise - Elizabeth Ironside
1983: The Night the Gods Smiled - Eric Wright
1983: The Ariadne Clue - Carol Clemeau
1982: Caroline Miniscule - Andrew Taylor
1981: The Ludi Victor - James Leigh
1980: Dupe - Liza Cody
1979: A Running Duck (US: Fair Game) - Paula Gosling
1978: Saturday of Glory - David Serafin
1977: The Judas Pair - Jonathan Gash
1976: Death of a Thin Skinned Animal - Patrick Alexander
1975: Acid Drop - Sara George
1974: The Big Fix - Roger L Simon
1973: Don't Point That Thing at Me - Kyril Bonfiglioli
The CWA International Dagger
Before 2006, novels in translation were eligible for the CWA Gold Dagger on the same footing as any other works published in English in the qualifying period. With the growing popularity (and therefore publication) of crime fiction in translation, the judges became uneasily aware that they could be awarding prizes to authors of whose writing they had read literally not a single word, while overlooking the contribution of the translator to the book on whose merits they were pronouncing.
In 2006, therefore, a new Dagger award was introduced for the year’s best crime novel translated into English from another language, and translated works became ineligible for the Gold Dagger. From 2006 to 2008 the International Dagger was named for its sponsor, the Duncan Lawrie Private Bank. The Dagger rewards both the original author and the translator, since the book for which it is given is the work of both parties.
Remarkably, in the first four years of the International Dagger, it was won by the same team, French writer Fred Vargas and translator Siân Reynolds. The full list of winners so far (click the date for more information) is:
2009: The Chalk Circle Man (Harvill Secker) - Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds
2008: Lorraine Connection (EuroCrime imprint of Arcadia Books) - Dominique Manotti, translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz
2007: Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand (Harvill Secker) - Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds
2006: The Three Evangelists (The Harvill Press) - Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds
THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
The CWA is the professional body of all crime writers, and this includes not only novelists but also those who write about true crime, from investigative journalism to historical research. In 1978, the CWA instituted the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction award, and for the two years 1978 and 1979 also awarded the CWA Silver Dagger for Non-Fiction to the runner-up.
Between 1995 and 2002, this award has also been sponsored by The Macallan and renamed The MACALLAN Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. In 2008, the award was sponsored by Owatonna Media. Since 2006 it has been awarded evey other year, in even-numbered years. It is chosen by a panel of judges with a publishing and / or legal background.
The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
2008: Nationality: Wog - The Hounding of David Oluwale (Jonathan Cape) - Kester Aspden
2006: The Dagenham Murder (The Borough of Barking and Dagenham) - Linda Rhodes, Lee Shelden and Kathryn Abnett
2005: On the Run (Hutchinson) - Gregg and Gina Hill
2004 Jointly: Cosa Nostra (Hodder & Stoughton) - John Dickie
The Italian Boy (Jonathan Cape) - Sarah Wise
2003: Pointing from the Grave (Hamish Hamilton) - Samantha Weinberg
The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
2002: Dead Man's Wages (Picador) - Lillian Pizzichini
2001: The Infiltrators (Michael Joseph) - Philip Etienne and Martin Maynard with Tony Thompson
2000: Mr Blue - Edward Bunker
1999: The Case of Stephen Lawrence - Brian Cathcart
1998: Cries Unheard - Gitta Sereny
1997: The Jigsaw Man - Paul Britton
1996: The Gunpowder Plot - Antonia Fraser
1995: Dead Not Buried - Martin Beales
The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
1994: Criminal Shadows - David Canter
1993: Murder in the Heart - Alexandra Artley
1992: The Reckoning - Charles Nicholl
1991: Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair - John Bossy
1990: The Passing of Starr Faithfull - Jonathan Goodman
1989: A Gathering of Saints - Robert Lindsay
1988: The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln - Bernard Wasserstein
1987: Perfect Murder - Bernard Taylor / Stephen Knight
1986: Evil Angels - John Bryson
1985: Killing for Company - Brian Masters
1984: In God's Name - David Yallop
1983: Double Dealer - Peter Watson
1982: Earth to Earth - John Cornwell
1981: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number - Jacobo Timerman
1980: Conspiracy - Anthony Summers
1979: Rachman - Shirley Green
1978: The Mystery of the Princes -Audrey Williamson
The CWA Silver Dagger for Non-Fiction
1979: Fraud - Jon Connell / Douglas Sutherland
1978: The Capture of the Black Panther - Harry Hawkes
THE DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
The Dagger in the Library (formerly the Golden Handcuffs) is awarded to the (living) author who has given most pleasure to readers; it recognises a body of work, not one single title. The award is nominated by UK libraries and readers' groups, and is judged by a panel of librarians who work with the public.
New sponsorship from the Random House Group has enabled this award to be reinstated after a break of some years.
Previous Winners
2009: Colin Cotterill
2008: Craig Russell
2007: Stuart MacBride
2006: Jim Kelly
2005: Jake Arnott
2004: Alexander McCall Smith
2003: Stephen Booth
2002: Peter Robinson
The Award was in abeyance between 1997 and 2001.
1996: Marian Babson
1995: Lindsey Davis
1994: Robert Barnard
THE CWA SHORT STORY AWARD
The CWA Short Story Award was introduced in 1995 as the Short Story Dagger and was sponsored by The MACALLAN between 1995 and 2002.
It is now sponsored by the membership of the CWA. In 2006 it was renamed the Short Story Award. The winning story is selected by judges who are agents, authors and editors.
Previous Winners
2009: One Serving of Bad Luck by Sean Chercover,
in Killer Year (Mira)
2008: The Bookbinder's Apprentice by Martin Edwards,
in The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries (Constable Robinson<)
2007: Needle Match by Peter Lovesey,
in The Best British Mysteries (Allison & Busby)
2006: Sins of Scarlet by Robert Barnard,
in ID: Crimes of Identity (Comma Press)
2005: No Flies on Frank by Danuta Reah,
in Sherlock Magazine (Atlas Publishing)
2004: The Weekender by Jeffery Deaver,
in Twisted (Hodder & Stoughton)
2003: Closer to the Flame by Jerry Sykes,
in Crime in the City (Do-Not Press)
2002: Martha Grace by Stella Duffy,
in Tart Noir: An Anthology (Pan Macmillan)
2001: Prussian Snowdrops by Marion Arnott,
in Crimewave 4 (TTA Press)
2000: Helena and the Babies, by Denise Mina
in Fresh Blood 3 (The Do-Not Press)
1999: Taking Care of Frank, by Antony Mann
in Crimewave 2 (TTA Press)
1998: Roots, by Jerry Sykes
in Mean Time (The Do Not Press)
1997: On the Psychiatrist's Couch, by Reginald Hill
in WHYDUNNIT, The 1997 CWA Anthology (Severn House)
1996: Herbert in Motion, by Ian Rankin
in Perfectly Criminal (Severn House)
1995: Funny Story, by Larry Beinhart
in No Alibi (Ringpull)
THE DEBUT DAGGER
The Debut Dagger is the CWA's annual new-writing competition, which is open to anyone in the world who writes in the English language, but whose work has not been published before. Most previous winners, as well as some of those who made the short list but did not win (such as Stephen Booth and Louise Penny) have subsequently had their books published.
The entrants submit an opening chapter and synopsis; the winning entry is selected by a panel of agents and publishers.
The Debut Dagger began life in 1998 as The CWA New Writers Competition. It is sponsored by leading publishers Orion.
Previous Winners
2009: The Pathologist - Catherine O’Keefe
2008: Western Fringes - Amer Anwar
2007: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley
2006: Imp: Being the Lost Notebooks of Rufus Wilmot Griswold In the Matter of the Death of Edgar Allan Poe - Otis Twelve (D V Wesselmann)
2005: The Woman Before Me - Ruth Dugdall
2004: The Doll Makers - Ellen Grubb
2003: The Cuckoo - Kirsty Evans
2002: Sugarmilk Falls - Ilona van Mil
2001: Clea's Moon - Edward Wright
2000: A Flowery Death - Simon Levack
1999: Blood Junction - Caroline Carver (won as Caroline Seed)
1998: Stone Baby - Joolz Denby
THE ELLIS PETERS HISTORICAL AWARD
The Ellis Peters Historical Award was founded in 1999 as the Historical Dagger. In 2006 this was renamed the Ellis Peters Award, to commemorate the life and work of Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) 1913-1995, a prolific author perhaps best known as the creator of Brother Cadfael. It is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers - Headline and Little Brown.
The award is presented to a novel with a crime theme and a historical background of any period up to 35 years before the current year. The judging panel includes the most recent winner, as well as reviewers and historians. The award is made in the autumn.
Previous Winners
2009: If The Dead Rise Not (Quercus) - Philip Kerr
2008: Stratton’s War (Orion) - Laura Wilson
2007: Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
2006: Red Sky Lament (Orion) - Edward Wright
2005: Dark Fire (Macmillan) - CJ Sansom
2004: The Damascened Blade (Constable & Robinson) - Barbara Cleverly
2003: The American Boy (Flamingo) - Andrew Taylor
2002: Fingersmith (Virago) - Sarah Waters
2001: The Office Of The Dead (HarperCollins) - Andrew Taylor
2000: Absent Friends (Virago) - Gillian Linscott
1999: Two for the Lions (Century) - Lindsey Davis
THE LAST LAUGH DAGGER
Between 1988 and 1996, the CWA presented an award for the year's best humorous crime novel; this was initially known as The Punch Award, but subsequently changed to the Last Laugh Dagger
Winners
1996: Two For The Dough - Janet Evanovich
1995: Sunburn - Laurence Shame
1994: The Villain of the Earth - Simon Shaw
1993: The Mamur Zapt and The Spoils of Egypt - Michael Pearce
1992: Native Tongue - Carl Hiaasen
1991: Angels in Arms - Mike Ripley
1990: Killer Cinderella - Simon Shaw
1989: Angel Touch - Mike Ripley
1988: Death in a Distant Land - Nancy Livingston
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 July 2009 15.52 BST
Scandinavian crime fiction might be all the rage in the book charts but French writer Fred Vargas has seen off competition from a cluster of Nordic authors to take the Crime Writers' Association's International Dagger award.
Vargas, who has won the prize in three out of the last four years, took the £1,000 award for the first in her series of Adamsberg novels, The Chalk Circle Man. It took the prize ahead of three Swedish crime novels – including Steig Larsson's bestselling The Girl Who Played With Fire – one Norwegian, and one Icelandic novel. A bestselling author in France as well as a medieval archaeologist, Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. Her translator, Sîan Reynolds, won £500.
Published in France as L'Homme aux cercles bleu, it follows the story of unorthodox policeman Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg as strange blue chalk circles start to appear on the pavements of Paris, containing increasingly strange objects, from a pigeon's foot to a doll's head. The news is covered with wry amusement by the press, but Adamsberg is uneasy, and soon the body of a woman who has been brutally murdered is found in one of the circles. Judges said the book was "a remarkable demonstration of Vargas's ability to open with an odd event and follow it into an unhappy past".
The CWA caused controversy in 2005 when it took the decision to bar foreign language authors from competing for its top award, after the £3,000 Golden Dagger was won by translated novels in three out of eight years. It restricted the prize to books originally written in English, establishing the International Dagger to reward foreign works.
Yesterday evening also saw the CWA announce the winner of the £1,500 Dagger in the Library prize, which goes to a body of work rather than a single title and was this year won by Colin Cotterill, putting him in the company of previous winners Stuart McBride, Craig Russell and Alexander McCall Smith. The £500 Debut Dagger for new writing went to Canadian writer Catherine O'Keefe for The Pathologist – "an uncomfortable, sophisticated read that also manages to be suspenseful", according to the judges – while Sean Chercover's One Serving of Bad Luck took the £1,500 short story prize with a tale judges said provided "a new take on the private eye".
Vargas, who has won the prize in three out of the last four years, took the £1,000 award for the first in her series of Adamsberg novels, The Chalk Circle Man. It took the prize ahead of three Swedish crime novels – including Steig Larsson's bestselling The Girl Who Played With Fire – one Norwegian, and one Icelandic novel. A bestselling author in France as well as a medieval archaeologist, Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. Her translator, Sîan Reynolds, won £500.
Published in France as L'Homme aux cercles bleu, it follows the story of unorthodox policeman Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg as strange blue chalk circles start to appear on the pavements of Paris, containing increasingly strange objects, from a pigeon's foot to a doll's head. The news is covered with wry amusement by the press, but Adamsberg is uneasy, and soon the body of a woman who has been brutally murdered is found in one of the circles. Judges said the book was "a remarkable demonstration of Vargas's ability to open with an odd event and follow it into an unhappy past".
The CWA caused controversy in 2005 when it took the decision to bar foreign language authors from competing for its top award, after the £3,000 Golden Dagger was won by translated novels in three out of eight years. It restricted the prize to books originally written in English, establishing the International Dagger to reward foreign works.
Yesterday evening also saw the CWA announce the winner of the £1,500 Dagger in the Library prize, which goes to a body of work rather than a single title and was this year won by Colin Cotterill, putting him in the company of previous winners Stuart McBride, Craig Russell and Alexander McCall Smith. The £500 Debut Dagger for new writing went to Canadian writer Catherine O'Keefe for The Pathologist – "an uncomfortable, sophisticated read that also manages to be suspenseful", according to the judges – while Sean Chercover's One Serving of Bad Luck took the £1,500 short story prize with a tale judges said provided "a new take on the private eye".
