The 2025 shortlist for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, are 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 CWA Dagger Awards Shortlist in Full
KAA GOLD DAGGER
D V Bishop: A Divine Fury (Macmillan)
R J Ellory: The Bell Tower (Orion)
Tana French: The Hunter (Penguin Books Ltd)
Attica Locke: Guide Me Home (Profile Books Ltd)
Anna Mazzola: Book of Secrets (Orion)
Bonnie Burke-Patel: I Died at Fallow Hall (Bedford Square Publishers)
IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Lou Berney: Dark Ride (Hemlock Press/ HarperCollins)
M W Craven: Nobody’s Hero (Constable/Little Brown, Hachette)
Garry Disher: Sanctuary (Viper/Profile Books)
Abir Mukherjee: Hunted (Harvill & Secker/ Penguin Random House)
Stuart Neville: Blood Like Mine (Simon & Schuster)
Don Winslow: City in Ruins (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins)
ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
Jessica Bull: Miss Austen Investigates (Penguin Random House/ Michael Joseph)
Justine Champine: Knife River (Bonnier Books UK/ Manilla Press)
Anders Lustgarten: Three Burials (Penguin Random House/ Hamish Hamilton)
Gay Marris: A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder (Bedford Square Publishers)
Katy Massey: All Us Sinners (Little, Brown /Sphere)
Marie Tierney: Deadly Animals (Bonnier Books UK/ Zaffre)
HISTORICAL DAGGER
D.V. Bishop: A Divine Fury (Macmillan)
Chris Lloyd: Banquet of Beggars (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
Anna Mazzola: The Book of Secrets (Orion Fiction/Orion Publishing)
A.J. West, The Betrayal of Thomas True (Orenda Books)
Clare Whitfield: Poor Girls (Aries / Head of Zeus)
CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER
Hervé Le Corre: Dogs and Wolves (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis
Pierre Lemaitre: Going to the Dogs (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne
Akira Otani: The Night of Baby Yaga (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett
Satu Rämö: The Clues in the Fjord (Zaffre) tr. Kristian London
Asako Yuzuki: Butter (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton
Alia Trabucco Zerán: Clean (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes
ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
Jonathan Coffey & Judith Moritz: Unmasking Lucy Letby (Seven Dials)
Jeremy Craddock: The Lady in the Lake (Mirror Books)
John Grisham & Jim McCloskey: Framed (Hodder & Stoughton)
Duncan Harding: The Criminal Mind (PRH/Michael Joseph)
Henry Hemming: Four Shots in the Night (Quercus)
Kate Summerscale: The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place (Bloomsbury Circus)
SHORT STORY DAGGER
S.J Bennett: ‘The Glorious Twelfth’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (lame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
J.C Bernthal: ‘A Date on YarmouthPier’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
Janice Hallett: ‘Why Harrogate?’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan (Orion Publishing Group/Orion Fiction)
William Burton McCormick: ‘City Without Shadows’ in Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
Meeti Shroff-Shah: ‘A Ruby Sun’ in Beyond and Within: Midsummer Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (Flame Tree Publishing/Flame Tree Collections)
Ruth Ware: ‘Murder at the Turkish Baths’ in Murder in Harrogate edited by Vaseem Khan, (Orion Publishing Group/ Orion Fiction)
WHODUNNIT DAGGER
SJ Bennett, A Death in Diamonds Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre
Andreina Cordani, Murder at the Christmas Emporium Bonnier Books UK, Zaffre
Lisa Hall, The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl Hera Hera
Laura Marshall, A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE A BODY, Hodder & Stoughton
Meeti Shroff-Shah, A Matrimonial Murder, Joffe Books
Jamie West, Murder at the Matinee, Brabinger Publishing
TWISTED DAGGER
Andrew Hughes: Emma, Disappeared (Hachette Books Ireland)
Amanda Jennings: Beautiful People (HarperCollins/ HQ FICTION)
John Marrs: The Stranger In Her House (Amazon Publishing/ Thomas & Mercer)
CS Robertson: The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe (Hodder & Stoughton)
Tracy Sierra: Nightwatching (PRH/ Viking)
Catherine Steadman: Look In The Mirror (Quercus)
DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Kate Atkinson
Robert Galbraith
Janice Hallett
Lisa Jewell
Edward Marston
Richard Osman
PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
Orenda Books
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
EMERGING AUTHOR DAGGER
Loftus Brown, Bahadur Is My Name
Shannon Chamberlain, Funeral Games
Hywel Davies, Soho Love, Soho Blood
Joe Eurell, Ashland
Shannon Falkson, The Fifth
Catherine Lovering, Murder Under Wraps
See here for further information.
And see here for recent posts on Louise’s Crime Scene blog.
