The Crime Writers Association is responsible for administering Britain's leading crime fiction awards, 'The Daggers'. Membership is open to any author who has had one crime novel produced by a bona fide publisher. It is this collective body, consisting of over 450 members,that decides upon the awards. There are seven Dagger Book Awards including the :Duncan Lawrie Dagger. the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger; CWA Ian Flemming Steel Dagger; CWA New Blood Dagger; CWA Dagger in the Library; the Debut Dagger and Cartier Diamond Dagger. The Ellis Peter Historical Awardis also given.
Starting in 1955 major award was originally known as the Crossed Red Herring Award, then the Gold Dagger and is now the Duncan Lawrie Dagger. It carries a prize of £20,000, the largest award for crime fiction in the world for the best crime novel of the year.
Past Winners CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger | CWA Short Story Dagger | CWA Dagger in the Library | CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger | CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award | CWA Ian Flemming Steel Dagger |
2009 Crime Writers Association Dagger Winners & Shortlists CWA International Dagger | CWA Short Story Dagger | CWA Dagger in the Library | CWA Debut Dagger (new award) | Gold Dagger | Steel Dagger | New Blood | Historical | Film
Gold Dagger Award
A Whispered Name: A Father Anselm Novel, Book 3 (Father Anselm Novels) - William Broderick
Broderick was previously a Franciscan friar, he left the order to become a barrister and then a writer. A Whispered name is described as a moving novel stretching back to WW1. To keep quiet about something so important ...well, it's almost a lie, wouldn't you say?' When Father Anselm meets Kate Seymour in the cemetery at Larkwood, he is dismayed to hear her allegation. Herbert Moore had been one of the founding fathers of the Priory, revered by all who met him, a man who'd shaped Anselm's own vocation. The idea that someone could look on his grave and speak of a lie is inconceivable. But Anselm soon learns that Herbert did indeed have secrets in his past that he kept hidden all his life. More
Reviews
'Impressive ... Brodrick captures brilliantly the sickening nature of the soldiers' task in having to execute one of their own ... He uses this emotive material to its full potential, spinning out an interior drama that is every bit as gripping as the events themselves ... Brodrick tells his story skilfully, pacing it well, building up the tension and revealing just enough to keep the pages turning ... There are some brilliantly evocative and poignant descriptions of the trenches ... He has succeeded in telling a passionately human story about a most inhuman moment in history' Irish Times 'Sensitively wrought ... Brodrick's exploratory novels are refreshing and restorative, his style is thoughtful and precise; his integrity powerful. You feel better for having read them. Maybe you are' Spectator 'The horrors of Passchendaele in 1917 run through this exquisite novel. Just how much can a man take before he must simply walk away? And what kind of strength enables one man to lay down his life for another?' Matthew Lewin, Guardian 'Brodrick writes very well about inner movements of tension and realisation. This is an ambitious book in the way that it balances these profound questions with an intricate and pacy plot, and in its scope, tracing lives spanning nearly a century' Scotsman 'A powerful addition to the ranks of memorable World War One fiction' Metro 'Brodrick is undoubtedly a fine storyteller ... [Father Anselm] is a compelling protagonist' Matt Thorne, Sunday Telegrap More
Steel Dagger Award John Hart The last child
Hart is a former lawyer from the USA, his thrilling novel is about a teenage boy who turns into a vigilante after his sister’s abduction.
Customer review "Having read, and loved, Hart's previous two novels, King of Lies and Down River, I was looking forward to reading The Last Child and I can safely say that this novel was absolutely fantastic and definitely his best yet. There have been several mornings this week where I have a) come in early to work but instead sat in starbucks so Icould carry on reading and b) skipped going to the gym so I could sit in starbucks again and carry on reading. More
The New Blood Dagger Award (new author)
John Theorin Echoes from the dead
From this new author, Julia Davidsson searches for the truth. Twenty years after her son goes missing, new clues arise that could solve the mystery.
Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls? It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia's search for the truth. And that he's much, much closer than she thinks .. More
Historical Dagger
Philip Kerr If the dead rise not
Number 6 in the Bernie Gunther series. Set in Berlin before the 1936 Olympic games with the discovery of 2 bodies.
Berlin 1934. The Nazis have been in power for just eighteen months but already Germany has seen some unpleasant changes. As the city prepares to host the 1936 Olympics, Jews are being expelled from all German sporting organisations - a blatant example of discrimination. Forced to resign as a homicide detective with Berlin's Criminal Police, Bernie is now house detective at the famous Adlon Hotel. The discovery of two bodies - one a businessman and the other a Jewish boxer - involves Bernie in the lives of two hotel guests. One is a beautiful left-wing journalist intent on persuading America to boycott the Berlin Olympiad; the other is a German-Jewish gangster who plans to use the Olympics to enrich himself and the Chicago ![Gran Torino [DVD] [2008]](http://web.archive.org/web/20111116155128im_/http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41AjTwfK8OL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
mob. As events unfold, Bernie uncovers a vast labour and construction racket designed to take advantage of the huge sums the Nazis are prepared to spend to showcase the new Germany to the world. It is a plot that finds its conclusion twenty years later in pre-revolution Cuba, the country to which Bernie flees from Argentina at the end of A Quiet Flame More
Film Dagger
Award given for the Best Big Screen thriller of the year
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in the drama Gran Torino, marking his first film role since his Oscar-winning film Million Dollar Baby. Eastwood portrays Walt Kowaski, an iron-willed and inflexible Korean War veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbours to confront his own long-held prejudices. More
The CWA International Dagger 2009 Winner & Shortlist
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:
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Winner: Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man, translated by Siân Reynolds (Harvill Secker)
When strange blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, the press take up the story with amusement and psychiatrists trot out their theories. Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, a policeman is alone in thinking that this is not a... More
Other Shortlisted
Arnaldur Indridason, The Arctic Chill, translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb (Harvill Secker)
On an icy January day the Reykjavik police are called to a block of flats where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The discovery of a stab wound in his stomach... more
Stieg Larsson, The Girl who played with Fire, translated by Reg Keeland (MacLehose Quercus)
Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about the sex trade inSweden are brutally murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her anywhere. More
Jo Nesbo, The Redeemer, translated by Don Bartlett (Harvill Secker)
One night in Oslo, Christmas shoppers gather to listen to a Salvation Army street concert. An explosion cuts through the music, and a man in uniform falls to the ground. Harry Hole and his team have little to work with: no suspect and no motive. More
Johan Theorin, Echoes from the Dead, translated by Marlaine Delargy (Doubleday)
Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. More
Karin Alvtegen, Shadow, translated by McKinley Burnett, (Canongate)
In a nondescript apartment block in Stockholm, most of the residents are elderly. Usually a death is a sad but straightforward event. But sometimes a resident will die and there are no friends or family to contact. This is when Marianne Folkesson... More
The CWA Short Story Dagger 2009 Shortlist
Any crime short story first published in the UK in English in return for payment. Prize money £1500:
Winner: Sean Chercover: One Serving of Bad Luck from Killer Year (Mira)
Other Shortlisted
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)
The CWA Dagger in the Library 2009 Winner & Shortlist
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. Previous winners have included Stuart McBride, Craig Russell and Alexander McCall Smith. The £1500 prize is sponsored by the publishers Random House. In addition, the participating libraries’ readers groups that nominated the winning author will be entered into a draw for £300 to be spent on books for their group.
The 2009 shortlist is:
Winner: Colin Cotterill
Other Shortlisted
Simon Beckett
R J Ellory
Ariana Franklin
Peter James
Michael Robotham
The CWA Debut Dagger 2009 Shortlist
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.
Winner: Catherine O’Keefe: The Pathologist (Canada)
Other Shortlisted
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)
Winners: The CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Winners & Shortlists 2006 to present
2008
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Winner: Dominique Manotti - Lorraine Connection translated by Translator - Amanda Hopkinson - Ros Schwartz
When a cathode ray tube factory in a small French town is hit first by a strike and then by a suspicious fire, the battle for the takeover of the plant's beleaguered parent company heats up. The Lorraine factory is at the center of a strategic... More
Other Shortlisted
Andrea Camilleri, The Patience of the Spider ranslated by Stephen Sartarelli
When a local girl goes mysteriously missing, the whole community takes an interest in the case. Why are the kidnappers so sure that the girl's impoverished father and dying mother will be able to find a fortune? The ever-inquisitive Chief... More
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo translated by Reg Keeland
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own... More
Martin Suter, A Deal with the Devil translated by Peter Millar
Sonia Frey fears for her sanity. Her marriage ended in divorce after her husband tried to kill her, and an acid trip has disordered her senses--she can now "feel" smells and "see" sounds. To escape her immediate situation she has moved to a remote... More
Fred Vargas, This Night's Foul Work translated by Sîan Reynolds
On the outskirts of Paris, two men have been found with their throats cut. It is assumed that this is a drug-related incident of the kind so often uncovered in that area of town. But Adamsberg is convinced that there is more to it. Anxious to keep... More2007 CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Winners & Shortlists
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Winner: Fred Vargas, Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand, translated by Translator - Sîan Reynolds
Between 1943 and 2003 nine people have been stabbed to death with an unusual weapon: a trident. Commissaire Adamsberg is convinced all the murders are the work of one person, the terrifying Judge Fulgence. In order to prove his innocence... More
Other Shortlisted:
Karin Alvtegen, Shame, translated by Steven T Murray
Tells the story about two women who are trapped by a past that won't let go. They have nothing in common but the determination to obliterate their memories and be left alone - but when a letter and a tragic accident force the past back to life... More
Christian Jungersen, The Exception, translated by Anna Paterson
A pyschological thriller in which four women are stalked - possibly by a war criminal or someone closer to home Four women work at the Danish Centre for Genocide Studies. When two of them start receiving death threats, they suspect they are being... More
Yasmina Khadra, The Attack, translated by John Cullen
Ammine, a surgeon in a Jerusalem hospital, struggles to cope with the bodies of victims of a suicide bombing in a Jerusalem restaurant. When the police pin responsibility of the suicide attack on Ammine's wife, he is at first baffled and angry. More
Asa Larsson, The Savage Altar(US Title: Sun Storm), translated by Marlaine Delargy
On the floor of a church in northern Sweden, the body of a man lies mutilated and defiled. Rebecka Martinsson is heading home to Kiruna, the small town she'd left in disgrace years before. A Stockholm tax lawyer, Rebecka has a good reason to... More
Jo Nesbo, The Redbreast, translated by Don Bartlett
Harry, a detective, is reassigned to surveillance after a high profile mistake. A report of an unusual gun being fired sparks his interest because of its possible links to Neo Nazi activity. A former soldier is found with his throat cut. More2006 CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger Winners & Shortlists
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Winner: Fred Vargas, The Three Evangelists, translated by Translator - Sîan Reynolds
Sophia Simeonidis, a Greek opera singer, wakes up one morning to discover that a tree has appeared overnight in the garden of her Paris house. A few weeks later, Sophia disappears and nobody worries too much until her body is found burned to ashes...
Andrea Camilleri, Excursion to Tindari, translated by Stephen Sartarell - A young Don Juan is found murdered in front of his apartment building early one morning, and an elderly couple is reported missing after an excursion to the ancient site of Tindari - two seemingly unrelated cases for Inspector Montalbano to solve... More
Yasmina Khadra, Autumn of the Phantoms, translated by Aubrey Botsfor - Brahim Llob, Khadra's policeman-turned-detective writer is summoned by the chief of Algerian police and fired for having published Morituri, the book which the establishment considers dishonorable and full of lies - and in actuality... More
Dominique Manotti, Dead Horsemeat, translated by Amanda Hopkinson - Ros Schwartz - A group of school friends from the heady days of 1968 France take centre stage in this racy account of horse racing, public corruption, and criminal intent. Agathe Renourd and her protege Nicolas Berger are in charge of the communications network... More
Hakan Nesser, Borkmann's Point, translated by Laurie Thompson - A seedy ex-con and a wealthy real-estate mogul are brutally murdered. Chief Inspector van Veeteren is summoned to assist the local authorities. Another body is discovered and the pressure mounts. Then there's a fourth murder, and a brilliant young... More
Rafael Reig, Blood on the Saddle, translated by Paul Hammond - Dickens & Clot Investigations Ltd, a detective agency in a waterlogged, semi-buried Madrid of the near future, has a couple of unusual specialities: helping distraught authors in search of characters who've quit the page and assumed a life of... More
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CWA Dagger in the Library Winners 1994 to present
2000s
2008 - Craig Russell
2007 - Stuart MacBride
2006 - Jim Kelly
2005 - Jake Arnott
2004 - Alexander McCall Smith
2003 - Stephen Booth
2002 - Peter Robinson
2000 - 2001 - in abeyance
1990s
1997 - 1999 - in abeyance
1996 - Marian Babson
1995 - Lindsey Davis
Award Page Navigation Back to Top | Literary Awards Home Page- Past Winners CWA Duncan Lawrie International Dagger | CWA Short Story Dagger | CWA Dagger in the Library | CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger | CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award | CWA Ian Flemming Steel Dagger |
CWA Ian Flemming Steel Dagger Winners
The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association for best thriller of the year. The award is sponsored by the estate of Ian Fleming and is given to "best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond".
2008
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Winner: Tom Rob Smith, Child 44 - In Soviet Russia, Leo Demidov is after a killer that the State denies exists. But he's in danger himself - from the country he's trying to protect In Stalin's Soviet Union, crime does not exist. But still millions live in fear. The mere suspicion... More
o Mo Hayder, Ritual -On a Tuesday in April, nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. DI Jack Caffery and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a boy who has recently disappeared. Their search for him ... More
o Gregg Hurwitz, I See You - A gripping new thriller that asks: how can you prove yourself innocent when your own mind is playing tricks on you? When bestselling thriller writer Andrew Danner wakes up in a hospital bed with no idea how he got there, he is horrified to be told... More
o Michael Robotham, Shatter - A naked woman in red high-heeled shoes is poised on the edge of Clifton Suspension Bridge with her back pressed to the safety fence, weeping into a mobile phone. Clinical psychologist Joseph O'Loughlin is only feet away, desperately trying to talk... More
o David Stone, The Echelon Vendetta -Micah Dalton is a CIA fixer sent in to mop up the mess when an agent or situation goes bad. But when his friend Porter Naumann turns up dead, victim of an apparent suicide, Dalton's curiosity gets the best of him. Other hard-nosed ex... More
2007
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Winner: Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects
A dark, disturbing and intelligent thriller with elements of Heathers, Donna Tartt and The Bitch Goddess Notebook. When two girls, aged nine and ten are abducted and killed in Wind Gap, Missouri, Camille Preaker is sent back to her home town to...
o Alex Berenson, The Faithful Spy
CIA agent John Wells has been undercover so long. Wells has been building his cover in the mountains of Afghanistan. But now he's coming home. He is a man alone, used by two adversaries and trusted by neither. And as terrorists prepare to unleash...
o Harlan Coben, The Woods
Twenty years ago, four teenagers disappeared in the woods at a summer camp. Now, two decades later, everything is changing... Paul Copeland's sister went missing twenty years ago. Now raising a daughter alone, after the death of his wife, Paul ...
o R. J. Ellory, City of Lies
The powerful thriller from 'one of crime fiction's new stars' [Sunday Telegraph] John Harper has always been alone. His mother died when he was just seven years old and he was raised in New York by an aunt he barely knew. He never even made his...
o Michael Marshall, The Intruders
When ex-LAPD patrol cop Jack Whalen's wife goes missing on a routine business trip to Seattle, his world is shaken. Meanwhile, a ten-year-old girl vanishes from a beach in Oregon after an encounter with a sinister stranger - but it gradually...
o Michael Robotham, The Night Ferry
The gripping new thriller from the author of THE SUSPECT Alisha Barba's dreams of being a detective were shattered when a murder suspect broke her back across a brick wall. Now on her feet again, with her police career in limbo, she receives a...
o Karin Slaughter, Triptych
When Atlanta police detective Michael Ormewood is called out to a murder scene at the notorious Grady Homes, he finds himself faced with one of the most brutal killings of his career. And then, only twenty-four hours later, the violence Ormewood...2006
Winner: Nick Stone, Mr Clarinet
o Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer
o Jo-Ann Goodwin, Sweet Gum
o Mo Hayder, Pig Island
o Daniel Silva, The English Assassin
o Martyn Waites, The Mercy Seat
o David Wolstencroft, Contact Zero
2005
Winner: Henry Porter, Brandenburg
o G. M. Ford, A Blind Eye
o Simon Kernick, A Good Day to Die
o Adrian Matthews, The Apothecary's House
o Kate Mosse, Labyrinth
o Joel Ross, Double Cross Blind
o Daniel Silva, A Death in Vienna
2004
Winner: Jeffery Deaver, Garden of Beasts
o Dan Fesperman, The Warlord's Son
o Joseph Finder, Paranoia
o Mo Hayder, Tokyo
o Stephen Leather, Hard Landing
o Adrian McKinty, Dead I Well May Be
o Daniel Silva, The Confessor
2003
Winner: Dan Fesperman, The Small Boat of Great Sorrows
o Lee Child, Persuader
o R. J. Ellory, Candlemoth
o Lucretia Grindle, The Nightspinners
o Robert Littell, The Company
o Henry Porter, Empire State
o Gerald Seymour, Traitor's Kiss
2002
Winner: John Creed, The Sirius Crossing
o Tom Bradby, The Master of Rain
o Lee Child, Without Fail
o Robert Crais, Hostage
o Leif Davidsen, Lime's Photograph
o CC Humphreys, The French Executioner
o Stephen Leather, Tango One
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Crime Writers' Association's New Blood Dagger
The Crime Writers' Association's New Blood Dagger is awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers. The prize is sponsored by Louise Penny and Michael Whitehead. Louise Penny is author of the award-winning Armand Gamache series, and a previous recipient of the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. Her web site is www.louisepenny.com.
The shortlist for the 2009 CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger will be announced at a drinks reception held at the Tiger Tiger nightspot in London on the evening of July 15 (see the overview page for ticket information). The winners will be announced in the autumn.
This award is for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality first published in the UK in English between June 1 2008 and May 31 2009. A first time author is someone who has not had a novel of any sort published before under any name whatsoever.
2000s
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2008 Matt Rees, The Bethlehem Murders
For decades, Omar Yussef has taught history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favourite former pupil, George Saba, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Yussef is convinced that he has been...
2007Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects
A dark, disturbing and intelligent thriller with elements of Heathers, Donna Tartt and The Bitch Goddess Notebook. When two girls, aged nine and ten are abducted and killed in Wind Gap, Missouri, Camille Preaker is sent back to her home town to...
2006 Louise Penny, Still Life
The first novel in the multi-award-winning Canadian crime series featuring Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete du Quebec and set in the picturesque village of Three Pines Winner of the CWA New Blood Dagger, the CWC Arthur Ellis Award for Best...
2005 Dreda Say Mitchell, Running Hot
What's the best thing about Hackney? The bus outta here!And that's exactly where Elijah 'Schoolboy' Campbell needs to be in a week's time, heading out of London's underworld. He's taking a great offer to leave it all behind and start a new life...
2004 Mark Mills, Amagansett
In the small town of Amagansett, perched on Long Island's windswept coast, generations have followed the same calling as their forefathers, fishing the dangerous Atlantic waters. Little has changed in the three centuries since white settlers drove...
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2003 William Landay, Mission Flats
Nothing ever happens in Versailles, Maine, Until a body is found in a cabin up by the lake. The dead man turns out to be from the Boston DA's office, a prosecutor who had been investigating a series of gang-related murders in that city.
2002 Louise Welsh, The Cutting Room
Rilke, an auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of violent erotic photographs. He feels compelled to unearth more about the deceased owner who coveted them. What follows is a journey of discovery, decadence and deviousness, steered in part by...
2001 Susanna Jones, The Earthquake Bird
A murder takes place and the chief suspect is Lucy Fly. As Lucy is interrogated, she reveals her past. Why did Lucy leave England for Japan, and what had prompted her to sever all links with her family back home? She was the last person to see the...
2000 Boston Teran, God Is a Bullet
90's
1999 Dan Fesperman, Lie in the Dark
1998 Denise Mina, Garnethill
1997 Paul Johnston, Body Politic
1996 no award
1995 Janet Evanovich, One for the Money
1994 Doug J. Swanson, Big Town
1993 no award
1992 Minette Walters, The Ice House
1991 Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress
1990 Patricia Daniels Cornwell, Postmortem
1980s
1989 Annette Roome, A Real Shot in the Arm
1988 Janet Neel, Death's Bright Angel
1987 Denis Kilcommons, Dark Apostle
1986 Neville Steed, Tinplate
1985 Robert Richards, The Latimer Mercy
1984 Elizabeth Ironside, A Very Private Enterprise
1983 Carol Clemeau, The Ariadne Clue
1983 Eric Wright, The Night the Gods Smiled
1982 Andrew Taylor, Caroline Minuscule
1981 James Leigh, The Ludi Victory
1980 Liza Cody, Dupe
1970s
1979 David Serafin, Saturday of Glory
1978 Paula Gosling, A Running Duck
1977 Jonathan Gash, The Judas Pair
1976 Patrick Alexander, Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal
1975 Sara George, Acid Drop
1974 Roger L. Simon, The Big Fix
1973 Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me
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CWA Gold Dagger for Non-fiction 1978 to present
The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is a British literary award established in 1978 by the Crime Writers' Association, who have awarded the Gold Dagger fiction award since 1955.
In 1978 and 1979 only there was also a silver award. From 1995 to 2002 it was sponsored by The Macallan (Scotch whisky brand) and known as The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. Since 2006 the award has been sponsored by Owatonna Media (a London-based literary brand investor and owner)[1] and made in alternate, even-numbered, years. The prize is a cheque for £2,000 and a decorative dagger.
2000s
2008
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Winner: Kester Aspden, Nationality: Wog - The Hounding of David Oluwale
When the body of David Oluwale was pulled out of the River Aire near Leeds in May 1969, nobody asked too many questions about the circumstances of his death. A year and a half later, rumours that the Nigerian man had been subject to a lengthy...
Francisco Goldman,The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi
On a Sunday night in 1998, Bishop Juan Gerardi was bludgeoned to death. A Church-sponsored report had implicated Guatemala's government in the murders and disappearances of some 200,000 civilians. The Church, realizing that it could not rely on...
David Rose, Violation: Justice, Race and Serial Murder in the Deep South
A gripping expose of an appalling miscarriage of justice that unpicks a city's bloodstained history of racism. A gripping expose of an appalling miscarriage of justice that unpicks a city's bloodstained history of racism. Over eight terrifying...
Duncan Staff, The Lost Boy
Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House
Peter Zimonjic, Into the Darkness: 7/7
2006
Linda Rhodes, Lee Shelden and Kathryn Abnett, The Dagenham Murder: The Brutal Killing of PC George Clark, 1846
Sebastian Junger, A Death in Belmont (Boston Strangler murders of 1962-64 in USA)
Nuala O’Faolain, The Story of Chicago May (Irish-born international criminal Chicago May, born May Duignan)
Sister Helen Prejean, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (Executions of Dobie Gillis Williams (1999) and Joseph O'Dell in USA)
William Queen, Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (First-hand account of infiltrating Mongols gang in USA)
Sue Williams, And Then the Darkness: The Fascinating Story of the Disappearance of Peter Falconio and the Trials of Joanne Lees (Disappearance of Peter Falconio in Australia, 2001)
2005
Gregg and Gina Hill, On The Run: a Mafia childhood (By the children of Henry Hill, American mobster)
Bella Bathurst,The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights, and Plundered Shipwrecks. (Wrecking off the UK coast)
Eric Jager, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France (Trial by combat of Jean de Carrouges, France, 1386)
Sadakat Kadri, The Trial: a history from Socrates to O. J. Simpson (History of trials).
James Owen, A Serpent in Eden: The Greatest Murder Mystery of All Time (Murder of Harry Oakes in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1943)
2004
Joint winners
John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (History of the Sicilian mafia from its 1860s beginnings)
Sarah Wise, The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London (The [London_Burkers#Italian_Boy_Murder|Italian Boy murder, London, 1831)
Rebecca Gowers, The Swamp of Death: A True Tale of Victorian Lies and Murder (Death of Frederick Benwell, young Englishman who set off for Canada in 1890 and was found dead in a swamp shortly after arriving)
Steve Holland, The Trials of Hank Janson (Censorship of crime writer Hand Janson in 1940s Britain)
Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis, Slave: The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and her Fight for Survival (Mende Nazer's own story)
2003
Samantha Weinberg, Pointing from the Grave: a True Story of Murder and DNA (Murder of Helena Greenwood in 1985 in California and early use of DNA profiling to identify her killer 15 years later)
Michael Bilton, Wicked Beyond Belief: the Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe, serial killer convicted in 1981)
Erik Larson, Devil In The White City:Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Serial killer H. H. Holmes and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, USA)
Chandak Sengoopta, Imprint of the Raj: the Colonial Origin of Fingerprinting and Its Voyage to Britain (The science of fingerprinting, developed in India and first used in court in England in 1902)
Donald Thomas, An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War (Events in Britain during World War II)
Peter Walsh, Gang War: the Inside Story of the Manchester Gangs (Contemporary gangs in Manchester)
2002
Lillian Pizzichini, Dead Man's Wages: the secrets of a London conman and his family (Life of conman Charlie Taylor, the author's grandfather)
Miranda Carter, Anthony Blunt, His Lives (Anthony Blunt (1907-1983), British spy and art historian)
Don Hale (with Marika Huns & Hamish McGregor), Town Without Pity: the Fight to Clear Stephen Downing of the Bakewell Murder (Stephen Downing, jailed for murder in 1974, conviction overturned in 2002)
Special mention: Julian Earwaker & Kathleen Becker, Scene of the Crime: a Guide to the Landscapes of British Detective Fiction (Judged to be outside the scope of the award but worthy of commendation)
2001
Philip Etienne and Martin Maynard (with Tony Thompson), The Infiltrators: the First Inside Account of Life Deep Undercover with Scotland Yard's Most Secret Unit (Two members of SO10, the Metropolitan Police's undercover unit)
Zacaria Erzinçlioglu, Maggots, Murder and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist (Forensic entomology)
Adrian Weale, Patriot Traitors: Roger Casement, John Amery and the Real Meaning of Treason (Roger Casement and John Amery, the only Britons to be executed for high treason in the 20th century)
2000
Edward Bunker, Mr. Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade (The author's own story of a life of crime)
1990s
1999 - Brian Cathcart, The Case of Stephen Lawrence
1998- Gitta Sereny, Cries Unheard
1997 - Paul Britton, The Jigsaw Man
1996 - Antonia Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot
1995 - Martin Beales, Dead Not Buried
1994 - David Canter, Criminal Shadows: Inside the Mind of the Serial Killer
1993 - Alexandra Artley, Murder in the Heart
1992- Charles Nicholl,The Reckoning
1991 - John Bossy, Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair
1990 - Jonathan Goodman, The Passing of Starr Faithfull
1980s
1989 - Robert Lindsey, A Gathering of Saints:a true story of money, murder and deceit
1988
Bernard Wasserstein, The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln
1987 - Bernard Taylor/Stephen Knight, Perfect Murder
1986 - John Bryson, Evil Angels
1985 - Brian Masters, Killing for Company
1984
David Yallop, In God's Name
1983
Peter Watson, Double Dealer: How five art dealers, four policemen, three picture restorers, two auction houses and a journalist plotted to recover some of the world's most beautiful stolen paintings
1982 - John Cornwell, Earth to Earth
1981 - Jacobo Timerman, Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number
1980 - Anthony Summers, Conspiracy
1970s
1979 - Shirley Green, Rachman
1978 - Audrey Williamson , The Mystery of the Princes
