The Crime Writers Association has announced the first batch of  short lists for the 2013 CWA Dagger Awards. Winners will be announced at the Gala Daggers award dinner. The dinner will also see the CWA Diamond Dagger awarded to Lee Child. The Diamond Dagger is voted for by members of the CWA and celebrates an author with an outstanding body of work in crime fiction. At that time, the longlists for the last three CWA Daggers are announced. The Gold Dagger goes to the best crime novel of the year, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger to the best thriller and the John Creasey Dagger to the best first novel. The longlists will be whittled down to shortlists of four later in the summer, with the eventual winners being revealed as part of the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards in the autumn.

International Dagger (with country of origin):
The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach, translated by Anthea Bell [Germany] (Michael Joseph)
The Missing File by D A Mishani, translated by Steven Cohen [Israel] (Quercus)
Two Soldiers by Roslund & Hellström, translated by Kari Dickson [Sweden] (Quercus)
Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds [France] (Harvill Secker)
Death in Sardinia by Marco Vichi, translated by Stephen Sartarelli [Italy] (Hodder & Stoughton)
Alex by Pierre Lemaitre, translated by Frank Wynne [France] (Quercus)

Dagger in the Library (for favorite author of librarians):
Belinda Bauer
Alison Bruce
Gordon Ferris
Christopher Fowler
Elly Griffiths
Michael Ridpath

Ellis Peters Historical Dagger:
The Heretics by Rory Clements (John Murray)
Pilgrim Soul by Gordon Ferris (Corvus)
The Paris Winter by Imogen Robertson (Headline)
Dead Men and Broken Hearts by Craig Russell (Quercus)
The Twelfth Department by William Ryan (Mantle)
The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins)

Debut Dagger (for unpublished work, with country of origin):
When the Bow Breaks by Jayne Barnard [Canada]
Fighting Darkness: The Killer Trail by DB Carew [Canada]
Call Time by Finn Clarke [UK]
Born in a Burial Gown by Mike Craven [UK]
TAG by Sue Dawes [UK]
A Cure for All Evils by Joanna Dodd [UK]
The Assassin’s Keeper by Aine O Domhnaill [Ireland]
Torment by David Evans [UK]
Lesson Plan for Murder by Marie Hannan-Mandel [USA]
The Journeyman by Emma Melville [UK]
Honour or Justice by Ron Puckering [UK]
Working in Unison by Alex Sweeney [UK]

Non-Fiction Dagger:
Midnight in Peking by Paul French (Penguin Viking)
The Boy in the River by Richard Hoskins (Pan Macmillan)
A Fine Day for a Hanging by Carol Ann Lee (Mainstream)
Against a Tide of Evil by Mukesh Kapila (with Damien Lewis) (Mainstream)
Injustice by Clive Stafford Smith (Random House)
Murder at Wrotham Hill by Diana Souhami (Quercus)

Short Story Dagger:
“Method Murder” by Simon Brett (The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Constable)
“Stairway C” by Piero Colaprico (Outsiders, edited by Ben Faccini, MacLehose Press)
“Come Away with Me” by Stella Duffy (The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Constable)
“The Case of Death and Honey” by Neil Gaiman (The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 10, edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Constable)
“Ferengi” by Carlo Lucarelli (Outsiders, edited by Ben Faccini, MacLehose Press)
“Lost and Found” by Zoë Sharp (Vengeance, edited by Lee Child, Corvus)