The 2025 shortlist for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been 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 prestigious KAA Gold Dagger, sponsored by Kevin Anderson & Associates, is awarded for the best crime novel of the year. The shortlist includes the debut novel from Bonnie Burke-Patel’s Died at Fallow Hall, up against established authors in the genre, including RJ Ellory with The Bell Tower, Tana French’s The Hunter, and Attica Locke’s Guide Me Home. It also features two historical crime books with D.V. Bishop’s A Divine Fury, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets.
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year. The shortlist sees Lou Berne’s masterful thriller, Dark Ride, up against previous winner of the Steel Dagger, MW Craven, with Nobody’s Hero. Also making the list are Garry Disher with Sanctuary, Abir Mukherjee’s Hunted, Stuart Neville with Blood Like Mine and the iconic American author, Don Winslow with City in Ruins.
The much-anticipated ILP John Creasey First Novel Dagger highlights the best debut novels. Among the rising stars of 2025 is the debut set in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper, Katy Massey’s All of Us Are Sinners. Jessica Bull’s Miss Austen Investigates, Justine Champine’s Knife River, Anders Lustgarten’s Three Burials are also contenders alongside Gay Marris with A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder and Marie Tierney with Deadly Animals.
The Historical Dagger, sponsored by Morgan Witzel in memory of Dr Marilyn Livingstone. Two novels feature on both the Gold and the Historical Dagger shortlist. DV Bishop’s A Divine Fury is the fourth in the Cesare Aldo series featuring a sixteenth century detective in Florence, and Anna Mazzola’s The Book of Secrets set in 17th century Italy. The shortlist also includes Chris Lloyd: Banquet of Beggars, Clare Whitfield with Poor Girls, and A.J. West, The Betrayal of Thomas True which is set in a London underworld in the year 1710.
Nadine Matheson, Chair of the CWA, said: “Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted for these prestigious awards. It’s not only a joy but it’s inspiring to see such a rich variety of stories and voices being celebrated. The 2025 CWA Daggers shortlist is a true reflection of the growing strength of crime writing today. The contributed work of every shortlisted writer is shaping the future of the genre, and their work reminds us why we fell in love with these stories in the first place.”
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski, features the smash-hit, Waterstones Book of the Month, Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton. The queer debut gangland thriller The Night of Baba Yaga from Japan’s Akira Otani also makes the shortlist shortly after winning the 2025 CrimeFest Debut Crime Novel of the Year, sponsored by Specsavers.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction includes a giant of the genre with John Grisham and Jim McCloskey’s Framed, which looks at ten wrongful convictions, and Kate Summerscale’s retelling of the Christie murders, The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place.
The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. This year sees multiple bestselling names from the genre up for the award including Janice Hallett, and Ruth Ware, up against lesser established names such as the academic and expert on Agatha Christie, J.C Bernthal, with the short story, A Date on Yarmouth Pier.
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, pits independent publisher Bitter Lemon Press against Faber, Orenda, Pan Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.
2025 sees the announcement of two new CWA Dagger Awards.
The Twisted Dagger celebrates psychological thrillers and dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail. Shortlisted titles include Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings, Catherine Steadman’s Look in the Mirror, and Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra.
The Whodunnit Dagger celebrates books that focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery. Books in this category include cosy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age-inspired mysteries. Amongst the six shortlisted authors are Lisa Hall with The Case of the Singer and the Showgirl and Laura Marshall with A Good Place to Hide a Body.
The Dagger in the Library nominee longlist is voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year’s sees established names including the bestselling phenomenon Richard Osman, the acclaimed Kate Atkinson, JK Rowling’s crime alter-ego Robert Galbraith, the award-winning mystery author Janice Hallett, bestseller Lisa Jewell and author of sixty historical crime novels, Edward Marston.
The Emerging Author Dagger, which has been going for over 20 years, celebrates aspiring crime novelists and is sponsored by Fiction Feedback, also welcomes six new upcoming authors. The competition is open to unpublished authors, and is judged on the best opening for an unpublished crime novel. The winner will gain the attention of leading agents and top editors; over two dozen past winners and shortlisted Debut Dagger authors have signed publishing deals to date.
The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2025 was awarded to Mick Herron.
The winners will be announced at the award ceremony at the CWA gala dinner on 3 July.
The 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
