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CWA Dagger Awards Shortlists Announced

10 May 2024

The 2024 shortlists for the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced.

Gold Dagger
This Dagger is given to the overall best crime novel of the year, from thrillers to mysteries, procedurals to psychological suspense.

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron
Published in Large Print in December 2023, CD and MP3 CD audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in November 2023.
Two years ago, the Monochrome inquiry was set up to investigate the British secret service. Monochrome's mission was to ferret out misconduct, allowing civil servants Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle unfettered access to confidential information in the service archives. But with progress blocked at every turn, Monochrome is circling the drain...until the OTIS file appears out of nowhere. What classified secrets does OTIS hold that see a long-redundant spy being chased through Devon's green lanes in the dark? What happened in a newly reunified Berlin that someone is desperate to keep under wraps? And who will win the battle for the soul of the secret service - or was that decided a long time ago? Spies and pen-pushers, politicians and PAs, high-flyers, time-servers and burn-outs - they all have jobs to do in the daylight. But what they do in the secret hours reveals who they really are...

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
Published in CD and MP3 CD audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in June 2023.
In the summer of 1974 a heatwave blankets Boston and Mary Pat Fennessey is trying to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors. Mary Pat has lived her entire life in the housing projects of 'Southie', the Irish American enclave that stubbornly adheres to old tradition and stands proudly apart. One night Mary Pat's teenage daughter Jules stays out late and doesn't come home. That same evening, a young black man is found dead, struck by a subway train under mysterious circumstances. The two events seem unconnected. But Mary Pat, propelled by a desperate search for her missing daughter, begins turning over stones best left untouched - asking questions that bother Marty Butler, chieftain of the Irish mob, and the men who work for him, men who don't take kindly to any threat to their business. Please be aware that this audiobook covers themes of racism and abuse, using language which may cause offence to others if you're listening in public.

Historical Dagger
This dagger is awarded to a crime novel not originally written in English, and translated into English for UK publication during the judging period.

Clara & Olivia by Lucy Ashe
Published in CD and MP3 CD audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in February 2023.
Sadler's Wells, 1933. Disciplined and dedicated, Olivia is the perfect ballerina. But no matter how hard she works, she can never match identical twin Clara's charm. As rehearsals intensify for the ballet Coppélia, the girls feel increasingly like they are being watched. And, as infatuation turns to obsession, everything begins to unravel.

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
This Dagger is for any non-fiction work on a crime-related theme by an author of any nationality as long as the book was first published in the UK in English during the judging period.

No Ordinary Day by Matt Johnson, with John Murray
Published in CD and MP3 CD audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in June 2023.
Behind one of the greatest tragedies in UK policing history lies an incredible political scandal On 17 April 1984, as demonstrators gathered outside the Libyan embassy in London, two gunmen lay in wait inside. At 10.18 a.m. automatic gunfire rained down on the protestors and WPC Yvonne Fletcher fell mortally wounded. As his friend lay dying, PC John Murray promised her that he would not rest until those responsible had been brought to justice. Thirty-seven years would pass before he was able to fulfil that undertaking. Matt Johnson's moving account of one man's dogged pursuit of justice for a murdered colleague, uncovers secret-service deals and government duplicity, all part of a plan to force an end to the miners' strike. He discovers the real reason Yvonne's killers were allowed to go free and how events that day led to thirty years of growing political control of policing, which has led to the disarray increasingly evident today. This compelling account provides shocking insights into how decisions taken by our politicians and the actions of our intelligence agencies, supposedly in our best interests, may be anything but.

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