The prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century. The winners were announced at a virtual ceremony on 1 July, hosted by leading crime expert, Barry Forshaw with guest speaker, Abir Mukherjee, who won last year’s CWA Sapere Books Historical Dagger for his novel Death in the East.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to forensic pathologist, Sue Black, for Written in Bone, praised by the CWA judges as a ‘humane, wise book’. ALCS is pleased to be supporting crime writers by sponsoring this well-respected award.

Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the CWA, said: “These awards testify to the wealth of great books and diversity within the crime genre. The Daggers are assuredly the best and most accurate reflection of what’s happening on the crime and mystery writing front, with all judges independent of the CWA and renewed on a regular basis.”

Dagger Winners 2021

CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION

Sue Black: Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin)

CWA GOLD DAGGER

Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier)

S A Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland (Headline, Headline Publishing Group) – Highly Commended

Nicci French: House of Correction (Simon & Schuster) – Highly Commended

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER

Michael Robotham: When She Was Good (Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir: The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda), Translator: Victoria Cribb

CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER

Vaseem Khan: Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton)

CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Yun Ko-eun: The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler (Serpent’s Tail)

CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER

Clare Mackintosh: ‘Monsters’ in First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books (The Dome Press)

CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY

Peter May

CWA PUBLISHERS DAGGER

Head of Zeus

CWA DEBUT DAGGER (Competition for an unpublished novel)

Hannah Redding: Deception

Fiona McPhillips: Underwater – Highly Commended

Find out more about the winners at thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers.

About the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA)

The CWA was founded in 1953 by John Creasey. Its aim is to support, promote and celebrate this most durable, adaptable and successful of genres and the authors who write within it. It runs the prestigious CWA Dagger Awards, which celebrate the best in crime writing; regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing.

A thriving, growing community with a membership encompassing authors of all ages and at all stages of their careers, the CWA is UK-based, yet attracts many members from overseas. It supports author members (plus literary agents, publishers, bloggers and editors) with a monthly magazine; a digital monthly newsletter showcasing CWA authors and their books and events that goes to over 11,500 subscribers; and Case Files, a bimonthly ezine highlighting new books by CWA members. thecwa.co.uk