Double Daggers for Celestin at CWA awards as Craven and Hallett also bag prizes

Ray Celestin has picked up two awards at the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers ceremony, including the prize for crime novel of the year with Sunset Swing (Mantle).

This year’s awards, which are the oldest in the genre and this year also saw prizes for Janice Hallett, Mark Billingham, M W Craven and a posthumous award for Thalia Proctor, were given out at a gala dinner in central London’s Leonardo City Hotel on 29th June.

Sunset Swing is the closing act of Celestin’s City Blues Quartet set in Los Angeles at the end of 1967: it won the Gold Dagger award alongside the Historical Dagger. Judges praised the novel for its cast of original characters that mingle with historical figures on a big and “evocative canvas”.  

Maxim Jakubowski, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: “This is a book bursting with heart, soul and spirit, at once all-encompassing and intimate, superbly paced and immaculately constructed. It’s a testimony to this book that Ray has scooped not just one, but two CWA Daggers.” 

Celestin was ill with Covid-19 on the night of the ceremony and his Gold Dagger was collected by Mantle publisher Maria Rejt. She said: "What a time to get Covid. Our wonderful author Ray Celestin has been writing these amazing books, this quartet of the American crime century, for the last 12 years and this is an amazing honour. I want to say thank you to a great crime reviewer who said ’thus ends one of the greatest achievements in recent crime fiction’ and thank you so much for agreeing with him, and agreeing with us."

The winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller was Dead Ground by M W Craven (Constable), an author who credited the CWA Debut Dagger competition in 2013 for opening the door to his career as an author. 

Dead Ground was praised by the judges for its complex characters and deftly constructed plot. The panel said: “Once again Craven proves himself the master in the art of writing suspense and action.”   

The John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger for the best debut novel was scooped by Janice Hallett for The Appeal (Viper), a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year which was praised by judges as a “dazzlingly clever cosy crime novel”. 

Julia Laite won the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction with The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A True Story of Sex, Crime and the Meaning of Justice (Profile) while Paul Magrs took the short story prize with “Flesh of a Fancy Woman” from Criminal Pursuits: Crime Through Time, edited by Samantha Lee Howe (Telos Publishing). Mark Billingham brought home The Dagger in the Library, a prize voted for by librarians.

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger went to Simone Buchholz for Hotel Cartagena (Orenda), a tense hostage drama set in a Hamburg hotel, translated by Rachel Ward. This is the first year the award has been sponsored by CWA chair Jakubowski in honour of his wife Dolores, now suffering from Alzheimer’s, who was a translator and university lecturer. He will sponsor the Dagger in her honour in perpetuity.  

Winner of the Debut Dagger was Anna Maloney, who has written for TV and works as a script consultant. Her novel The 10:12 is about a train hijacking and the woman who leads a counter attack, and the aftermath. 

The Dagger for the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher went to Faber & Faber CWA, while the Red Herring, for services to crime writing and the CWA, was awarded posthumously in memory of Sphere editorial manager Thalia Proctor, who died this year aged 51. Jakubowski said: “Thalia endeared herself to everyone and will be sadly missed.” Her mother was present to collect the award. 

The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been “marked by sustained excellence”, was given to C J Sansom, author of books including the acclaimed Matthew Shardlake series set in Tudor times.  

Jakubowski said: “It’s always an honour to be part of the annual Dagger awards. This year feels extra special as it’s the first time we’ve gathered to celebrate the best in crime writing since 2019. I’d like to congratulate not only all the winners, but also all those shortlisted. It’s a terrific achievement.”