Herron, Askew and Mukherjee among shortlisted writers for 2020's CWA Dagger Awards

The 2020 Crime Writer's Association Dagger Awards shortlist has been announced, with Mick Herron's Joe Country (John Murray), Claire Askew's What You Pay For (Hodder & Stoughton) and Abir Mukherjee's Death in the East (Harvill Secker) in contention for the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. The winners will be announced in a ceremony on 22nd October.

Lou Berney's November Road (HarperFiction) is up for both the Gold Dagger and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller, a category that also includes A A Dhand's One Way Out (Bantam) and Alex North's The Whisper Man (Michael Joseph).

John Creasey's New Blood Dagger, for the best crime debut, sees Philippa East's Little White Lies (HQ), Samantha Downing's My Lovely Wife (Michael Joseph) and Trevor Wood's The Man on the Street (Quercus) go head to head. Mukherjee doubles up with Death in the East also scoring a nomination for the Sapere Books Historical Dagger, with contenders including Philip Kerr's final novel Metropolis and 2019 winner S G MacLean's The Bear Pit (both Quercus).

The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger features "king of Helsinki noir" Antti Tuomainen's Little Siberia (Orenda), translated by David Hackston, and Marion Brunet's Summer of Reckoning (Bitter Lemon), translated by Katherine Gregor.

Syd Moore, shortlisted for the Short Story Dagger in 2019, returns for this year with "Easily Made". Christopher Fowler, with "The Washing", and 2004 category winner Jeffery Deaver, with "The Bully", are also shortlisted.

The Dagger in the Library is voted on exclusively by librarians, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year’s shortlisted nominees are Christopher Brookmyre, Jane Casey, Alex Gray and Quintin Jardine.

The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction sees New York Times staff writer Casey Cep shortlisted for her debut Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (William Heinemann).

The Debut Dagger honours six unknown and uncontracted writers, with their novels set in a range of settings from rural Australia to an offshore oil platform to 16th-century Orkney.

The second annual Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Award, returning after its launch in 2019, features Bloomsbury imprint Raven Books, HQ and Michael Joseph, as well as Bitter Lemon Press, Orenda and Head of Zeus.

Linda Stratmann, chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: “As the CWA Daggers are unmatched for their reputation and longevity, these shortlists offer a showcase of the finest writing in crime fiction and non-fiction. They reveal the remarkable variety and huge relevance of the genre, which continues to dominate book sales and to shape our cultural landscape.”

The shortlists:

GOLD DAGGER
Claire Askew: What You Pay For (Hodder & Stoughton)
Lou Berney: November Road (Harper Fiction)
John Fairfax: Forced Confessions (Little, Brown)
Mick Herron: Joe Country (John Murray)
Abir Mukherjee: Death in the East (Harvill Secker)
Michael Robotham: Good Girl, Bad Girl (Sphere)

IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Lou Berney: November Road (Harper Fiction)
Tom Chatfield: This is Gomorrah (Hodder & Stoughton)
A A Dhand: One Way Out (Bantam Press)
Eva Dolan: Between Two Evils (Raven Books)
David Koepp: Cold Storage (HQ)
Alex North: The Whisper Man (Michael Joseph)

JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
Steph Cha: Your House Will Pay (Faber & Faber)
Samantha Downing: My Lovely Wife (Michael Joseph)
Philippa East: Little White Lies (HQ)
Robin Morgan-Bentley: The Wreckage (Trapeze)
Trevor Wood: The Man on the Street (Quercus Fiction)

SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER
Alis Hawkins: In Two Minds (The Dome Press)
Philip Kerr: Metropolis (Quercus Fiction)
S G MacLean: The Bear Pit (Quercus Fiction)
Abir Mukherjee: Death in the East (Harvill Secker)
Alex Reeve: The Anarchists’ Club (Raven Books)
Ovidia Yu: The Paper Bark Tree Mystery (Constable)

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER
Marion Brunet: Summer of Reckoning, translated by Katherine Gregor (Bitter Lemon Press)
Hannelore Cayre: The Godmother, translated by Stephanie Smee (Old Street Publishing)
K Ferrari: Like Flies from Afar, translated by Adrian Nathan West (Canongate Books)
Jorge Galán: November, translated by Jason Wilson (Constable)
Sergio Olguín: The Fragility of Bodies, translated by Miranda France (Bitter Lemon Press)
Antti Tuomainen: Little Siberia, translated by David Hackston (Orenda Books)

SHORT STORY DAGGER
Jeffery Deaver: "The Bully in Exit Wounds", edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
Paul Finch: "The New Lad in Exit Wounds", edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
Christopher Fowler: "The Washing in Invisible Blood", edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)
Lauren Henderson: "#Me Too in Invisible Blood", edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Titan Books)
Louise Jensen: "The Recipe in Exit Wounds", edited by Paul B Kane and Marie O’Regan (Titan Books)
Syd Moore: "Easily Made in 12 Strange Days of Christmas" (Point Blank Press)

ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
Casey Cep: Furious Hours (William Heinemann)
Peter Everett: Corrupt Bodies (Icon Books)
Caroline Goode: Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod (Oneworld Publications)
Sean O’Connor: The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury (Simon & Schuster)
Adam Sisman: The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking (Profile Books)
Susannah Stapleton: The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective (Picador)

DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Christopher Brookmyre
Jane Casey
Alex Gray
Quintin Jardine

DEBUT DAGGER
Anna Caig: The Spae-Wife
Leanne Fry: Whipstick
Kim Hays: Pesticide
Nicholas Morrish: Emergency Drill
Josephine Moulds: Revolution Never Lies
Michael Munro: Bitter Lake

PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER
Bitter Lemon Press
Harvill Secker
Head of Zeus
HQ
Michael Joseph
Orenda
Raven Books
Severn House