Una Mannion, Jordan Harper and Anthony Horowitz win the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards

Una Mannion, Jordan Harper, Jo Callaghan and Anthony Horowitz have been announced as the winners of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards.

The winners were announced on 4th July at a CWA gala dinner at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London.

The Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Mannion for her second novel, Tell Me What I Am (Faber & Faber). Mannion beat shortlisted authors including Dennis Lehane and Mick Herron for the coveted Gold Dagger, which has previously been awarded to authors including Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell. The judging panel praised her book for being "haunting and beautifully written", hailing it an exploration of "love, power and control".

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications, which showcases the thriller of the year, was awarded to Harper for Everybody Knows (Faber). Judges said Harper’s novel was "brilliantly constructed and fast-paced".

Maxim Jakubowski, chair of the Daggers Committee, commented: “Yet another remarkable year of crime writing in which our impartial judges have uncovered a crop of wonderful books. In a year in which many of our ’big beasts’ had new books, it’s refreshing to see so many new names and talents winning. And a momentous occasion for independent publishers who have swooped on the majority of the awards and, in particular, Faber & Faber, who have achieved a rare double of Gold and Steel Daggers.”

The ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger for debut novels went to Callaghan with her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, In the Blink of an Eye (Simon & Schuster UK), praised for being "fresh, original and gripping".

The Historical Dagger was awarded to Jake Lamar for Viper’s Dream (No Exit Press), which tells the story of the jazz-scene of mid-century Harlem and its drug trade. Meanwhile, the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man (Harvill Secker), and the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger went to Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan (Cornerstone).

The Short Story Dagger was won by Sanjida Kay for "The Divide" in The Book of Bristol, edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks (Comma Press). In addition, the Dagger in the Library award, which librarians and library users choose based on author’s body of work and support of libraries, was awarded to Horowitz.

The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, was given to Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin Press). The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been "marked by sustained excellence", was awarded in the early spring to Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke.

The Daggers also recognise individuals whose contributions to the crime genre "deserve special merit", and the Red Herring Award this year was awarded to Jean Briggs and Dea Parkin. Darren Wills also received a Red Herring award, which was presented to him privately earlier in the year.

The awards were co-hosted by Victoria Selman, the author of Truly Darkly Deeply (Quercus), and the barrister and author Imran Mahmood, whose debut You Don’t Know Me (Penguin) was adapted by the BBC. Lisa Jewell was a guest speaker on the night.