CWA crime thriller shortlists revealed

The shortlists for the Crime Writers Association's Crime Thriller Awards have been revealed, and voting opened for the Specsavers Bestseller Dagger prize.

Could Anthony Horowitz’s House of Silk, a new story starring Victorian sleuth Sherlock Holmes, bag the Specsavers Bestseller Dagger? Or will Jo Nesbo’s serial killer tale, The Bat, snatch away the award? Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride, The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves and Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs will also be competing for the prize.

Vote for which author you would like to see win the Specsavers Bestseller Dagger award at www.crimethrillerawards.co.uk. You have until 12 October to champion your favourite scribe.

Other awards up for grabs are the CWA Gold Dagger for best novel of the year,  the John Creasey New Blood Dagger for best new crime writer and the CWA Steel Dagger for the best thriller of the year.

Writers will find out whether they are prize-winners at the ceremony held on 18 October at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, which will be broadcast on ITV3.

Peter James, Chair of the Crime Writers Association is greatly pleased by this year’s shortlists, which show “a truly broad-range of high quality work, by great authors, in the most popular of all fiction genres".

The Shortlists are:

The CWA Gold Dagger
The Rage by Gene Kerrigan
Bereft by Chris Womersley
Vengeance in Mind by N.J. Cooper
The Flight by M.R. Hall

The John Creasey New Blood Dagger
Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash
Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
What Dies in Summer by Tom Wright
Good People by Ewart Hutton

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
Reamde by Neal Stephenson
A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming
The Fear Index by Robert Harris

The Specsavers Bestseller Dagger
Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart MacBride
The Bat by Jo Nesbo
The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves
Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

The Film Dagger
Drive
The Dark Knight Rises
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Guard
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The TV Dagger
Appropriate Adult
Line of Duty
Sherlock Series 2
Wallander
Whitechapel

The International TV Dagger
Boardwalk Empire Season 2
Dexter Season 6
Homeland
The Bridge
The Killing II: Forbrydelsen

The Best Actress Dagger
Brenda Blethyn for Vera
Claire Danes for Homeland
Sofie Gråbøl for The Killing II
Sofia Helin for The Bridge
Maxine Peake for Silk

The Best Actor Dagger
Kenneth Branagh for Wallander
Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire
Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock
Damien Lewis for Homeland
Dominic West for Appropriate Adult

The Best Supporting Actress Dagger
Frances Barber for Silk
Kelly Macdonald for Boardwalk Empire
Archie Panjabi for The Good Wife
Sarah Smart for Wallander
Una Stubbs for Sherlock

The Best Supporting Actor Dagger
Alun Armstrong for Garrow’s Law
Alan Cumming for The Good Wife
Phil Davis for Silk and Whitechapel
Laurence Fox for Lewis
Martin Freeman for Sherlock