And the Daggers Go To…

Results courtesy the CWA’s spiffy, newly redesigned website:

Gold Dagger: Arnaldur Indridason, Silence of the Grave (Harvill)

Silver Dagger: Barbara Nadel, Deadly Web (Headline)

John Creasey Dagger:Dreda Say Mitchell, Running Hot (Maia Press)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger: Henry Porter, Brandenburg (Orion)

Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction: Gregg & Gina Hill, On the Run (Hutchinson)

Debut Dagger: Ruth Dugdall, The Woman Before Me

Short Story Dagger: Danuta Reah, “No Files on Frank” (Sherlock Magazine)

Dagger in the Library: Jake Arnott

Congratulations to all the winners, with further thoughts forthcoming after the jump. Also, Deadly Pleasures’ Larry Gandle has his take on the nominees (scroll down) and who he thought should win — not surprisingly, his opinions don’t always mesh with the results…

Dagger Awards Thoughts

I guess my first instinct about almost every category is the word “muted.” Can’t say why, but I guess the fanfare of the shortlist was enough to dwarf my thoughts about the winners. I’m pleased that Indridason won because even after only reading one book (JAR CITY) I’m a huge fan of his writing and think he might be even better than Henning Mankell — or at least, far more to my taste. And it does show that great crime fiction can be found in the most farflung places, like Iceland.

As for Nadel, it’s only slightly ironic that she gets the Silver Dagger for a series after just beginning a new one that’s set in post-WWII London. But there you go.

Creasey: OK, this is truly the WTF category. Or at least, I was surprised Dreda Say Mitchell won and I suspect I’m not the only one. Granted the only one of the shortlisted books I read was THE GREAT STINK — which was excellent — but I wasn’t expecting a small press book to take it. Will this boost sales of the book, or will it be remembered as one of the category’s more odd choices? Hard to know at this point.

Steel Dagger: Like Larry, I would have gone with Simon Kernick’s A GOOD DAY TO DIE, but I guess this continues the CWA’s streak of picking uber-literary novels that don’t necessarily belong in the thriller category (and I’m the first to profess love for Dan Fesperman’s books, but they are more Gold Dagger than Steel, if you ask me.) Is it so bad to pick a book that just does what it’s supposed to do: keep people turning the pages because they can’t put the damn thing down, and not worry about any perceived literary merit?

Debut Dagger: When Otis Twelve gets published, he can put “the most decorated Debut Dagger nominee in history” on the front cover of his books. Which is to say, I was rooting for him to get this on the third try.

Dagger in the Library: Get his opinion. It’s more interesting than mine.

Your thoughts? the backblog remains open…