Celebrating the Best in Crime Fiction

It's time for my Wednesday blog post so I thought I'd share an article I was asked to write about the CWA Dagger Award Dinner to which I was invited, as a judge for the Debut Dagger Award.

 With Lucy Santos, Director of the CWA, and Lizzie Hayes, editor of Mystery People

The CWA Dagger Awards Dinner was a glittering affair, with too many luminaries of the genre present to name everyone. After a glass or two of Prosecco on the terrace overlooking the river, 

   Leigh Russell, Simon Brett, Ruth Dudley Edwards and Ali Karim on the terrace

we were welcomed by Alison Joseph, Chair of the CWA. 

Lucy Worsley gave a fascinating lecture on 19th century murder cases, discussing how the idea for a perfect murder has changed over time, and explaining that the night watchmen in the capital in those days tended to be elderly, as younger men would be distracted by prostitutes. 'A good murder' boosted sales of the broadsides - the forerunner of modern newspapers - prompting de Quincey's satirical piece 'On Murder as Considered one of the Fine Arts.' Finally, Lucy described her feelings on seeing the scalp of William Corder - 'disgust, chills, and glee' - which sums up our response to crime fiction. 

            With TV presenters  Lucy Worsley and Hallie Rubenhold

The long-list for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger and CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger were announced followed by the winners of the CWA Debut Dagger, CWA Short Story Dagger, CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger, CWA Non-fiction and CWA International Dagger. Alison Joseph presented the CWA Diamond Dagger to Simon Brett who entertained us with his acceptance speech. All that, and a fabulous dinner, made this a memorable evening. 

Cheers!