Note: This page includes nominees and winners for mystery awards presented in 2004. To see lists for previous years, click here. Page updated 29 December 2004.

CWA Mystery Thriller Book Club Gold and Silver Daggers for fiction (The winner of the Gold Dagger also receives a cash prize of £3000, of the Silver Dagger £2000.)

Gold Dagger: Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (Hamish Hamilton)
Silver Dagger: Flesh and Blood by John Harvey (Heinemann)

Tokyo by Mo Hayder (Bantam)
The Torment of Others by Val McDermid (HarperCollins)
Midnight Cab by James W. Nichol (Canongate)
The Lover by Laura Wilson (Orion)

CWA Mystery Thriller Book Club People's Choice

Reginald Hill for Good Morning, Midnight (HarperCollins)

CWA Mystery Thriller Book Club Gold Dagger for non-fiction (The winners share a cash prize of £2000.)

Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia by John Dickie (Hodder & Stoughton), and
The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London by Sarah Wise (Jonathan Cape)

The Swamp of Death by Rebecca Gowers (Hamish Hamilton)
The Trials of Hank Janson by Steve Holland (Telos Publishing)
Slave by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (Time Warner)

The CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger (For first books by previously unpublished writers. This award is sponsored by BBC Audio. The winner also receives a cash prize of £1000.)

Amagansett by Mark Mills (Fourth Estate)

The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton (Orion)
The Three Body Problem by Catherine Shaw (Allison & Busby)
The Devil's Playground by Stav Sherez (Penguin Michael Joseph)

The CWA Mystery Thriller Book Club Short Story Dagger (The winner also receives a cash prize of £1500.)

"The Weekender" by Jeffery Deaver (Twisted)

"Dancing Towards the Blade" by Mark Billingham (Men From Boys)
"Persons Reported" by Mat Coward (Green for Danger)
"The Consolation Blonde" by Val McDermid (Mysterious Pleasures)
"Douggie Doughnuts" by Don Winslow (Men From Boys)

CWA Dagger in the Library (This award is sponsored by Random House. Nominated and judged by librarians: the dagger is awarded to an author for a body of work, not one single title. The winner also receives a cash prize of £1500.)

Alexander McCall Smith

Mark Billingham
Christopher Brookmyre
Stuart Pawson
Andrew Taylor

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (For thrillers. This award is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. The winner also receives a cash prize of £2000.)

Garden of Beasts by Jeffery Deaver (Hodder & Stoughton)

The Warlord's Son by Dan Fesperman (Transworld)
Paranoia by Joseph Finder (Orion) * special mention *
Tokyo by Mo Hayder (Transworld)
Hard Landing by Stephen Leather (Hodder & Stoughton)
Dead I May Well Be by Adrian McKinty (Serpent's Tail)
The Confessor by Daniel Silva (Penguin)

The CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger (This award is sponsored by the estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers, Headline, and Little Brown. The winner was announced in London on October 19th. The winner also received a cash prize of £3000.)

The Damascened Blade by Barbara Cleverly (Constable & Robinson)

The Shape of Sand by Majorie Eccles (Allison & Busby)
Hell at the Breech by Tom Franklin (Flamingo)
The Thief-Taker by Janet Gleeson (Double/Transworld)
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (Vintage)
The Judgement of Caesar by Steven Saylor (Constable & Robinson)
The Lover by Laura Wilson (Orion)

The CWA Debut Dagger (This award, for unpublished books, was set up to encourage new writers. It is sponsored by Orion and awarded on the basis of one chapter and a synopsis. The winner also receives a cash prize of £250.)

Debut Dagger: Ellen Grubb for The Doll Makers - UK

Paula Bouwer for George Trenque and the Old School Tie – Eire.
Kenneth Carlisle for The Gardener - UK
Fay Cunningham for Sleeping Dogs - UK
Jim Doherty for An Obscure Grave - USA
Tom Flynn for Cheap Day Return - Australia
Jude Larkin for Dead Meat - Australia
Andrew Murphy for Redman’s Revenge – N. Ireland
Louise Penny for Still Life - Canada
Phyllis Smallman for Margarita Nights - Canada
Germaine Stafford for Fallen Women - Italy
Otis Twelve for Sometimes a Prozac Notion – USA
Eugene Wang for Murder in Crowded Hours – USA
Geoffrey D. West for Deadly Contact – UK

2004 Hammett Award Winner: The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers awarded the annual Hammett Prize for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a US or Canadian author at Bouchercon in Toronto. (winner in blue below)

2004 Ellen Nehr Award: The American Crime Writers League presented the Ellen Nehr Award for excellence in mystery reviewing to Robert Wade, a mystery writer who reviews for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Our own Sally Fellows was among the nominees for the second year in a row.

Anthony Award winners: Bouchercon 2004 announced the Anthony Award winners at a banquet at Bouchercon in Toronto on October 9. Winners are in blue below.

Best Novel: Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman (Harper Collins)

Blood is the Sky by Steve Hamilton (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt (Random House)
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow )
The Summer That Never Was by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart) (US title: Close to Home; Morrow)

Best First Novel: Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy (Putnam) (UK title: Want to Play? ( Michael Joseph))

Death Of A Nationalist by Rebecca Pawel (Soho Press)
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart (Simon &Schuster)
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press)
Wiley's Lament by Lono Waiwaiole (St. Martin's Press)

Best Paperback Original: Deadly Legacy by Robin Burcell (Avon)

Dealing In Murder by Elaine Flinn (Avon)
Find Me Again by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (Dundurn Press)
Thicker Than Water by P. J. Parrish (Pinnacle Press)
Tough Luck by Jason Starr (Vintage/Black Lizard)

Best Short Story: "Doppelganger" by Rhys Bowen (in Blood On Their Hands; edited by Lawrence Block, Berkley Prime Crime)

"The Grass is Always Greener" by Sandy Balzo (in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 2003)
"Munchies" by Jack Bludis (in Hardbroiled; edited by Michael Bracken, Wild Side Press)
"Red Meat" by Elaine Viets (in Blood On Their Hands; edited by Lawrence Block, Berkley Prime Crime)
"Wanda Wilcox Is Trapped" by Eddie Muller (in Plots With Guns, Sept/Oct 2003)

Best Young Adult Mystery: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (Bloomsbury)

Artemis Fowl -The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer (Viking Children's Books)
Feast Of Fools by Bridget Crowley (Hodder Children's Books)
No Escape by Norah McClintock (Scolastic)
Seventh Knot by Kathleen Karr (Marshall Cavendish)

Best Historical Mystery: For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Find Me Again by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (Dundurn Press)
Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press)
The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Critical/Non-Fiction Work: Make Mine a Mystery by Gary Warren Niebuhr (Libraries Unlimited)

Beautiful Shadow by Andrew Wilson (Bloomsbury)
Interrogations by Jon Jordan (Mystery One Books)
Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters In Mystery Fiction, Vol III by Colleen Barnett (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Story of Jane Doe: A Book About Rape by Jane Doe (Random House)

Best Fan Publication: Mystery Scene Magazine, editor: Kate Stine

Deadly Pleasures, editor: George Easter
The Drood Review, editor: Jim Huang
Mystery News, editors: Lynn Kaczmarek & Chris Aldrich
Mystery Readers Journal, editor: Janet A. Rudolph

Barry Award winners: Deadly Pleasures magazine has announced the winners of the Barry Awards, which were presented at a reception at Bouchercon in October. George Easter, editor of DP, advised that the rules for the nominations were changed this year so that some of the same names wouldn't appear year after year. If an author was nominated for Best Mystery Novel last year, that author is ineligible for this year. Winners are in blue below.

The Guards by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)
Keeping Watch by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)
A Fountain Filled With Blood by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best First Mystery Novel: Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy (Putnam)

Mission Flats by Bill Landay (Bantam Press/Delacorte)
The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Barbed-Wire Kiss by Wallace Stroby (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho)
Clea's Moon by Edward Wright (Putnam)

Best British Mystery Novel: The Distant Echo by Val McDermid (Harpercollins)

Lazybones by Mark Billingham (Little, Brown)
Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler (Doubleday)
The Murder Exchange by Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)
The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey (Little, Brown)
The American Boy (U.S. title: An Unpardonable Crime) by Andrew Taylor (Flamingo)

Best Paperback Original Mystery: Tough Luck by Jason Starr (Vintage Crime)

Dealing in Murder by Elaine Flinn (Avon)
Wisdom of The Bones by Christopher Hyde (Onyx)
The Courier by Jay Maclarty (Pocket Star)
The Shadow of Venus by Judith Van Gieson (Signet)
Murder Between the Covers by Elaine Viets (Signet)

Best Mystery Short Story: "Rogues' Gallery" by Robert Barnard (EQMM March 2003)

"The Blind Pig" by Doug Allyn (EQMM May 2003)
"Always Another War" by Brendan Dubois (AHMM July-August 2003)
"The Mask Of Peter" by Clark Howard (EQMM April 2003)
"Rogue's Run" by Donald Olson (EQMM April 2003)

Shamus Award winners: The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) has announced the winners of the Shamus Awards, which were given during Bouchercon in Toronto. Winners are in blue below.

Best PI Short Story: "Lady on Ice" by Loren D. Estleman (A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime)

"Munchies" by Jack Bludis (Hardboiled)
"The Rock in the Orange Grove" by Mitch Alderman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine)
"Slayer Statute" by Janet Dawson (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
"Valhalla" by Doug Allyn (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Best PI Novel: The Guards by Ken Bruen (St. Martins Minotaur)

Scavenger Hunt by Robert Ferrigno (Pantheon)
Blood is the Sky by Steve Hamilton (Thomas Dunne Books)
Fatal Flaw by William Lashner (William Morrow/Harper Collins)
A Visible Darkness by Jonathon King (Dutton)

Best First PI Novel: Black Maps by Peter Spiegelman (Knopf)

Spiked by Mark Arsenault (Poisoned Pen Press)
Lovers Crossing by James C. Mitchell (St. Martin's Press)

 

Best PI Paperback Original: Cold Quarry by Andy Straka (Signet)

Thicker Than Water by PJ Parrish (Pinnacle)
Wet Debt by Richard Helms (Back Ally Books)
Dragonfly Bones by David Cole (Avon)

Best Novel:

The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt (Random House Canada)

Lament for a Lounge Lizard by Mary Jane Maffini (RendezVous Press)
The Glenwood Treasure by Kim Moritsugu (Simon & Pierre, Dundurn)
The Hua Shan Hospital Murders by David Rotenberg (McArthur & Company)
The Summer that Never Was by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart) (US title: Close to Home)

Best First Novel:

Just Murder by Jan Rehner (Sumach)

Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka (Insomniac)
Confession in Moscow by Michael Johansen (Breakwater)
Mazovia Legacy by Michael E. Rose (McArthur & Company)
The Sleeping Boy by Barbara J. Stewart (Anchor Canada, RHC)

Best Crime Writing in French:

On finit toujours par payer by Jean Lemieux(La Courte Echelle)

Indesirables by Chrystine Brouillet (La Courte Echelle)
La Salaire de la honte by Maxime Houde (Alire)
Les effets sont secondaires by Andre Marois (La Courte Echelle)
Au nom de Compostelle by Maryse Rouy (Quebec Amerique)

Best Short Story:

"Dead Wood" by Gregory Ward in Hard Boiled Love (Insomniac)

"A Christmas Bauble" by Therese Greenwood in The Kingston Whig-Standard (December 24, 2003)
"Dead in the Water" by Dennis Murphy in Storyteller (Summer 2003)
"When Laura Smiles" by Liz Palmer in Bone Dance (RendezVouz Press)
"The Gimmick" by Vern Smith in Hard Boiled Love (Insomniac)

Best Non-Fiction:

The Road to Hell by Julian Sher & William Marsden (Knopf Canada)

The Story of Jane Doe by "Jane Doe" (Random House Canada)
Nowhere to Run: The Killing of Constable Dennis Strongquill by Mike McIntyre (Great Plains Publications)
Where There's Life, There's Lawsuits by Jeffrey Miller (ECW)

Best Juvenile:

Acceleration by Graham McNamee (Wendy Lamb Books, RHC)

Theories of Relativity by Barbara Haworth-Attard (Harper Trophy Canada)
Truth by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Orca Book Publishers)
The Deep End Gang by Peggy Dymond Leavey (Napoleon)
No Escape by Norah McClintock (Scholastic Canada)

Derrick Murdock Award: Cheryl Freedman, secretary-treasurer

Best Mystery Novel: The House Sitter by Peter Lovesey (Soho Press)

The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt (Putnam)
For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin's)
The Guards by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Done for a Dime by David Corbett (Ballantine)

Best First Mystery Novel: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press)

Night of the Dance by James Hime (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Death of a Nationalist by Rebecca C. Pawel (Soho Press)
The Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Non-Fiction: Make Mine a Mystery: A Reader's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction by Gary Warren Niebuhr (Libraries Unlimited)

Mystery Women: An Encyclopedia of Leading Women Characters in Mystery Fiction, Vol. 3 by Colleen A Barnett (Poisoned Pen Press)
A Second Helping of Murder by Jo Grossman & Robert Weibezahl (Poisoned Pen Press)
Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson (Bloomsbury)

Best Short Story: "The Grass Is Always Greener" by Sandy Balzo (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 2003)

"Rogues Gallery" by Robert Barnard (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, March 2003)
"Texas Two-Step" by Diana Deverell (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, February 2003)
"No Man's Land" by Beth Foxwell (Blood On Their Hands, Berkley Prime Crime)
"War Crimes" by G. Miki Hayden (A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, Berkley Prime Crime)
"Child Support" by Ronnie Klaskin (A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, Berkley Prime Crime)
"Red Meat" by Elaine Viets (Blood On Their Hands, Berkley Prime Crime)

2003 LA Times Book Prize nomineesThe Los Angeles Times awarded the 2003 Book Prizes on April 24 in conjunction with the 2004 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

The winner in the Mystery/Suspense category is: Soul Circus: A Novel by George P. Pelecanos (Little, Brown)

See the complete list of LA Times 2003 Book Prize winners and nominees here.