Thanks to Adrian Muller for the following listing of winners of the CWA daggers. Adrian is hosting LCC in Bristol England in March 2006. See website address below for more information

THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION DAGGER AWARDS 2005

The winners were announced at a luncheon on Tuesday, November 8th.

CWA DEBUT DAGGER
For unpublished novels by unpublished authors
- Ruth Dugdall for 'The Woman Before Me'


CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Nominated and judged by librarians and awarded to an author for a body of work, not one single title.
- Jake Arnott

Also nominated were:
- Mark Billingham
- Joolz Denby
- Nicci French
- Mo Hayder
- Martyn Waites


THE CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER
- Danuta Reah, for 'No Flies On Frank' (from 'Sherlock Magazine', issue 64, Atlas Publishing Co)

Also nominated were:
- John Connolly, for 'Miss Froom, Vampire' (from 'Nocturnes', Hodder & Stoughton)
- Martin Edwards, for 'Test Drive' (from 'Crime on the Move', the Do-Not Press)
- Kate Ellis, for 'Top Deck' (from 'Crime on the Move', the Do-Not Press)
- Peter Robinson, for 'The Wrong Hands' (from 'Not Safe After Dark and Other Work', Macmillan)


THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
- Gregg & Gina Hill, for 'On The Run' (Hutchinson)

Also nominated were:
- Bella Bathurst, for 'The Wreckers' (Harper Colins)
- Eric Jager, for 'The Last Duel' (Century)
- Sadakat Kadri, for 'The Trial' (Harper Collins)
- James Owen, for 'A Serpent In Eden' (Little Brown)


THE CWA ELLIS PETERS HISTORICAL DAGGER
- CJ Sansom, for 'Dark Fire' (Macmillan)

Also nominated were:
- Tom Bradby, for 'The God Of Chaos' (Transworld/Bantam)
- Barbara Cleverly, for 'The Palace Tiger' (Constable)
- Catriona McPherson, for 'After The Armistice Ball' (Constable)
- Iain Pears, for 'The Portrait' (Harper Perennial Original)
- Frank Tallis, for 'Mortal Mischief' (Century)


THE CWA JOHN CREASEY MEMORIAL DAGGER
For first books by previously unpublished writers
- Dreda Say Mitchell, for 'Running Hot' (Maia Press)

Also nominated were:
- Clare Clark, for 'The Great Stink' (Viking Penguin)
- David McKeowen, for 'Grip' (Hodder)
- Richard Kunzmann, for 'Bloody Harvest' (Macmillan)
- Dreda Say Mitchell, for 'Running Hot' (Maia Press)


THE CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
- Henry Porter, for 'Brandenburg' (Orion)

Also nominated were:
- G. M. Ford, for 'A Blind Eye' (Pan Macmillan)
- Simon Kernick, for 'A Good Day To Die' (Transworld/Bantam)
- Adrian Matthews, for 'The Apothecary's House' (Pan Macmillan)
- Kate Mosse, for 'Labyrinth' (Orion)
- Joel Ross, for 'Double Cross Blind' (Hodder & Stoughton)
- Daniel Silva, for 'A Death In Vienna' (Penguin)


THE GOLD DAGGER FOR FICTION
- Arnaldur Indridason, 'Silence Of The Grave' (The Harvill Press)

THE SILVER DAGGERS FOR FICTION
- Barbara Nadel, for 'Deadly Web' (Headline)

Also nominated were:
- Karin Fossum, for 'Calling Out For You' (The Harvill Press)
- Friedrich Glauser, for 'In Matto's Realm' (Bitter Lemon Press)
- Carl Hiaasen, for 'Skinny Dip' (Bantam)
- Fred Vargas, for 'Seeking Whom He May Desire' (The Harvill Press)


THE CWA DAGGER OF DAGGERS
This year, to mark the Golden Jubilee, the membership of the CWA was given the unique opportunity to vote for the past winner of the Crossed Red Herring or the Gold Dagger whom they felt was the best of the best - the Dagger of Daggers. This is the first time that such an award has been made to a crime writer by his or her peers.

- John Le Carré, for 'The Spy Who Came In From The Cold' (1963)

Also nominated were:
- Anthony Price, for 'Other Paths To Glory' (1974)
- Martin Cruz-Smith, for 'Gorky Park' (1981)
- Peter Lovesey, for 'The False Inspector Dew' (1982)
- Barbara Vine, for 'A Fatal Inversion (1987)
- Reginald Hill, for 'Bones And Silence' (1990)
- Val McDermid, for 'The Mermaids Singing (1995)

For a bloody good time,
LEFT COAST CRIME!

For more info, please visit www.leftcoastcrime2006.com

I really should send messages to you via this medium more often. I always tell myself to do so,, but I am really afraid of overstaying my welcome.

Personal news since I last communicated with you:

I got a hearing aid. Now I don't either appear to be ignoring conversations or asking what every few seconds.

Cataract removal from left eye a great success. Right eye gets fixed on Friday. Then NO GLASSES for the first time since about the age of 11. This means that I will have to have to bags under my eyes removed. There will be no more glasses to hide them!!! (After all, I do now live in Los Angeles where appearance is everything)

Looks like The Nostalgia Factory will finally be under new ownership sometime before Thanksgiving, which means that Rudy will no longer have any excuse not to start writing his crime fiction book and I will have to start working on our new non-fiction one.

We will be in London from the very end of November until late March. If you are coming to England, e-mail me and I will send you my phone number.

For now, so long and have a good Thanksgiving. Remember, all diets are suspended for at least one meal on that day.