Hammer wins UK Dagger award for ‘Scrublands’

Australian writer Chris Hammer has won the John Creasey Award for the best crime novel by a first-time author at the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) 2019 Dagger awards.

Hammer’s debut Scrublands (A&U), published in the UK by Wildfire, follows troubled journalist Martin Scarsden as he investigates the aftermath of a mass murder in a drought-stricken Riverina town.

The winners in the rest of the categories are:

Diamond Dagger (for an author whose crime writing careers has been marked by sustained excellence, and who has made a significant contribution to the genre)

• Robert Goddard

Gold Dagger

• The Puppet Show (M W Craven, Constable)

Steel Dagger

• To The Lions (Holly Watt, Raven Books)

Gold Dagger for Nonfiction

• The Spy and the Traitor (Ben Macintyre, Viking)

Historical Dagger

• Destroying Angel (S G MacLean, Quercus Fiction)

International Dagger

• A Long Night in Paris (Dov Alfon, trans by Daniella Zamir, MacLehose Press)

Short Story Dagger

• ‘The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing’ (Danuta Kot writing as Danuta Reah in The Dummies’ Guide to Serial Killing and other Fantastic Female Fables, Fantastic Books)

Dagger in the Library (nominated by libraries)

• Kate Ellis

Debut Dagger (for the opening of a crime novel from a writer without a traditional publishing contract)

• ‘Wake’ (Shelley Burr)

Best Crime and Mystery Publisher

• No Exit Press.

Established in 1955, the CWA Dagger awards are open to authors of any nationality, for books first published in the UK in English during the judging period. The winners were announced at an awards dinner in London on 24 October.

Winners were chosen from shortlists announced in July; Australian writer Rachael Brown’s book Trace (Scribe) was longlisted for this year’s Gold Dagger for nonfiction.

To learn more about the Dagger awards, visit the website.

Category: Awards Local news