Award year
2026 CWA Gold Dagger
Abigail Dean won the 2026 CWA Gold Dagger, the Crime Writers' Association's award for the best crime novel of the year, for The Death of Us, published by HarperCollins under its Hemlock Press imprint. Six novels made the 2026 shortlist. Alongside Dean, the shortlisted writers were S. A. Cosby for King of Ashes, Holly Jackson for Not Quite Dead Yet, Vaseem Khan for The Girl in Cell A, Ariel Lawhon for The Frozen River and Laura Shepherd-Robinson for The Art of a Lie.
Results
Recognized titles
- The Death of Us by Abigail Dean
- King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
- Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
- The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
- The Girl in Cell A by Vaseem Khan