Gold Dagger
The Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for best crime novel of the year.
For its first five years, it was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award.
From 1995 to 2002 the award acquired sponsorship from Macallan and was known as the Macallan Gold Dagger.
In 2006, due to new sponsorship from the Duncan Lawrie Bank, the award was officially renamed the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, and gained a prize fund of £20,000, making it the biggest crime-fiction award in the world, in monetary terms.
For many years, a Silver Dagger Award was also awarded, essentially a runners-up trophy. However, when Duncan Lawrie acquired sponsorship, this award was dropped.
Winners
Winners and, where known, shortlisted titles for each year:
2000s
- 2008
- Duncan Lawrie Dagger: Frances Fyfield, Blood From Stone
- James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown
- Colin Cotterill, The Coroner's Lunch
- Steve Hamilton, Night Work
- Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know
- R. N. Morris, A Vengeful Longing
- 2007
- Duncan Lawrie Dagger: Peter Temple, The Broken Shore
- Giles Blunt, The Fields of Grief
- James Lee Burke, Pegasus Descending
- Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects
- Craig Russell, Brother Grimm
- C. J. Sansom, Sovereign
- 2006 (award re-named)
- Duncan Lawrie Dagger: Ann Cleeves, Raven Black
- Simon Beckett, The Chemistry of Death
- Thomas H. Cook, Red Leaves
- Frances Fyfield, Safer Than Houses
- Bill James, Wolves of Memory
- Laura Wilson, A Thousand Lies
- 2005
- Gold Dagger: Arnaldur Indridason, Silence of the Grave
- Silver Dagger: Barbara Nadel, Deadly Web
- 2004
- Gold Dagger: Sara Paretsky, Blacklist
- Silver Dagger: John Harvey, Flesh and Blood
- 2003
- Gold Dagger: Minette Walters, Fox Evil
- Silver Dagger: Morag Joss, Half-Broken Things
- 2002
- Gold Dagger: Jose Carlos Somoza, The Athenian Murders
- Silver Dagger: James Crumley, The Final Country
- 2001
- Gold Dagger: Henning Mankell, Sidetracked
- Silver Dagger: Giles Blunt, Forty Words for Sorrow
- 2000
- Gold Dagger: Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn
- Silver Dagger: Donna Leon, Friends In High Places
1990s
- 1999
- Gold Dagger: Robert Wilson, A Small Death in Lisbon
- Silver Dagger: Adrian Mathews, Vienna Blood
- 1998
- Gold Dagger: James Lee Burke, Sunset Limited
- Silver Dagger: Nicholas Blincoe, Manchester Slingback
- 1997
- Gold Dagger: Ian Rankin, Black and Blue
- Silver Dagger: Janet Evanovich, Three to Get Deadly
- 1996
- Gold Dagger: Ben Elton, Popcorn
- Silver Dagger: Peter Lovesey, Bloodhounds
- 1995
- Gold Dagger: Val McDermid, The Mermaids Singing
- Silver Dagger: Peter Lovesey, The Summons
- 1994
- Gold Dagger: Minette Walters, The Scold's Bridle
- Silver Dagger: Peter Høeg, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow
- Val McDermid, Crack Down
- Sara Paretsky, Tunnel Vision
- 1993
- Gold Dagger: Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual
- Silver Dagger: Sarah Dunant, Fatlands
- 1992
- Gold Dagger: Colin Dexter, The Way Through the Woods
- Silver Dagger: Liza Cody, Bucket Nut
- 1991
- Gold Dagger: Barbara Vine, King Solomon's Carpet
- Silver Dagger: Frances Fyfield, Deep Sleep
- 1990
- Gold Dagger: Reginald Hill, Bones and Silence
- Silver Dagger: Mike Phillips, The Late Candidate
1980s
- 1989
- Gold Dagger: Colin Dexter, The Wench is Dead
- Silver Dagger: Desmond Lowden, The Shadow Run
- 1988
- Gold Dagger: Michael Dibdin, Ratking
- Silver Dagger: Sara Paretsky, Toxic Shock
- 1987
- Gold Dagger: Barbara Vine, A Fatal Inversion
- Silver Dagger: Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent
- 1986
- Gold Dagger: Ruth Rendell, Live Flesh
- Silver Dagger: P. D. James, A Taste for Death
- 1985
- Gold Dagger: Paula Gosling, Monkey Puzzle
- Silver Dagger: Dorothy Simpson, Last Seen Alive
- 1984
- Gold Dagger: B. M. Gill, The Twelfth Juror
- Silver Dagger: Ruth Rendell, The Tree of Hands
- 1983
- Gold Dagger: John Hutton, Accidental Crimes
- Silver Dagger: William McInnery, The Papers of Tony Vietch
- 1982
- Gold Dagger: Peter Lovesey, The False Inspector Dew
- Silver Dagger: S.T. Haymon, Ritual Murder
- 1981
- Gold Dagger: Martin Cruz Smith, Gorky Park
- Silver Dagger: Colin Dexter, The Dead of Jericho
- 1980
- Gold Dagger: H. R. F. Keating, The Murder of the Maharaja
- Silver Dagger: Ellis Peters, Monk's Hood
1970s
- 1979
- Gold Dagger: Dick Francis, Whip Hand
- Silver Dagger: Colin Dexter, Service of All the Dead
- 1978
- Gold Dagger: Lionel Davidson, The Chelsea Murders
- Silver Dagger: Peter Lovesey, Waxwork
- 1977
- Gold Dagger: John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
- Silver Dagger: William McIlvanney, Laidlaw
- 1976
- Gold Dagger: Ruth Rendell, A Demon in My View
- Silver Dagger: James H. McClure, Rogue Eagle
- 1975
- Gold Dagger: Nicholas Meyer, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
- Silver Dagger: P. D. James, The Black Tower
- 1974
- Gold Dagger: Anthony Price, Other Paths to Glory
- Silver Dagger: Francis Clifford, The Grosvenor Square Goodbye
- 1973
- Gold Dagger: Robert Littell, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter
- Silver Dagger: Gwendoline Butler, A Coffin for Pandora
- 1972
- Gold Dagger: Eric Ambler, The Levanter
- Silver Dagger: Victor Canning, The Rainbird Pattern
- 1971
- Gold Dagger: James H. McClure, The Steam Pig
- Silver Dagger: P.D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale
- 1970
- Gold Dagger: Joan Fleming, Young Man I Think You're Dying
- Silver Dagger: Anthony Price, The Labyrinth Makers
1960s
- 1969
- Gold Dagger: Peter Dickinson, A Pride of Heroes
- Silver Dagger: Francis Clifford, Another Way of Dying
- Best Foreign: Rex Stout, The Father Hunt
- 1968
- Gold Dagger: Peter Dickinson, Skin Deep
- Nicholas Blake, The Private Wound
- Best Foreign: Sébastien Japrisot, The Lady in the Car
- 1967
- Gold Dagger: Emma Lathen, Murder Against the Grain
- Colin Watson, Lonely Heart 4122
- Best British: Eric Ambler, Dirty Story
- 1966
- Gold Dagger: Lionel Davidson, A Long Way to Shiloh
- John Bingham, The Double Agent
- Best Foreign: John Ball, In the Heat of the Night
- 1965
- Gold Dagger: Ross Macdonald, The Far Side of the Dollar
- Dick Francis, For Kicks
- Emma Lathen, Accounting for Murder
- Best British: Gavin Lyall, Midnight Plus One
- 1964
- Gold Dagger: H. R. F. Keating, The Perfect Murder
- Gavin Lyall, The Most Dangerous Game
- Ross Macdonald, The Chill
- Best Foreign: Patricia Highsmith, The Two Faces of January
- 1963
- Gold Dagger: John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
- Nicholas Freeling, Gun Before Butter
- William Haggard, The High Wire
- 1962
- Gold Dagger: Joan Fleming, When I Grow Rich
- Eric Ambler, The Light of the Day
- Colin Watson, Hopjoy Was Here
- 1961
- Gold Dagger: Mary Kelly, The Spoilt Kill
- John le Carré, Call for the Dead
- Allan Prior, One Way
- 1960 (award re-named)
- Gold Dagger: Lionel Davidson, The Night of Wenceslas
- Mary Stewart, My Brother Michael
- Julian Symons, Progress of a Crime
1950s
- 1959
- Crossed Red Herring Award: Eric Ambler, Passage of Arms
- James Mitchell, A Way Back
- Menna Gallie, Strike for a Kingdom
- 1958
- Crossed Red Herring Award: Margot Bennett, Someone from the Past
- Margery Allingham, Hide My Eyes
- James Byrom, Or Be He Dead
- John Sherwood, Undiplomatic Exit
- 1957
- Crossed Red Herring Award: Julian Symons, The Colour of Murder
- Ngaio Marsh, Off With His Head
- George Milner, Your Money or Your Life
- Douglas Rutherford, The Long Echo
- 1956
- Crossed Red Herring Award: Edward Grierson, The Second Man
- Sarah Gainham, Time Right Deadly
- Arthur Upfield, Man of Two Tribes
- J. J. Marric, Gideon's Week
- 1955
- Crossed Red Herring Award: Winston Graham, The Little Walls
- Leigh Howard, Blind Date
- Ngaio Marsh, Scales of Justice
- Margot Bennett, The Man Who Didn't Fly