Diamonds are Forever...

I'm back home after an eventful few days which were largely wonderful although a car accident on Saturday with a deranged motorcyclist travelling at the best part of 100 mph almost meant that I'd blogged for the very last time. Happily, I have lived to tell the tale and so did the motorbike maniac, though his fictional counterpart may meet a grisly fate one day! Anyway, I'm fortunate to have various positives to focus on, including Wednesday's CWA Daggers Dinner, which was a truly memorable occasion.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, I became the first person to have an online presentation of the Diamond Dagger, by Ann Cleeves, while I was up in my loft. That was a wonderful experience, but of course there's nothing quite like actually getting your hands on the award and luckily for me, the CWA decided that this year, as well as honouring the latest winner, C.J. Sansom, Martina Cole and I would receive the Diamond Dagger in person. Very sadly, neither Chris nor Martina were able to attend, but my lovely publishers Head of Zeus kindly invited me to share a table with them, along with my family and my agent James. The photo above shows me with my editor Laura Palmer.

  

It really was a great evening and I felt very blessed. It was also good to see so many old friends, some of them for the first time in three years. As for the Diamond Dagger, now that I've held it in my hands, I feel a slight reduction of the inevitable imposter syndrome that accompanied news of my receipt of the award. For those unfamiliar with the Diamond Dagger, it may explain why I feel so happy about it if I list, courtesy of good old Wikipedia, the previous illustrious recipients since 1986. I'm proud to be in their company:

• 1986 – Eric Ambler^[1]
• 1987 – P. D. James
• 1988 – John le Carré
• 1989 – Dick Francis
• 1990 – Julian Symons
• 1991 – Ruth Rendell
• 1992 – Leslie Charteris
• 1993 – Ellis Peters
• 1994 – Michael Gilbert
• 1995 – Reginald Hill
• 1996 – H. R. F. Keating
• 1997 – Colin Dexter
• 1998 – Ed McBain
• 1999 – Margaret Yorke
• 2000 – Peter Lovesey^[1]
• 2001 – Lionel Davidson
• 2002 – Sara Paretsky
• 2003 – Robert Barnard
• 2004 – Lawrence Block
• 2005 – Ian Rankin
• 2006 – Elmore Leonard
• 2007 – John Harvey
• 2008 – Sue Grafton
• 2009 – Andrew Taylor^[2]
• 2010 – Val McDermid
• 2011 – Lindsey Davis^[3]
• 2012 – Frederick Forsyth
• 2013 – Lee Child^[4]
• 2014 – Simon Brett
• 2015 – Catherine Aird
• 2016 – Peter James
• 2017 – Ann Cleeves
• 2018 – Michael Connelly
• 2019 – Robert Goddard
• 2020 – Martin Edwards^[5]
• 2021 – Martina Cole^[6]