The CWA Short Story Dagger

The CWA Short Story Dagger holds a special place in my heart for a number of reasons. It was the very first major award that I won for my crime writing, thanks to 'The Bookbinder's Apprentice', and I've had three other stories shortlisted for the award. But more than that, I've edited anthologies which have yielded quite a lot of stories that have made the longlist and shortlist, as well as a number of winners.

There's a real pleasure to be had from editing an anthology of new short stories (and quite a lot to be had from editing stories from days gone by for the British Library, but that's a slightly different matter). In the course of editing more than fifty collections I've had the pleasure of receiving some brilliant stories by writers from all around the world. The only downside of editing, say, the CWA anthology, is that one has to turn down a number of good stories because of constraints on space and sometimes because of the need to achieve a suitable mix of styles, settings, and storylines. It's especially hard turning down stories written by friends. It's happened to me, so I know how it feels. But you have to respect the editorial judgment and equally it's important for the editor to try to be as fair as possible to the authors as well as devoting careful thought, as I try to do, to the nature of the reader's experience on delving into the book.

I had a great time editing the most recent (and possibly most gorgeous-looking!) CWA anthology, Midsummer Mysteries, though again some good stories didn't make the cut. And I'm absolutely thrilled that no fewer than four stories from the book have reached the shortlist of six for the Short Story Dagger. Quite a result. They are all terrific stories, and indeed I can think of several others in the book that must also have been very strong contenders (judging awards is never easy, that's for sure). So warmest congratulations to Bill McCormick, Sophia Bennett, Jamie Bernthal, and Meeti Shroff Shah. And thanks to the hard-working team at Flame Tree Press who made it all possible.  

The first story I edited that won this Dagger was 'Herbert in Motion' by a talented young guy called Ian Rankin. Since then there have been John Harvey's 'Fedora' and Len Tyler's 'The Trials of Margaret' - and a special bonus came when stories written by Margaret Murphy and Cath Staincliffe for my Murder Squad anthology Best Eaten Cold shared the Dagger. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one of the quartet of stories from Midsummer Mysteries will win the award - but whatever the outcome, I'm delighted that the achievements of these excellent writers have been recognised in this way.