CWA 2010 Dagger Finalists for the Gold, Steel and John Creasey (New Blood)

We have the lists on the ITV3 Crime Thriller Site, but here they are:

Gold Dagger

Blacklands, Belinda Bauer (Corgi)
Blood Harvest, S J Bolton (Bantam Press)
Shadowplay, Karen Campbell (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Way Home, George Pelecanos (Orion)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

A Loyal Spy, Simon Conway (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Dying Light, Henry Porter (Orion)
Innocent, Scott Turow (Macmillan)
The Gentlemen’s Hour, Don Winslow (Heinemann)

John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

Acts of Violence, Ryan David Jahn (Pan)
Rupture, Simon Lelic (Picador)
The Holy Thief, William Ryan (Mantle )
The Pull of the Moon, Diane Janes (Robinson)

Congratulations to those who have made it to the finalists/nominations stage!

Comments

[Maxine]

Thanks, CFR, I will add it to my vast reading list!

[crimeficreader]

Yes, Maxine, The Holy Thief is historical in that it's another novel set in Stalin's Russia. And it's with Mantle, the new PanMac imprint for Maria Rejt, and hence has the same editor as Simon Lelic's. I loved the characterisation and the fact that the author imbued it with some subtle humour. Unlike some, it doesn't focus only on the horrors of the regime, but highlights also the hopes and ambitions that the people lived with. It's well worth a read to complete your four! Thoroughly enjoyable.

[Maxine]

Of the new blood, I've read Acts of Violence, Rupture and The Pull of the Moon. Although I quite liked The Pull of the Moon, my favourite to win (by a long way) is Rupture. I don't think I have heard of The Holy Thief but from the title it may be historical? I don't read historical novels, usually.

[crimeficreader]

Maxine, I am curious which one of the four you haven't read yet for the New Blood?

[Maxine]

Interesting lists - I am going to have to get reading! I hope that Rupture does well, I think it is truly exceptional. Amazingly, I have not read any of the gold dagger final list, though I have three on my shelf to read, intend to read the fourth. I haven't read any of the steel dagger either.....though I have read three of the four new blood canddiates.