Daggers Drawn, Maxim Jakubowski
Daggers Drawn, Maxim Jakubowski
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Daggers Drawn

Author: Maxim Jakubowski, others

Narrator: others, Maxwell Caulfield, Gabrielle de Cuir, Justine Eyre, Alex Hyde-White, John Lee, Juliet Mills, Kate Orsini, John Rubinstein, Stefan Rudnicki, various narrators

Unabridged: 11 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/21/2021


Synopsis

Edgy, twisted, and disturbing, the first Crime Writers’ Association Daggers Award retrospective anthology features bestselling authors Ian Rankin, Jeffery Deaver, John Connolly, Denise Mina, John Harvey, and more.Keep your secrets close and your daggers drawn.This first retrospective of the CWA’s Dagger Award winners brings together some of the greatest names in crime fiction to deliver a cutthroat collection of serial killers, grizzled detectives, drug dealers, and master forgers.Observe as a senior curator at the Tate Gallery constructs the perfect crime in Ian Rankin’s “Herbert in Motion.” Watch an unlikely romance sour into a deadly obsession in Stella Duffy’s “Martha Grace.” Face parents who discover that their child has committed the unthinkable in Denise Mina’s “Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.” And in Jeffery Deaver’s “The Weekender,” an intense hostage situation hits its peak in the most unlikely conclusion.Here are nineteen CWA Dagger Award-winning short stories from the best of the best in crime fiction.Contributors include Ian Rankin, Jeffery Deaver, John Connolly, John Harvey, Denise Mina, Julian Rathbone, Martin Edwards, Peter Lovesey, Lauren Henderson, Stella Duffy, Peter O’Donnell (writing as Madeleine Brent), Danuta Reah, Cath Staincliffe, Margaret Murphy, L. C. Tyler, Phil Lovesey, Larry Beinhart, Richard Lange, and Jerry Sykes.

About Maxim Jakubowski

Maxim Jakubowski is a noted anthology editor based in London, just a mile or so away from where he was born. With over seventy volumes to his credit, including Invisible Blood, thirteen annual volumes of The Mammoth Book of Best British Mysteries, and titles on Professor Moriarty, Jack the Ripper, Future Crime, and Vintage whodunits. A publisher for over twenty years, he was also the co-owner of London’s Murder One bookstore and the crime columnist for Time Out and then The Guardian for twenty-two years. Stories from his anthologies have won most of the awards in the field on numerous occasions. He is currently the Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and a Sunday Times bestselling novelist in another genre.

About Ian Rankin

Ian Rankin is a #1 international bestselling author. Winner of an Edgar Award and the recipient of a Gold Dagger for fiction and the Chandler-Fulbright Award, he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife and their two sons.

About Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 internationally bestselling author of forty-four novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie and a hit television series on NBC. He’s received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world, including Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers and the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was the recipient of three lifetime achievement awards. He has been named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America.

About John Connolly

John Connolly is a New York Times bestselling author known for his detective Charlie Parker mysteries and supernatural and fantasy novels. His twenty-five novels, nonfiction, and short stories have won the Agatha, Barry, Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, as well as being finalists for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, H. R. F. Keating Award, and Bram Stoker Award.

About John Harvey

John Harvey, best known as a writer of crime fiction, his work translated into more than twenty languages, is also a dramatist, poet, publisher, and occasional broadcaster. The first of his Charlie Resnick novels, Lonely Hearts, was named by the Times as one of the “100 Best Crime Novels of the Century.” The recipient of honorary doctorates from the Universities of Nottingham and Hertfordshire, Harvey was awarded the Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement in 2007.

About Denise Mina

Denise Mina is the author of seventeen novels, including the Reese's Book Club pick Conviction and its sequel Confidence, as well as The Less Dead, The Long Drop—winner of the 2017 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime book of the year—and the Garnethill trilogy, the first installment of which won the John Creasey Memorial Award for best first crime novel, among others. Mina has twice received the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. She lives in Glasgow.

About Martin Edwards

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime author and novelist. His nonfiction book, The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and Their Creators, won the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Book of 2022. He has received the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honor in British crime writing, given for the sustained excellence of his contribution to the genre. His Lake District mystery series have been optioned by ITV. Renowned as the leading expert on the history of Golden Age detective fiction, he won the Crimefest Mastermind Quiz three times and possesses one of Britain’s finest collections of Golden Age novels. Elected to the Detection Club in 2008, he became the first archivist of the club and is also archivist of the Crime Writers’ Association.

About Peter Lovesey

Peter Lovesey, the author of more than thirty highly praised mystery novels, has won the British Crime Writers’ Association Silver and Gold Dagger awards as well as the Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement and the Strand Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. In the United States, he has received Edgar and Dilys nominations, an Anthony Award and a Macavity Award, and the Ellery Queen Readers Award, among others. In 2018, he was named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master.

About Stella Duffy

Stella Duffy was born in London, grew up in New Zealand, and now lives in London. She is the author of seven literary novels, including The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness, both of which were Longlisted for the Orange Prize. The Room of Lost Things won the Stonewall Writer of the Year 2008, and she won the Stonewall Writer of the Year 2010 for Theodora. She is also the author of the Saz Martin detective series. She has written over 45 short stories, including several for BBC Radio 4, and won the 2002 CWA Short Story Dagger for Martha Grace. Her ten plays include an adaptation of Medea for Steam Industry, and Prime Resident and Immaculate Conceit for the National Youth Theatre (UK). In addition to her writing work she is an actor and theatre director.

About Cath Staincliffe

Cath Staincliffe is an established novelist, radio playwright, and the creator of ITV’s hit series, Blue Murder, starring Caroline Quentin as Detective Inspector Janine Lewis. Cath’s books have been shortlisted for the British Crime Writers Association best first novel award and for the Dagger in the Library and selected as Le Masque de l’Année. Cath is one of the founding members of Murder Squad—a group of Northern crime writers who give readings, talks, and signings around the country. Cath was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, UK and now lives in Manchester, Lancashire with her partner and children.

About Margaret Murphy

Margaret Murphy writes internationally acclaimed psychological thrillers. A past Chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), the founder of Murder Squad, and a former RLF Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector, she’s been a country park ranger, a biology teacher, a dyslexia specialist, and a visiting professor in creative writing. A Short Story Dagger and CWA Red Herring award winner, she has also been shortlisted for the “First Blood” Critics Award and the CWA Dagger in the Library.

About Larry Beinhart

Larry Beinhart is the award-winning author of Wag the Dog, which inspired the film starring Robert DeNiro, as well as several other novels, including Salvation Boulevard and No One Rides for Free.

About Richard Lange

Richard Lange is the author of the story collections Dead Boys and Sweet Nothing and the novels This Wicked World and Angel Baby. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the International Association of Crime Writers' Hammett Prize, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Los Angeles.

About Maxwell Caulfield

Maxwell Caulfield is a film, stage, and television actor best known for his roles as Michael Carrington in the 1982 film Grease 2 and Miles Colby in the television shows The Colbys and Dynasty. His other acting credits include the films Gettysburg, The Real Blonde, and Emmerdale. He has won six AudioFile Earphones Awards.

About Gabrielle de Cuir

Gabrielle de Cuir, award-winning narrator, has narrated over three hundred titles and specializes in fantasy, humor, and titles requiring extensive foreign language and accent skills. She was a cowinner of the Audie Award for best narration in 2011 and a three-time finalist for the Audie and has garnered six AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her “velvet touch” as an actor’s director has earned her a special place in the audiobook world as the foremost producer for bestselling authors and celebrities.

About Justine Eyre

Justine Eyre is a classically trained actress who has narrated many audiobooks, earning the prestigious Audie Award for best narration and numerous Earphones Awards. She is multilingual and known for her great facility with accents. She has appeared on stage, with leading roles in King Lear and The Crucible, and has had starring roles in four films on the indie circuit. Her television credits include Two and a Half Men and Mad Men.

About Alex Hyde-White

Alex Hyde-White is an actor and a producer of two films and hundreds of audiobooks thru his label Punch Audio.

About John Lee

John Lee, is a stage actor, writer, and a coproducer of feature films. An AudioFile Golden Voice narrator, he is the winner of numerous Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards.

About Juliet Mills

Juliet Mills is a highly acclaimed actress. She won an Emmy Award for QB VII and a Tony nomination for her role in Five Finger Exercise, and was one of the stars of the daytime drama show Passions.

About Kate Orsini

Kate Orsini is a native of Talladega, Alabama. She earned a double major in Theatre and French Literature from Vassar College. She’s performed on stage, in film, and on TV. She currently recurs on NCIS: LA, and stars in the Zoom episodic, “The Corona Dialogues,” produced by Bonnie Hunt, for which she won Best Actress at the London Independent Film Festival.

About John Rubinstein

John Rubinstein is an actor, composer, and director who won a Tony Award for his starring role in Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God. He has narrated dozens of audiobooks, earning several AudioFile Earphones Awards and being named a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2013.

About Stefan Rudnicki

Stefan Rudnicki is a Grammy-winning audiobook producer and a multiaward-winning narrator, named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceecee on September 14, 2021

Here we have a collection of nineteen short stories that have won the CWA Short Story Dagger over the 38 years since its inception. It’s pretty obvious therefore, that as winners they’re all going to be good and they are! It’s an eclectic mixture such as a spy mystery, several examples of the conseq......more

Goodreads review by Shannon M (Canada) on April 27, 2024

As I enjoyed the second book in this short story anthology series a few weeks ago, I decided to borrow the first one from my library, DAGGER’S DRAWN. Again it was a group of 19 stories that had previously won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Again I read it over a period of several days, savouring two or......more

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on September 20, 2021

Daggers Drawn is the first retrospective deep dive into the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association’s (CWA) archive of Short Story Dagger Award winners from its inception in 1938 right through to present day, bringing many of the stories back into print and collecting together incredible modern crime......more

Goodreads review by Bandit on October 08, 2021

Crime Writers Association (proving that crime does pay, at least so long as you get published) since 1953 is an esteemed organization. And genre establishment, really. And as such they have their own awards, The Daggers, given to the best of the best in crime fiction. This is an anthology of those D......more

Goodreads review by Tonia on December 20, 2021

This is a fabulous collection of 19 short stories by famous crime writers. I found it best to read 2 or 3 and then switch to a novel. There was only one story I thought was dull and 3 that were so dark they were a bit disturbing. The rest were great.......more


Quotes

“While the deep tones of Stefan Rudnicki and John Lee may be the most familiar to listeners, all the narrators vocally embrace these stories filled with tantalizing twists and surprising conclusions…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“The short story format provides ample opportunity to cogitate on endings, contemplate ironic turns, and revel in the mastery of short stories by outstanding writers of mysteries and thrillers.” Big Thrill magazine

“[A] strong anthology. The best of the 19 selections come with a sting in the tail that undermines readers’ expectations…Fans of literate crime fiction will hope for a follow-up volume.” Publishers Weekly


Awards

  • AudioFile Earphones Award