Martin Edwards, Winner of CWA’s Diamond Dagger

Congratulations to Martin Edwards, who just won the highest honor in British Crime Writing, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger Award. As the CWA said in their announcement, “Martin Edwards joins icons of the genre who have been recognised with the accolade, including Ruth Rendell, Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Ian Rankin, PD James, Colin Dexter, Reginald Hill, Lindsey Davis, Peter Lovesey, and John Le Carré.” You can read their announcement here. https://bit.ly/390CxXE

Friends of The Poisoned Pen Bookstore are undoubtedly familiar with Martin Edwards. He’s written posts for the blog, participated in events at the bookstore, edited the British Library Crime Classics series that’s published in the U.S. by Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press. Books written and edited by Edwards are available through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2w0viRd

Yesterday, on his own blog, “Do You Write Under Your Own Name?”, Edwards wrote about The Diamond Dagger. https://bit.ly/2HT3Qrh

Congratulations, again, to an author whose career is still not completely summed up by the biography on his blog. (He’s going to have to update it now.)

“Martin Edwards’ latest novel is Gallows Court, a thriller set in 1930. He recently received the CWA Dagger in the Library, awarded by UK librarians for his body of work. He is President of the Detection Club, consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics, and former Chair of the CWA. His contemporary whodunits include The Coffin Trail, first of seven Lake District Mysteries and shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year. The Arsenic Labyrinth was shortlisted for Lakeland Book of the Year. The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards, while The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books also won the Macavity and was nominated for four other awards. He has also received the CWA Short Story Dagger, the CWA Margery Allingham Prize, a CWA Red Herring, and the Poirot award “for his outstanding contribution to the crime genre”.”