CWA Gold Dagger — Bookend

Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. "Fans [of The Wire] can find many of the same strengths in Kerrigan's work" ( The New York Times). Vincent Naylor has just been released from prison and has already begun to plot his next heist—the robbery of an armored car. Det. Sgt. Bob Tidey has been caught perjuring himself to protect fellow officers. He's also found the link between an unsolved murder case and the recent execution of a corrupt banker in serious financial difficulty. An old acquaintance will change the course of the investigation. A retired nun living on regrets and bad memories notices something deeply suspicious and makes a phone call that sets in motion a series of fateful events. In The Rage, Gene Kerrigan weaves together astute observations regarding a financial crisis, church abuse, and gangland crime. The writing is, as always with a Kerrigan novel, superb, with an engaging story that has pitch perfect dialogue and characters that come fully alive. The prize-winning crime fiction is set in contemporary Ireland where nothing is neatly resolved and there are no easy choices. Like life itself. "A perfect novel . . . beautifully constructed, with sharp and relevant dialogue, and not a superfluous word to be found." — The Oregonian "Gritty and compulsively readable." — The Wall Street Journal "Tightly plotted . . . the story's pacing is masterly." — The New Yorker "A boundlessly readable portrait of an Ireland in which all the old certainties have vanished. Remarkable for its verve, moral trickiness, and nifty plotting." —NPR Fresh Air "Fans of Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes, and Declan Burke won't want to miss this one." — Booklist (starred review)

Winner

2011

Crooked Letter, Croo

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Tom Franklin · 2011

Winner

2010

Blacklands

Belinda Bauer · 2010

Winner

2009

A Whispered Name

William Brodrick · 2009

Winner

2008

Blood from Stone

Frances Fyfield · 2008

Winner

2007

The Broken Shore

Peter Temple · 2007

Winner

2006

Raven Black

Ann Cleeves · 2006

Winner

2005

Silence of the Grave

Arnaldur Indriðason · 2005

Winner

2004

Blacklist

Sara Paretsky, Gore Vidal · 2004 · 409 pp

V. I. Warshawski explores secrets and betrayals that stretch across four generations in this New York Times bestselling novel from one of the most compelling writers in American crime fiction... “A thoughtful, high-tension mystery.”—The Washington Post Book World “A genuinely exciting and disturbing thriller.”—Chicago Tribune As a favor to her most important client, V. I. agrees to check up on an empty mansion. But instead of a mysterious intruder she discovers a dead man in the ornamental pond—a reporter for an African-American publication whom the suburban cops are quick to dismiss as a suicide. When the man’s shattered family hires V. I. to investigate, she is sucked into a Gothic tale of sex, money, and power, leading her back to McCarthy-era blacklists and forward to some of the darker aspects of the Patriot Act. As V. I. finds herself penned in to a smaller and smaller space by an array of people trying to silence her, and before she can untangled the sordid truth, two more people will die—and V.I.’s own life will hang in the balance.

Winner