The CWA Historical Dagger (currently called the CWA Endeavor Historical Dagger) is an annual award given by the British

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

to the author of the best historical crime novel of the year. Established in 1999, it is presented to a novel "with a crime theme and a historical background of any period up to 35 years before the current year". The award was called the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger from 1999 to 2005, and was known as the Ellis Peters Historical Award from 2006 to 2012, to commemorate the life and work of historical crime writer

Ellis Peters Edith Mary Pargeter (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her ''nom de plume'' Ellis Peters, was an English author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translat ...

, whose '' Cadfael Chronicles'' (1977–1994) are generally credited with popularizing the genre that would become known as the historical mystery. Starting in 2014, the award became known as the CWA Endeavour Historical Dagger through sponsorship by Endeavor Press.

Winners

* 1999: '' Two for the Lions'' (Century) –

Lindsey Davis Lindsey Davis (born 1949) is an English historical novelist, best known as the author of the Falco series of historical crime stories set in ancient Rome and its empire. She is a recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger award. Life and career ...

* 2000: ''Absent Friends'' (Virago) – Gillian Linscott * 2001: ''The Office Of The Dead'' (HarperCollins) –

Andrew Taylor Andrew or Andy Taylor may refer to: Sport * Andrew Taylor (footballer, born 1986), English footballer * Andy Taylor (footballer, born 1986), English footballer * Andy Taylor (footballer, born 1988), English footballer * Andrew Taylor (Australian ...

* 2002: '' Fingersmith'' (Virago) –

Sarah Waters Sarah Ann Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as ''Tipping the Velvet'' and '' Fingersmith''. Life and education Early life Sara ...

* 2003: ''The American Boy'' (Flamingo) –

* 2004: ''The Damascened Blade'' (Constable & Robinson) –

Barbara Cleverly Barbara Cleverly is a British author born in Yorkshire and a former teacher. She graduated from Durham University and now works in Cambridgeshire. She is known for her ''Detective Joe Sandilands Mystery'' series, of which she has written thirte ...

* 2005: '' Dark Fire'' (Macmillan) –

CJ Sansom Christopher John Sansom (born 1952) is a British writer of historical crime novels, best known for his Matthew Shardlake series. He was born in Edinburgh and attended George Watson's College in that city, but left the school with no qualificat ...

* 2006: ''Red Sky Lament'' (Orion) – Edward Wright * 2007: ''Mistress of the Art of Death'' (Bantam Press) – Ariana Franklin * 2008: ''Stratton’s War'' (Orion) – Laura Wilson * 2009: ''If The Dead Rise Not'' (Quercus) –

Philip Kerr Philip Ballantyne Kerr (22 February 1956 – 23 March 2018) was a British author, best known for his Bernie Gunther series of historical detective thrillers. Early life Kerr was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where his father was an enginee ...

* 2010: ''Revenger'' (John Murray) – Rory Clements * 2011: ''The Somme Stations'' (Faber and Faber) – Andrew Martin * 2012: ''Icelight'' (John Murray) –

Aly Monroe Aly Monroe is a British writer of historical thrillers set in the 1940s. She was brought up in Purley, England. She has spent a large part of her life in Spain, where she worked as a teacher, translator and voice-over artist. She is the autho ...

* 2013: ''The Scent of Death'' (HarperCollins) –

* 2014: ''The Devil in the Marshalsea'' (Hodder & Stoughton) –

Antonia Hodgson Antonia Hodgson (born 1971) is a British historical crime writer and publisher. Life Hodgson was born in Derby in 1971. She attended Littleover Community School. She graduated with a degree in English Literature from Leeds University in 199 ...

* 2015: The Seeker (Quercus) – S.G. MacLean * 2016: '' Stasi Child'' (Twenty7Books) – David Young * 2017: ''A Rising Man'' (Harvill Secker) – Abir Mukherjee * 2018: ''Nucleus'' (Zaffre Publishing) – Rory Clements * 2019: ''Destroying Angel'' (Quercus Fiction) – S.G. MacLean * 2020: ''Death in the East'' (Harvill Secker) – Abir Mukherjee * 2021: ''Midnight at Malabar House'' —

Vaseem Khan Vaseem Khan (born 1973) is a British writer, author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency novels – a series of crime novels set in India – featuring retired Mumbai police Inspector Ashwin Chopra and his sidekick, a baby elephant named Ganesha ...

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers/categories/endeavour-historical/ 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1999 Crime Writers' Association awards Mystery and detective fiction awards