Last night at London’s famous Grosvenor House on Park Lane, the great and the good of the crime fiction world were hosted by Specsavers, sponsor of the ITV Crime Thriller Awards. Celebrating crime television, film and books, the event saw three new inductees to the Crime Thriller Hall of Fame – Scottish author Denise Mina, English writer Robert Harris and Midsomer Murders.
“Vive le thriller,” Harris proclaimed in an acceptance speech that referenced France’s infamous Dreyfus Affair, as the author called for greater literary respect for the genre.
Harris, well known thanks to his mold-breaking book Fatherland, also gathered in the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for An Officer and a Spy. The CWA Goldboro Gold Dagger for crime novel of the year went to Wiley Cash for his southern noir novel This Dark Road to Mercy. The author couldn’t make the awards due to the recent birth of his daughter but sent a video greeting.
New talent
The John Creasey New Blood Dagger went to Ray Celestin for The Axeman’s Jazz – watch for more new talent in our upcoming theme month New Talent November. Peter May was the winner of the ITV Crime Thriller Club Best Book Award for Entry Island, which is set on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada.
The TV stars were out too with Stanley Tucci of the upcoming show Fortitude presenting the Film Dagger to the makers of Cold in July. Happy Valley and True Detective won two awards each with the former taking the TV Dagger as well as Best Supporting Actor which wen to James Norton. True Detective swooped in for the International TV Dagger with strong competition from Fargo, Inspector Montalbano and The Bridge 2. Its star Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor. Amanda Abbington of Sherlock won Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress went to Keeley Hawes, who was in Line of Duty.
Highlights for your humble correspondent included meeting Mark Gatiss, Denise Mina, Mark Billingham, Greg Iles and SJ Parris.
Read our listing of the 20 best crime shows ever here. The awards will be broadcast on ITV3 in the coming week.
