Lindsey Davis    TWO FOR THE LIONS        Century
Ian Morson       FALCONER AND THE GREAT BEAST    Gollancz
Charles Todd     WINGS OF FIRE            Headline

Judges were:  Lady Antonia Fraser, Susanna Yager and Mike Ashley.

Janet Laurence, outgoing Chairman of the CWA welcomed the some sixty guests at the announcement and announced that the sponsors had increased the prize from 2,000 to 2,500.  She thanked Jane Morphew of Headline, Debbie Owen of the Estate of Ellis Peters and Hilary Hale of Little, Brown (UK) Ltd, who were all present, for organising and sponsoring this new competition.

Then she introduced the judges:  Lady Antonia Fraser, Mike Ashley and Susanna Yager, who had worked incredibly hard, reading the three dozen submitted books over Christmas and the New Year to arrive at a short list by early February.

Antonia Fraser spoke for all the judges and said it was an irony that the judging of the historical dagger had been carried out on e-mail!  As a practising historian, she had a great respect for historical crime fiction, she'd tried her hand at it but said it was something she hadn't been able to do - so far.  The judges had worked very hard and thoroughly, even though the time scale had been tight.  Christmas and New Year had hardly existed!  The standard of entries, she said, had been very high, at least half of the 35 or 36 books submitted (a slight dissension amongst the judges as to which was the actual number) had been absolutely first class.  Amongst the others were lessons of what not to do.  She had in mind a poem by Thomas Hood, the Boastful Sportsman that ran:  'What he hit is history, what he missed is mystery'.  The hits, she said, use history as a weapon, they don't let history dominate them.

Antonia Fraser first talked of the  non-winners on the short list:
Ian Morson in his Falconer and the Great Beast, set in medieval times, used history deftly.  He'd produced Antonia's favourite character, the first elephant to be seen in Oxford.  In this very enjoyable book every single historical element had to be there.

Charles Todd had set his On Wings of Fire in the twenties just after the First World War.  The judges decided it was more difficult to bring off something so much closer to our time, it was much more complicated and his plot was complicated, it unravelled and unravelled.  This was a book genuinely set in the past, the past influencing every single aspect of the story.

And so to the winner, which was  Lindsey Davis, Two for the Lions, featuring her Roman detective, Falco.  Antonia Fraser said Lindsey knew her history backwards, for two reasons.  She had written so many of these splendid books for one and secondly she, like Antonia herself, was an alumnus of Lady Margaret Hall, so by training never got her facts wrong.
The book could have been called Falco and the Great Beast, as it was about lions and one of them was almost as sympathetic as Ian Morson's elephant.  There were also gladiators and much more.  It contained many jokes, all of them to do with Lindsey being so much at ease with her period.  Antonia said she had a tremendous historical imagination. She brought history alive.  She, in fact, 'hits both history and mystery'.

Antonia then presented Lyndsey with her cheque for 2,500 and a bouquet of tulips.

Lindsey Davis was overcome.  So overcome, she said, that if she'd been bra-less and dressed in a pink frock, she would have sobbed for a quarter of an hour.  She told everyone that she was thrilled to win.  Ellis Peters had been an author she had read when growing up, particularly the books she'd written as Edith Pargeter, and she'd taught her to love the historical novel.  Also Ellis Peters had been very kind to her in her early days as an author, so she was overwhelmed to be the first winner of this award.

Debbie Owen, on behalf of the Estate of Ellis Peters, then said a few words.  The family of Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter were all abroad and extremely sorry not to be able to be present.  They sent their deepest regrets and thanks.  Edith would, said Debbie, have loved to have been there, she loved parties.  She would have thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and would have given the biggest of hugs to Geoffrey Bailey for making his lovely store available for the annoucment.  Edith would have been delighted that there was an American on the short list and over the moon that Lindsey had won.  Debbie said she had been Edith's agent since 1971 and it was extremely rare that she gave a quote for an author.  She had done so for Lindsey and, more than that, she had pursued an active friendship with her.  So she would have been thrilled that the first winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger was Lindsey Davis.  Debbie hoped for great things for the future of this award.  Ellis Peters had created books full of people not characters.  She'd said she wanted the reader to know them as well he knew his own friends.

Janet Laurence closed by thanking Geoffrey Bailey on everyone's behalf for hosting the evening and the excellent refreshments provided by Headline and the other sponsors.  She said that the actual gold dagger would be awarded to Lindsey Davis at the Award Luncheon towards the end of the year together with The CWA Macallan Daggers and the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger.

About the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger:

The prize for the brand new CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger is 2,500. It will be an annual prize.

The award has been created in memory of Ellis Peters and is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters, as well as Headline Book Publishing Ltd and Little, Brown & Co (UK), her two main publishers.

The Crime Writers' Association administers all the prestigious Dagger awards.  These include the CWA The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers for fiction, non-fiction and short story, the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger (sponsored by The Chivers Press) for the best first novel written in a crime genre, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger, awarded for outstanding achievement in crime writing.  The CWA are proud to add the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger to this list.

For more details see the CWA Awards Page