Brutal, bloodied and with a forensic approach to detail, the CWA Daggers shortlist contains a powerhouse of literary talent. For all their detective ability and searing insights, even the authors themselves cannot be expected to work out how these plots will end. The winners for eleven awards will be announced at The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on Friday 7 October at the Grosvenor House.

London, Friday 8th October, 2010—Cactus TV and ITV3 in partnership with the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) are pleased to announce the winners of the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2010, a celebration of all things criminal in literature, TV and film.

PD James, Val McDermid, Ruth Rendell, Lynda La Plante, Ian Rankin and Colin Dexter are battling it out, but, just in case you weren’t excited enough, Dame Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and PD herself have to be initiated into the International Crimewriting Hall of Fame first, before . . . eventually . . . Dame Helen announces that the winner is . . . Colin Dexter. Colin, of course, can’t be there, so relays his delight by video, ensuring the whole thing ends up as dead as a Morse character played by a bit-part actor.