BritCrime's Steve Cavanagh On CWA Steel Dagger Longlist

by Steve Cavanagh

Something fantastic happened to me last week. A big, shiny, amazing thing.

Did I win the lottery?

Did Angus Young from AC/DC call me and tell me that Brian Johnson just wasn't cutting it and would I step in as front man for the band's last tour?

Did David Cameron have a tragic and embarrassing accident with a vacuum cleaner?

Unfortunately, none of those wonderful things happened. This was something better.

During an adjournment in court, I checked my phone and found I had a notification on twitter. I got a tweet from my mate and fellow Northern Ireland author, Stuart Neville, congratulating me on the Dagger nomination. Susi Holliday had also got in contact. I'd got no official message, so I wondered what the hell they were talking about, but then I followed the links to the CWA website and there it was - my debut novel, The Defence, had been longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.

Even as I type this, I'm still not convinced it's true. I've checked a few times now, so I know it's correct. In fact, here's the link for the full list CWA Steel Dagger.

I'm truly stunned to be on the longlist with such brilliant authors so a huge thank you to the Judges and to the CWA.

And if you want to know more about me, or the book, head over to my website stevecavanaghbooks.com and make sure to come and say hello on Saturday 11th July as I take part in the fantastic BritCrime Festival.

It's going to be very good indeed. In fact, almost as good and David Cameron getting caught with a Hoover...(Woah! Blog Admin)

Sorry about that.

As you were.


Steve Cavanagh is a lawyer and writer from Belfast. The Defence, published by Orion Books in the UK, is his first novel. He's probably mentioned that already. You can find out all about The Defence on Steve's website or head over to The Amazon page  and check out The Defence (has he mentioned that enough yet?)

Panel 2: This is Personal: 2pm–4pm, Saturday 11 July #BritCrime

BritCrime Panel 2: This is Personal...

2pm–4pm UK Time | 9am–11am EST
Saturday 11 July

Live Q&A with the authors hosted on our Facebook page

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Steve Cavanagh: The Defence

Nail-biting tension and exhilarating action. Lose this case and he loses everything... 

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different. It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice.

Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter, Amy. Eddie only has forty-eight hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial – and win – if he wants to save his daughter. Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible? Lose this case and he loses everything.

Steve Cavanagh was born and raised in Belfast and is a practicing lawyer. He holds a certificate in Advanced Advocacy and lectures on various legal subjects (but really he just likes to tell jokes). He is married with two young children. The Defence, has been chosen as one of Amazon's great debuts for 2015, as part of their Amazon Rising Stars programme. In 2015 Steve received the ACES award for Literature from the Northern Ireland Arts Council. Steve writes fast-paced legal thrillers set in New York City featuring series character Eddie Flynn. The Defence is his first novel.

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Paul Finch: Hunted

Get hooked on Heck, the maverick detective who knows no boundaries.

A grisly whodunit you won’t be able to put down, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and TV series ‘Luther’. Heck needs to watch his back. Because someone’s watching him…

Across the south of England, a series of bizarre but fatal accidents are taking place. So when a local businessman survives a near-drowning but is found burnt alive in his car just weeks later, DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg is brought in to investigate. Soon it appears that other recent deaths might be linked: two thieves that were bitten to death by poisonous spiders, and a driver impaled through the chest with scaffolding. Accidents do happen but as the body count rises it’s clear that something far more sinister is at play, and it’s coming for Heck too…

Paul Finch is a former cop and journalist, now turned full-time writer. He cut his literary teeth penning episodes of the British crime drama, The Bill. He is also well known for his work in the thriller and horror fields and is a two-times winner of the British Fantasy Award, and a one-time winner of the International Horror Guild Award. Paul lives in Lancashire, with his wife Catherine and his children, Eleanor and Harry.

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Mel Sherratt: Only the Brave

A deadly game of cat and mouse in this gut-churning thriller...

When one of the notorious Johnson brothers is murdered and a bag of money goes missing, a deadly game of cat and mouse is set in motion. DS Allie Shenton and her team are called in to catch the killer, but the suspects are double-crossing each other and Allie has little time to untangle the web of lies. As she delves deeper into the case, things take a personal turn when Allie realises she is being stalked by the very same person who attacked her sister seventeen years ago and left her for dead.

Set over forty-eight tension-filled hours, Only the Brave is the latest gut-churning book from acclaimed author Mel Sherratt.

Since successfully publishing Taunting the Dead and seeing it soar to the rank of #1 bestselling police procedural in the Amazon Kindle store in 2012, Mel Sherratt has gone on to publish four more books in the critically acclaimed The Estate Series and a psychological thriller, Watching over You. Mel was shortlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association Dagger in the Library Award 2014. She lives in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with her husband and her terrier, Dexter (named after the TV serial killer, with some help from her Twitter fans), and makes liberal use of her hometown as a backdrop for her writing.

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