These are the twelve books in the running to win the award. As can be seen, two authors of Asian descent are in the running - Vaseem Khan with "Death of a Lesser God" and Nilanjana Roy with "Black River." There are some very well-known names there, but in our book (pun intended), there is a very clear favourite.

The one book that is the frontrunner for the Gold Dagger this year is Dennis Lehane's elegant and elaborate Small Mercies. Many are already comparing it to Mystic River, his best-known work. The plot is based around a missing girl in 1970s USA and like all of Lehane's work. is not just about finding out who did it, but also about the world in which it happened. You get a slice of racist America and the mobs that ran wild in some parts of it. It is not a work for those seeking feverish page-turners and edge of the seat action. As the cover indicates, this is as much a novel as a crime story. Speaking for ourselves, we sometimes find Lehane a little depressing and a trifle slow for a thriller writer, but he is wonderful as a novelist. We would be surprised if this one does not win the Gold Dagger. Mind you, the book we WANT to win is another one...

Yep, we are rooting for Jesse Q Sutanto's brilliantly titled "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers." It has been a while since we saw a book combine humour with mystery and honest every day goodness. The story is basically about a tea shop owner who discovers a dead body in her shop in San Francisco. She suspects one of her customers, and yet does not want it to be one of them because hey, they are her customers and she has relationships with them. Unlike Lehane, Sutanto writes with a lighter hand and well, okay, we will say it. - she might not be as intense or deep, but she is more fun to read. She is known for her hilarious "Aunty" series and we were honestly, surprised to see her in this list, which tends to focus on more perceived to be serious work. Now that she's there, we so hope she wins it.