About This Book

Young Nicholas Whistler, dissolute and disillusioned, lives a life of dull monotony in London. Caught up in a petty money-lenders dispute, he finds himself sent to Prague to discharge the debt by carrying out a simple assignment. But this business trip will soon drag him deep into the dangerous world of Cold War espionage and the battle for atomic supremacy. Trapped between the secret police and the amorous clutches of the mysterious and statuesque Vlasta, Nicholas must face the fact that now he is a spy, whether he likes it or not. The Night of Wenceslas, Lionel Davidson's debut thriller, was an instant and massive success upon publication in 1960. Its taut prose and masterful plot pushed him to the front ranks of the genre. It was described by the New Yorker as 'so enriched with style, wit, and a sense of serious comedy that it all but transcends its kind' and by Newsweek as 'downright superb.' Awarded the Gold Dagger Award by the Crime Writers' Association, it was subsequently filmed as 'Hot Enough For June' starring Dirk Bogarde.

Description from Open Library

In These Lists

CWA Gold Dagger (Winners)
The Gold Dagger is awarded each year by the Crime Writers’ Association for the best crime novel of the year, and is the most prestigious prize in British crime writing. First given in 1955, as the Crossed Red Herring Award, it has gone to spy novels and police procedurals, psychological thrillers and historical mysteries alike - from John le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold to Colin Dexter, Ruth Rendell, Ian Rankin, Ann Cleeves and Mick Herron. This list collects the winning novels by year.

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