It’s Over Down Under

While many of us in the Western Hemisphere were still snoring and drooling into our pillows, the Crime Writers Association of Australia was busy announcing the winners of this year’s Ned Kelly Awards. These commendations were handed out during the Melbourne Writers Festival. Unfortunately, many of the runners-up aren’t easily found outside of Australia, but--as luck would have it--Soho Crime just issued the “Best Crime Novel” of 2007 in the States last month.

Crime Down Under’s Damien Gay supplies the full rundown of “Neddie” winners:

Best Crime Novel: Chain of Evidence, by Gary Disher (Text)

Also shortlisted: The Night Ferry, by Michael Robotham (Little, Brown); The Unknown Terrorist, by Richard Flanagan (Macmillan); The Cleaner, by Paul Cleave (Random House); Undertow, by Peter Corris (Allen & Unwin); and Spider Trap, by Barry Maitland (Allen & Unwin)

Best First Crime Novel: Diamond Dove, by Adrian Hyland (Text)

Also shortlisted: The Betrayal of Bindi Mackenzie, by Jaclyn Moriaty (Macmillan); Better Dead Than Never, by Laurent Boulanger (C&C International Media Group); and Behind the Night Bazaar, by Angela Savage (Text)

Best True Crime: (tie) Written on the Skin, by Liz Porter (Macmillan), and Killing for Pleasure: The Definitive Story of the Snowtown Murders, by Debi Marshall (Random House)

Also shortlisted: Justice for the Dead, by Malcolm Dodd and Beverly Knight (Hachette Livre); Overboard: The Stories Cruise Ships Don’t Want Told, by Gywn Topham (Random House); Intractable, by Bernie Matthews (Macmillan); Silent Death, by Karen Kissane (Hachette Livre); Australian Outlaw, by Derek Pedley (Sly Ink); The Dodger, by Duncan McNab (Macmillan); and Things a Killer Would Know, by Paula Doneman (Allen & Unwin)

If you’d like to look through the longlist of this year’s Neddie nominees, click here.