Ned Masters

The Australian Crime Writers Association has announced the winners of its 2024 Ned Kelly Awards (the “Neddies”), in four categories.

Best Crime Fiction:
Darling Girls, by Sally Hepworth (Pan Australia)

Also nominated: Killer Traitor Spy, by Tim Ayliffe (Simon & Schuster Australia); Dark Corners, by Megan Goldin (Canelo); Dark Mode, by Ashley Kalagian Blunt (Ultimo Press); The Seven, by Chris Hammer (Allen & Unwin); Ripper, by Shelley Burr (Hachette Australia); The Tea Ladies, by Amanda Hampson (Penguin); and Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, by Benjamin Stevenson (Michael Joseph)

Best Debut Crime Fiction:
Murder in the Pacific: Ifira Point, by Matt Francis (Big Sky)

Also nominated: Four Dogs Missing, by Rhys Gard (Echo); Gus and the Missing Boy, by Troy Hunter (Wakefield Press); Lowbridge, by Lucy Campbell (Ultimo Press); The Fall Between, by Darcy Tindale (Penguin); The Beacon, by P.A. Thomas (Echo); and Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl, by Fiona Britton (Allen & Unwin)

Best True Crime:
Crossing the Line, by Nick McKenzie (Hachette Australia)

Also nominated: Killing for Country, by David Marr (Black Inc); The Murder Squad, by Michael Adams (Affirm Press); Reckless, by Marele Day (Ultimo Press); and The Teacher’s Pet, by Hedley Thomas (Macmillan Australia)

Best International Crime Fiction:
The Only Suspect, by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster UK)

Also nominated: Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton (Granta); Dice, by Claire Baylis (Allen & Unwin); Resurrection Walk, by Michael Connelly (Orion); The Search Party, by Hannah Richell (Simon & Schuster UK); and Zero Days, by Ruth Ware (Simon & Schuster UK)

A video revealing each of this year’s winners and including acceptance speeches by the victors can be enjoyed here.

The Ned Kelly Awards were inaugurated in 1995 and, as the ACWA explains, are named for “the nation’s most infamous villain, bushranger Ned Kelly from the Kelly Gang.”