Sisters Act

To my knowledge, there’s no agreed-upon limit as to how many works can appear on a “shortlist” of nominees for book awards. But to judge by its press materials, Sisters in Crime Australia is feeling a tad guilty about putting 25 titles into the running for its 19th Davitt Awards, honoring crime books by Australian women. “[W]ith 127 books in contention,” says Davitt judges “wrangler” Jacqui Horwood, “the six judges were overwhelmed with so much outstanding writing to choose from. Many authors are serial offenders.”

I won’t list all of this year’s award rivals (there are five categories), but here are the nine works vying for the Adult Crime prize:

• This I Would Kill For, by Anne Buist (Text)
• Second Sight, by Aoife Clifford (Simon & Schuster)
• Redemption Point, by Candice Fox (Penguin Random House)
• Mine, by Susi Fox (Penguin Random House)
• The Lost Man, by Jane Harper (Pan MacMillan Australia)
• Wintering, by Krissy Kneen (Text)
• The Killing of Louisa, by Janet Lee (University of Queensland Press)
• The Rúin, by Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins Australia)
• Live and Let Fry, by Sue Williams (Text)

Click here to find the full inventory of 2019 Davitt Award nominees.

Winners will be declared during a “gala dinner” on Saturday, August 31, at South Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel.