Sisters in Crime Australia | Women’s Crime Writing Hub

32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards: Go wild in scarlet!

Sydney-based award-winning author Dinuka McKenzie will present Sisters in Crime’s 32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards for best short stories, after first discussing her life in crime with award-winning author, Amanda Hampson. Read more

Black background with words partner and author events, and three lovely red fishies that look a bit like herrings

Red Herrings

Catch up with the latest crime events from around the nation. Already there are lots of crime events happening, especially in New South Wales and Victoria. Whatever the time, whatever the season, don’t forget that a book is the perfect gift. It offers so much reading pleasure as well as supporting authors and the publishing industry.

Win a copy of The Ghost Walk

Fremantle Press is generously donating twenty copies of The Ghost Walk, a medical thriller by Perth author Karen Herbert for this month’s Crime Stack. A lung-transplant surgeon is found dead. Seeking the truth is his secret lover who also saved her life.

Lingering in the literary mystery space: Charlotte McConaghy

Charlotte McConaghy reveals her motivations in writing her latest eco-thriller, Wild Dark Shore (Penguin, 2025), set on Shearwater, a tiny island close to the Antarctic, that is home to the world’s largest seed bank and under threat by rising tides.

Writing from the edge of civilisation: Nicole Crowe

Nicole grew up ‘in the arse end of nowhere’ – Magnetic Island – and crime fiction has been her salavation. Also, she might not know what a world-class flat white tastes like, but she does know how to spot a cone shell at ten paces

Davitt Awards 2026

Entries are now open for the 26th Annual Davitt Awards for the best Australian women’s crime and mystery books of 2025.

Lots of hands raised up with the title annual general meeting

2025 Annual General Meeting results

Sisters in Crime’s Annual General Meeting was held on 24 October at Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel, following the engaging and entertaining On the Beat event. The major decision was to lift membership fees by $5 but leaving concession rates the same. The fees have not been increased since 2018.

Launch of The Rosemary by Caroline de Costa

Join crime fans in celebrating the launch of Caroline de Costa’s new standalone mystery, The Rosemary (Boolarong Press). She will be in conversation with Sisters in Crime national co-convenor, Carmel Shute. The Rosemary is a departure for Caroline whose previous novels are police procedurals set in Cairns that feature Detective Cass Diamond – it’s set in a boarding school. Free.