Entries for Sisters in Crime’s 23rd Davitt Awards for women’s crime books now open
The competition is open to books by all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia. Self-published books are eligible. Please note that books co-written or co-edited with men or including chapters by men are not eligible. Publishers have until Friday 7 April to enter. This year, for the first time in 23 years, the Davitts will cost publishers $25 a title to enter.
The law and the lawless
Three new novels by Australian women dive deep into the murky world of the criminal justice system – The Double Bind, the sequel to Loraine Peck’s The Second Son; Mali Waugh’s debut novel, Judgement Day; and Katherine Kovacic’s Seven Sisters.
The authors will debate the law and the lawless in all dimensions with Maggie Baron, the inaugural president of Sisters in Crime.
Murder Monday: Tansy Rayner Roberts
For the latest Murder Monday, Jacq Ellem spoke to author Tansy Rayner Roberts who crimes crime under her pen name Livia Day – they’re cozy, witty, and wickedly funny, Tasmanian murder mysteries. Her five crime novels include A Trifle Dead, Drowned Vanilla, Keep Calm and Kill the Chef, Dyed & Buried, and her most recent title, Drop Dead in Red which features scones, murder, and baby goats.
Walk and plot: Margaret Hickey
When people ask me now about process, I say find one that works for you: for me, it includes walking, considering and feeling out landscape, writing and discarding, putting one paragraph down after another, and seeing if it works, if it flows. Once I realised that, writing became a joy again. I found out who the killer in Stone Town was, at 68,000 words. I really hope it’s less than that for the book I’m working on now.
The Crime Stack: The Double Bind by Loraine Peck
For the March Crime Stack, Simon and Schuster has kindly offered 20 copies of The Double Bind, the sequel to Loraine Peck’s award-winning novel, The Second Son. To be in the running you need to be a member of Sisters in Crime. Why not join now?
The cult, the control, and the crime: Megan Norris
Eleven-year-old Stefanie Hinrichs came to Australia looking for paradise –and found herself trapped in the marriage from hell. In The Messiah’s Bride (Viking/Penguin, 2023), investigative journalist Megan Norris unravels the story of Stefanie’s lost childhood, her courageous escape with the messiah’s child, and how she eventually brought the cult down. Megan outlined what happened to Robyn Walton for Sisters in Crime Australia.
Murder Monday: Nicki Greenberg
Sisters in Crime is thrilled to announce the resumption of Murder Mondays after a five-month break. Our new presenter is Jacq Ellem, bibliophile, copywriter, occasional broadcaster, award-winning podcaster, and a member of the new Tasmanian chapter. This time round, our guest author is Nicki Greenberg who won Sisters in Crime’s 22nd Davitt Award for Best Children’s Novel for The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel (Affirm Press).
Hijinks and Low-Lows
MELBOURNE EVENT: Crime doesn’t always have to be bloody and gory, as new books by Elizabeth Coleman, Kerryn Mayne, and Ilsa Evans prove. Crime can make us laugh as well as gasp. It can sweep up illicit affairs, secret diaries, family mysteries, sibling rivalry, visions of danger, embezzlement, and catfishing in its felonious embrace – not to mention an acutely intelligent miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple.
Also readings from The Detective’s Chair: Prose Poems about Fictional Detectives (Liquid Amber) by Anne Carson.
Vise Le Coeur (Aim for the Heart): TV Review by Siobhan Mullany
Popular French police procedural. Captain Julia Scola (played by Claire Keim) is a proud police officer, like her father. She’s experienced and efficient and, at home, supported by her partner Daniel. At work, she’s in the bad books with some colleagues for reporting corruption and she has a new boss, Novak Lisica. He was a defence lawyer, is now a fast-tracked senior police officer, and he was her childhood friend and teenage boyfriend. She cannot work with him.
Best Holiday Reads, 2022-2023
It’s been a bumper year for women’s crime. And what better time to catch up than over the festive season. Sisters in Crime asked convenors, author members, Davitt Award judges, and winners to nominate their best holiday reads by women crime authors. We hope you enjoy the books they’ve nominated. Most are fairly recent but some are golden oldies.
New Reviews
Every month Sisters in Crime brings you new reviews from women who write criminally good books.
