Davitt Awards 2020 shortlists announced

Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the shortlists for the 2020 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women.

The titles shortlisted in each category are: 

Adult crime novel

• Bruny (Heather Rose, A&U)
• Eight Lives (Susan Hurley, Affirm)
• Life Before (Carmel Reilly, A&U)
• Present Tense (Natalie Conyer, Clan Destine Press)
• The Scholar (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins)
• Six Minutes (Petronella McGovern, A&U)
• The Trespassers (Meg Mundell, UQP)

Young Adult crime novel 

• All That Impossible Space (Anna Morgan, Lothian)
• Four Dead Queens (Astrid Scholte, A&U)
• When the Ground is Hard (Malla Nunn, A&U)

Children’s crime novel

• The Girl in the Mirror (Jenny Blackford, Christmas Press)
• The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Lucerne (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
• Jinxed!: The curious curse of Cora Bell (Rebecca McRitchie, HarperCollins)
• Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery (Renée Treml, A&U)

Nonfiction crime book

• Banking Bad: Whistleblowers. Corporate cover-ups. One journalist’s fight for the truth (Adele Ferguson, ABC Books)
• Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell (Lucie Morris-Marr, A&U)
• Fixed It: Violence and the representation of women in the media (Jane Gilmore, Viking)
• See What You Made Me Do: Power, control and domestic abuse (Jess Hill, Black Inc.)
• Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout (Ginger Gorman, Hardie Grant)

Debut crime books

• Banking Bad: Whistleblowers. Corporate cover-ups. One journalist’s fight for the truth (Adele Ferguson, ABC Books)
• The Bee and the Orange Tree (Melissa Ashley, Affirm)
• The Drover’s Wife (Leah Purcell, Hamish Hamilton)
• Eight Lives (Susan Hurley, Affirm)
• Four Dead Queens (Astrid Scholte, A&U)
• Life Before (Carmel Reilly, A&U)
• Present Tense (Natalie Conyer, Clan Destine Press)
• Six Minutes (Petronella McGovern, A&U)
• Troll Hunting: Inside the world of online hate and its human fallout (Ginger Gorman, Hardie Grant).

The shortlisted titles were chosen from longlists announced in May. This year’s judging panel includes 2018 Scarlet Stiletto Award-winner and medical autopsy expert Philomena Horsley, YA expert Bec Kavanagh, forensic specialist Debbie Stephen, and Sisters in Crime national co-convenors Karina Kilmore, Moraig Kisler and Pauline Meaney.

In a statement, Sisters in Crime Australia said it was likely the award ceremony in September would be conducted by Zoom.

For more information, see the Sisters in Crime website.

Category: Local news