The Australian Crime Writers Association is 20 years old this year and so are the Ned Kelly Awards.

We are planning a year of anniversary celebrations with special events, competitions, retrospectives and a party for the Ned Kelly Awards – honouring the very best in local crime writing.

Entries are also now open for the 2015 Ned Kelly Awards for best Fiction, First Fiction and True Crime. And we’ll have exciting news in the next few weeks about the Sandra Harvey Short Story…

Announced last night - winners to be announced in September at the Brisbane Writers Festival:

2014 BEST CRIME NOVEL

Garry Disher, BITTER WASH ROAD

Kathryn Fox, FATAL IMPACT

Adrian McKinty, IN THE MORNING I’LL BE GONE

PM Newton, BEAMS FALLING

Stephen Orr, ONE BOY MISSING

Angela Savage, THE DYING BEACH

2014 BEST FIRST CRIME NOVEL

Peter Cotton, DEAD CAT BOUNCE

Candice Fox, HADES

Alex Hammond, BLOOD…

All... on behalf of the Australian Crime Writers Association, we've got a member looking for William Leonard Marshall (author of the Yellowstreet novels set in Hong Kong) and W. Glenn Duncan (author of the Rafferty novels set in Texas) who may now be living in Australia (or not).

If anybody can help would you mind dropping a line to us via an …

November is ACWA’s membership month.

Australia’s premier organisation for crime, thriller and mystery writers, ACWA, is looking for members AND you don’t have to be an author to join (although our authors are really welcome :) ). Crime readers are being offered free Associate Membership with lots of prizes to be…

The Dying Beach is the third Jayne Keeney book from Angela Savage, following on closely from Behind the Night Bazaar and The Half-Child. The series is set in various parts of Thailand, a country Private Investigator Keeney, originally from Melbourne, loves and feels a strong affinity for. Review at …

The body of popular Environment Minister and leadership contender Susan Wright turns up on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in the company of a recently deceased cat likewise dumped in the mud. Then a particularly unpopular government head-kicker (aka ‘advisor’) is found in similar circumstances, followed by further disappearances. including the kidnapping of our central hero – Detective Darren Glass. Review at …

Title:  DRIVE BY

Author: Michael Duffy

ISBN: 9781743312636

Year of Publication: 2013

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Category: Crime Fiction

Location: Sydney



Book Synopsis



John Habib is the mechanic son of a Muslim Lebanese-Australian crime family in Sydney's Western suburbs. His oldest brother is in a maximum security prison, his middle brother is becoming increasingly fundamentalist, and his younger brother Rafi is on trial for a murder he swears he…

What is the secret to good crime writing? No one better to ask than a group of Australia's leading crime writers. Their conclusions are fascinating, provocative, often surprising, and they are all drawn from the hard school of personal experience. What pieces of advice do the writers have in common? That there is no substitute for hard work! One tells us there is no such thing as writer's block - "just do it" is a common theme. There is a fun part though: research. The writers could not vary…

Title:  DARK HORSE

Author Name:  Honey Brown

Author's Home Country:  Australia

ISBN:  9781921901539

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Michael Joseph

Category:  Thriller

Location:  Victorian Country



Book Synopsis



It's Christmas morning on the edge of the rugged Mortimer Ranges. Sarah Barnard saddles Tansy, her black mare. She is heading for the bush, escaping the reality of her broken marriage and her bankrupted trail-riding business.Sarah…

Title:  ROTTEN GODS

Author Name: Greg Barron

Author's Home Country:  Australia

ISBN:  9780732294342

Year of Publication:  2012

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Category:  Thriller

Location:  Dubai, Somalia



Book Synopsis



 The near future. Climate change is causing havoc in coastal areas and the world is in economic and ecological crisis. World leaders gather at a billion-dollar conference centre in Dubai, determined to make the decisions necessary to…

Title:  MAD MEN, BAD GIRLS AND THE GUERRILLA KNITTERS INSTITUTE

Author Name:  Maggie Groff

Author's Home Country:  Australia

ISBN:  9781742610795

Year of Publication:  2012

Publisher:  Pan MacMillan Australia

Location:  Gold Coast, Byron Bay



Book Synopsis



When a secretive American cult moves to the Gold Coast, freelance journalist Scout Davis's investigative antennae start quivering. She sets out to expose the cult's lunatic beliefs and bizarre…

Title:  OUT OF THE SILENCE

Author: Wendy James

ISBN:  B00BMFEUPS

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Momentum Books

Location:  Melbourne



Book Synopsis



I call his name – only quietly, but he hears me as I knew he would, and wants me as he always does. And we come together – right there in the darkness. And even though there is no way to be certain of any other thing in the world, I am certain that I would risk anything to keep what is between the two…

Title:  RED DIRT TALKING

Author: Jacqueline Wright

ISBN:  9781921888793

Publisher: Fremantle Press

Year of Publication: 2012

Location: Outback, Western Australia



Book Synopsis



Set in the outback of Western Australia, this novel centres around the disappearance of Kuj, an eight-year-old girl, during a bitter custody battle. Annie, an anthropology graduate newly arrived from the city, is increasingly distracted from her work by the mysterious event. As…

Title:  DEAD GIRL SING

Author:  Tony Cavanaugh

ISBN:  9780733627880

Publisher:  Hachette Australia

Series: Darian Richards

Year of Publication:  2013

Location:  Gold Coast, Queensland



Synopsis



Darian Richards knew he should have let the phone keep ringing. But more than two decades as a cop leaves you with a certain outlook on life. No matter how much he tried to walk away, something, or someone, kept bringing him back to his gun.



One phone…

Book Title:  ANTIDOTE TO MURDER

Author:  Felicity Young

ISBN:  9780732293697

Series: Dody McCleland

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Location:  London (Edwardian)



Book Synopsis



When an act of compassion misfires, autopsy surgeon Dr Dody McCleland must fight not only for her career, but also for her life.



The body of a scullery maid is discovered in her room. When it emerges that she had recently begged Dody to terminate…

Book Title:  THE FIRST SHOT

Author:  Patricia Kristensen

Author's Home Country: Australia

ISBN:  9781618971630

Year of Publication:  2012

Publisher:  Strategic Book Publishing

Synopsis



Murder, cannibalism, kidnapping and breach of copyright hit the sleepy state of Tasmania. To make ends meet, law student Jennifer Shot rents rooms to Nathan, Rod and Cindy, two oversexed fellow law students, and a police officer with personal issues.…

Book Title:   ROLL WITH IT

Author:  Nick Place

ISBN:  9781742704333

Series:  Tony 'Rocket' Laver

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Hardie Grant

Category: Crime Fiction / Police Procedural / Humour

Location:  Melbourne



Synopsis



Career cop Detective Senior Sergeant Tony ‘Rocket' Laver is a policeman with issues. Sure, he may have been returning fire, but the fact remains that Laver is the sixth Victorian policeman to shoot a suspect in four…

Title:  THE TOE TAG QUINTET

Author: Matthew Condon

ISBN:  9781742756691

Year of Publication:  2012

Publisher:  Random House Australia

Crime Fiction / Short Stories

Location:  Gold Coast, Brisbane



Synopsis



Retirement can be murder!



The adventures of a former Sydney detective from 21 Division who, in his prime, collared some of the most murderous criminals in Australian history yet, on retiring to the Gold Coast in Queensland, along with half…

Book Title:   MURDER WITH THE LOT

Author:  Sue Williams

ISBN: 9781922079787

Series: Cass Tuplin

Year of Publication: 2013

Publisher: Text Publishing

Location: Mallee, Victoria



Synopsis



A smart, sassy self-appointed private investigator, Cass Tuplin is unforgettable and the town of Rusty Bore will never be the same...



Cass Tuplin's takeaway isn't the last shop left in Rusty Bore. There's also Vern's General Store. But it's true the town's not…

Book Title:   THE ICON MURDERS

Author:  Noel Mealey

ISBN:  9780732293673

Series:  Syd Fielding

Year of Publication:  2013

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Location:  Western Australia



Synopsis



A spate of vicious murders around Australia has police puzzled until Detective Syd Fielding, now head of a national drug prevention squad, finds the link that draws them together.



The problem is, the link appears to be him. Syd′s always been a loose cannon…