Best Novel (1996-)
or Best Crime
Subcategory of Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing
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Latest Winners / Recipients

Year: 2024

winner y separately published work icon Darling Girls Sally Hepworth , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2023 26507035 2023 single work novel

'It's not just secrets buried at Wild Meadows.

'For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. Rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother on an idyllic farming estate, they were given an elusive second chance of a happy family life.

'But their childhood wasn't the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. And when a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

'A thrilling page-turner by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth of sisterhood, secrets, love and murder.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2023

winner y separately published work icon Exiles Jane Harper , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2022 24885932 2022 single work novel detective

'At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds.

'A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.

'Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk's closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he's drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Year: 2022

winner y separately published work icon The Chase Candice Fox , Melbourne : Bantam Australia , 2021 20858021 2021 single work novel thriller

'The new novel by New York Times #1 bestselling author Candice Fox is an electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller set in the Nevada Desert.

'Candice Fox has been described by the Sydney Morning Herald as 'one of Australia’s finest new gen crime writers' and her latest novel is another thrilling ride, as a mass prison breakout lets loose 650 of the country's most dangerous prisoners.‘Are you listening, Warden?’‘What do you want?’‘I want you to let them out.’‘Which inmates are we talking about?’‘All of them.

'When 650 of the world’s most violent human beings pour out from Pronghorn Correctional Facility into the Nevada Desert, the biggest manhunt in US history begins.

'But for John Kradle, this is his one chance to prove his innocence, twenty-six years after the murder of his wife and child.

'He just needs to stay one step ahead of the teams of law enforcement officers he knows will be chasing the escapees down.

'Death Row Supervisor turned fugitive-hunter Celine Osbourne is single-minded in her mission to catch Kradle. She has very personal reasons for hating him – and she knows exactly where he’s heading . . .' (Publication summary)

Year: 2021

winner y separately published work icon Consolation Garry Disher , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2020 19549694 2020 single work novel crime

'Winter in Tiverton.

'Constable Paul Hirschhausen has a snowdropper on his patch. Someone is stealing women’s underwear, and Hirsch knows enough about that kind of crime—how it can escalate—not to take it lightly.

'But the more immediate concern is a high school teacher worried about one of the students.

'A little girl in danger. A family on the edge. An absent father who isn’t where he’s supposed to be.

'The cold, seeping feeling something is very, very wrong.' (Publication summary)

Year: 2020

winner y separately published work icon The Wife and the Widow Christian White , Melbourne : Affirm Press , 2019 16866544 2019 single work novel mystery thriller

'Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW is a mystery/thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband's secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside down when she's forced to confront the evidence that her husband is a murderer. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives.' (Publication summary)

Works About this Award

Lauded for Work, Crime Writer Lord Cast the First Stein Jason Steger , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 30 August 2012; (p. 14)
Crime Book Nabs Award 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 2010; (p. 5)
Crime Writer Breaks into Major League with Winning Tale Gia Metherell , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 29 August 2009; (p. 9)
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