Davitt Award Winners

 

Sisters in Crime Australia have announced the winners of this year's Davitt Awards. 

Adult Crime Novel: 

To the River by Vikki Wakefield

Best Nonfiction: 

The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of the Century by Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Best Young Adult: 

Into the Mouth of the Wolf by Erin Gough

Children's Crime Novel: 

The Midwatch by Judith Rossell

Best Debut Crime Book:  

What I Would Do To You by Georgia Harper

Kerry Greenwood Readers Choice Award: 

What Happened To Nina? by Dervla McTiernan

Congratulations to all.

Congratulations to all.

Sisters in Crime Australia - 2021 Davitt. Awards Longlists

 

Adult Crime

Kristen Alexander, Riptides (Bantam Australia, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

Belinda Alexandra, The Mystery Woman (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)

B M Allsopp, Death Beyond the Limit (Fiji Islands Mysteries #3) (Coconut Press) 

Rachel Amphlett, Her Final Hour (Detective Mark Turpin novel #2) (Saxon Publishing) 

Rachel Amphlett, None the Wiser (Detective Mark Turpin novel #1) (Saxon Publishing) 

Rachel Amphlett, Turn to Dust (Detective Kay Hunter Murder Mystery #9) (Saxon Publishing) 

Jennifer Bacia, Dark Side of the Harbour (Booktopia Editions) 

Amy Barker, Paradise Earth: A novel (Stormbird Press) Debut 

Sarah Barrie, Deadman’s Track (Calico Mountain #3) (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia) 

Sonya Bates, Inheritance of Secrets (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut 

Joanna Beresford, Every Year I Am Here (Atlas Productions) Debut 

Anne Buist, The Long Shadow (Text Publishing) 

Rae Cairns, The Good Mother (Bandrui Publishing) Debut 

B M Carroll, Who We Were (Serpents Tail, an imprint of Allen & Unwin) 

Lee Christine, Charlotte Pass (Allen & Unwin) Debut 

Phillipa Nefri Clark, Deadly Falls (Charlotte Dean Mysteries #2) (Phillipa Nefri Clark) 

Phillipa Nefri Clark, Deadly Secrets (Charlotte Dean Mysteries #3) (Phillipa Nefri Clark) 

Phillipa Nefri Clark, Last Known Contact (Phillipa Nefri Clark) 

Sherryl Clark, Dead and Gone (Judi Westerholme #2) (Verve Books) 

Sarah Clutton, The Daughter’s Promise (Bookouture, an imprint of Hachette UK) Debut 

Muriel Cooper, Lucid (Pegasus Publishers) Debut 

Tea Cooper, The Cartographer’s Daughter (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia) 

Tea Cooper, The Girl in the Painting (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia) 

Megan Daymond, Bones of Deception (Andy Knight #2) (Fracture Publishing) 

Kaye Dobbie, The Road to Ironbark (Mira, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Ceridwen Dovey, Life After Truth ((Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) Debut 

Anna Downes, The Safe Place (Affirm Press) Debut 

Chris Elliott, Sibanda and the Death’s Head Moth (DI Jabulani Sibanda #2) (Constable, an imprint of Hachette Australia) 

Kirsty Ferguson, Never Ever Tell (Boldwood Books) 

Katherine Firkin, Sticks and Stones (Bantam, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) Debut 

Candice Fox, Gathering Dark (Penguin Random House Australia) 

Darry Fraser, Elsa Goody, Bushranger (Mira, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Darry Fraser, The Last Truehart (Mira, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Rebecca Freeborn, The Girl She Was (Pantera Press) Debut 

Poppy Gee, Vanishing Falls: A novel (Booktopia Editions) 

Sulari Gentill, A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) (Pantera Press) 

Brigid George, Tooting Moon (Dusty Kent Mystery #5) (Potoroo Publishing) 

Megan Goldin, The Night Swim (Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

Kerry Greenwood, Death in Daylesford (Phryne Fisher) (Allen & Unwin) 

Robin Gregory, Traffic (Sandi Kent Mystery #1) (Clan Destine Press) Debut 

Jane Harper, The Survivors (Pan Macmillan Australia) 

Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister (Pan Macmillan Australia) 

D K Hood, Her Broken Wings (Detectives Kane and Alton #8) (Bookouture, an imprint of Hachette UK) 

D K Hood, Her Shallow Grave (Detectives Kane and Alton #9) (Bookouture, an imprint of Hachette UK) 

D K Hood, Promises in the Dark (Detectives Kane and Alton #10) (Bookouture, an imprint of Hachette UK) 

Shona Husk, Close to the Truth (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) Debut 

Helen Iles, Dark Secrets (Linellen Press) Debut 

Nora James, A Shot at Amore (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Alexandra Joel, The Paris Model (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut 

Mary Jones, Troubled Waters (Green Olive Press) Debut 

H R Kemp, Deadly Secrets: What unspeakable truths lurk beneath the lies? (Helmine Kemp) Debut 

Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia) Debut 

Katherine Kovacic, The Shifting Landscape (Alex Clayton #3) (Echo Publishing, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK) 

L A Larkin, Prey (Olivia Wolfe #2) (Clan Destine Press) 

C A Larmer, And Then There Were 9 (The Agatha Christie Book Club #4) (Larmer Media) 

C A Larmer, Without a Word (Ghostwriter Mystery #7) (Larmer Media) 

Suzanne Leal, The Deceptions (Allen & Unwin) Debut 

Judith Lees, The Silent Syringe (Moonglow Publishing) Debut 

Carol Lefevre, Murmurations (Spinifex Press) Debut 

Leisl Leighton, Blazing Fear (CoalCliff Stud #2) (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Michele Lourie, Deceiving (Michele Lourie) 

Kirsty Manning, The Lost Jewels (Allen & Unwin) 

Annette Marner, A New Name for the Colour Blue (Wakefield Press) Debut

Nicola Marsh, My Sister’s Husband (Bookouture, an imprint of Hachette UK) Debut 

Donna Mazza, Fauna (Allen & Unwin) Debut 

Vanessa McCausland, The Valley of Lost Stories (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) 

Fleur McDonald, Red Dirt Country (Detective Dave Burrows) (Allen & Unwin) 

Kerry McGinnis, Croc Country (Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

Petronella McGovern, The Good Teacher (Allen & Unwin) 

Marie McMillan, The Lost Day: Under Newgrange (Europe Books UK) Debut 

Dervla McTiernan, The Good Turn (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) 

Kate Mildenhall, The Mother Fault (Simon & Schuster Australia) Debut 

Natasha Molt, Cutting the Cord (Impact Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia) Debut 

Alyssa J Montgomery, Five Dates with the Billionaire (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Kayte Nunn, The Silk House (Hachette Australia) 

Tania Park, Double Cross (Tania Park) 

Jan Pearson, Blue Dragon Spring (Celestial Symbols #4) (Proverse Hong Kong) 

J P Powell, The Brisbane Line (Brio Books) Debut 

Mirandi Riwoe, Stone Sky Gold Mountain (University of Queensland Press) 

Bronwyn Rodden, Orphan Rock (Ros Gordon Mystery #2) (Bronwyn Rodden) 

Elisabeth Rose, A Light in the Dark (Taylor’s Bend #3) (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Kimberley Starr, Torched (Pantera Press) 

Karen Lee Street, Edgar Allan Poe and the Empire of the Dead (Poe and Dupin Mystery #3) (Point Blank, an imprint of Wildside Press) 

A M Stuart, Revenge in Rubies (Harriet Gordon Mystery #2) (Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House USA) 

Alison Stuart, The Goldminer’s Sister (Maiden’s Creek #2) (Mira, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Chris Stuart, For Reasons of Their Own (Original Sin Press) Debut 

Leah Swann, Sheerwater (4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut 

Sarah Thornton, White Throat (Text Publishing) 

Sandi Wallace, Black Cloud (Gumshoe, an imprint of Next Chapter) 

Anna Willett, Dear Neighbour: No boundary to murder (Cold Peak Media) 

Anna Willett, Savage Bay Nightmare (Lucy Hush #3) (Cold Peak Media)

Belinda Williams, Don’t Let me Forget (Escape Publishing, an imprint of Harlequin Enterprises Australia) 

Young Adult Crime Novels

Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing) Debut 

Sarah Epstein, Deep Water (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 

Fiona Hardy, How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life (Affirm Press)

Hayley Lawrence, Ruby Tuesday (Penguin Random House Australia) Debut 

Ellie Marney, None Shall Sleep (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 

Fin J Ross, Billings Better Bookstore and Brasserie (Clan Destine Press) 

Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press) Debut 

Lili Wilkinson, The Erasure Initiative (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 

Children's Crime Novels

Sandra Bennett, Fossil Frenzy (Adamson Adventures #3) (Rosella Ridge Books) Debut 

Jackie French, The Ghost of Howlers Beach (Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut 

Jacqueline Harvey, Alice-Miranda in the Outback (Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

Jacqueline Harvey, Freefall (Kensy and Max #5) (Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

Petra James, Henrie’s Hero Hunt (Walker Books Australia) Debut 

Rebecca McRitchie, Havoc!: The untold magic of Cora Bell (Jinxed #2) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) 

Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press) Debut 

Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press) 

Christie Nieman, Where We Begin (Pan Macmillan Australia) Debut 

Pamela Rushby, The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle (Walker Books Australia) 

Laura Sieveking, Musical Mystery (Ella at Eden #3) (Scholastic Press) Debut 

R A Spratt, Near Extinction (The Peski Kids #4) (Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 

A L Tait, The Fire Star (Maven & Reeve Mystery #1) (Penguin Random House Australia) Debut 

Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s) Debut 

Renee Treml, Sherlock Bones and the Sea-creature Feature (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 

Sue Whiting, The Book of Chance (Walker Books Australia) 

Non Fiction Booksellers

Tanya Bretherton, The Killing Streets: Uncovering Australia’s first serial murderer (Hachette Australia)

Stella Budrikis, The Edward Street Baby Farm: The murder trial that gripped a city (Fremantle Press) Debut 

Stephanie Convery, After the Count: The death of Davey Browne (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) Debut 

Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications) Debut

Heidi Lemon, The First Time He Hit Her: The Shocking True Story of the Murder of Tara Costigan, The Woman Next Door (Hachette Australia) Debut 

Xanthé Mallett, Reasonable Doubt (Pan Macmillan Australia) 

Louise Milligan, Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice (Hachette Australia) 

Caroline Overington, Missing William Tyrrell (HarperCollins Publishers Australia) 

Monique Patterson, United in Grief: The tragic story of Stephanie Scott’s murder and the effect it had on the small town of Leeton NSW (Genius Book Company) Debut 

Suzanne Smith, The Altar Boys (ABC Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia) Debut 

Angela Williams, Snakes and Ladders: A memoir (Affirm Press) Debut 

Ned Kelly Awards 2019 shortlists

The Australian Crime Writers Association is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2019 Ned Kelly Awards.

Best True Crime

Egg Shell by Bri Lee

The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper

Siege by Deborah Snow

Waiting for Elijah by Kate Wild

Best First Fiction

The Portrait of Molly Dean by Katherine Kovack

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan 

The Yellow House by Emily O’Grady

Greenlight by Benjamin Stevenson

Best Fiction

Kill Shot by Garry Disher

Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox

The Spotted Dog by Kerry Greenwood

The Lost Man by Jane Harper

The Other Wife by Michael Robotham

Live and Let Fly by Sue Williams

The winners will be announced at the BAD Sydney Crime Writers festivaal on Friday September 6 

Books to look forward to from Constable and Robinson

 Two books by Paul Doiron are due to be published in 2013.  Set in the wilds of Maine, this is an explosive tale of an estranged son thrust into the hunt for a murderous fugitive - his own father.  Game warden Mike Bowditch returns home one evening to find an alarming voice from the past on his answering machine: his father Jack, a hard-drinking womanizer who makes his living from poaching illegal game.  An even more frightening call comes the next morning from the police: they are searching for a cop-killer - and Mike's father is their prime suspect.  Now, alienated from the woman he loves and shunned by colleagues who have no sympathy for the suspected cop killer, Mike must come to terms with his haunted past.  He knows first-hand of his father's brutality, but is he capable of murder?  Desperate and alone, the only way for Mike to save his father is to find the real killer - which could mean putting everyone he loves into the line of fire.  The Poachers Son is due to be published in January 2013.  It was a case no one wanted reopened.  Seven years ago, a jury convicted lobsterman Erland Jefferts of the rape and murder of a wealthy college student and sentenced him to life in prison.  For all but his most fanatical defenders, justice was served.  Then while on patrol one cold March evening, game warden Mike Bowditch receives a mysterious summons.  A woman has reportedly struck a deer on a lonely coast road.  When Bowditch arrives on the scene, he finds blood in the road - but both the driver and the deer have gone missing.  The state trooper assigned to the accident seems strangely unconcerned.  And when the woman is later found brutalized in a manner that suggests Jefferts might have been framed, Bowditch receives an ominous warning from state prosecutors to stop asking questions.  For Mike Bowditch, whose own life was recently shattered by a horrific act of violence, doing nothing is not an option - even if he risks dismantling the relationship, he has carefully rebuilt with his estranged girlfriend.  His clandestine investigation reopens old wounds between Maine locals and rich summer residents and puts both his own life, and that of the woman he loves, in jeopardy.  As he closes in on his quarry, he suddenly discovers how dangerous his opponents are and how far they will go to prevent him from bringing a killer to justice. The Trespasser is due to be published in May 2013.

Death of Yesterday is the 27^th book in the Hamish Macbeth series by M C Beaton and it is due to be published in February 2013.  A dead witness.  A forgotten crime.  Hamish Macbeth never had it so hard as in this newest Highlands mystery!  When a local woman tells Sergeant Hamish Macbeth that she doesn't remember what happened the previous evening, he's not unduly worried.  After all, she's been out drinking and he'd prefer not to be bothered with such an arrogant and annoying woman.  But when her body is discovered in a ditch, Hamish is forced to investigate a crime that the only known witness - now dead - has forgotten...

Northeast Mississippi is hill country, rugged and notorious for outlaws since the Civil War, where killings are as commonplace as they were in the Old West.  To Quinn Colson, just back from a tour of Afghanistan, it's home.  But home has changed.  Quinn returns to a place overrun by corruption.  His uncle, the county sheriff, is dead - officially, it was suicide, but others whisper murder.  In the days that follow, it will be up to Colson, now an Army Ranger, to discover the truth - not only about his uncle, but also about his family, friends, hometown and himself.  But once the truth is uncovered, there is no turning back.  The Ranger is by Ace Atkins and is due to be published in March 2013.

The Man From Primrose Lane is by James Renner and is due to be published in January 2013.  Rewind: Once upon a time in Ohio there lived an elderly recluse, 'the man from Primrose Lane'.  He had no friends or family.  He wore mittens all year round.  And one summer’s day, he was murdered.  Fast-Forward: Bestselling author David Neff is a broken man, lonely, desolate and lost ever since his wife's suicide.  But something about the man from Primrose Lane grabs his attention and he decides to investigate the mystery - only to be dragged back into a world he thought he had left behind forever.  Replay: As David gets closer to uncovering the true identity of the man from Primrose Lane, he begins to understand the terrible power of his own obsessions and how they may be connected to the deaths of both the hermit and his beloved wife.

In the dying days of 1850, the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case.  His client?  The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.  Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet's literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley's first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.  As he's drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.  The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal.  A Treacherous Likeness is by Lynn Shepherd and is due to be published in February 2013.

When a ship-owner is found dead, tied to a bed in one of Reykjavik's smartest hotels, sergeant Gunnhildur Gisladottir of the city police force sees no evidence of foul play but still suspects things are not as cut and dried, as they seem.  And as she investigates the ship owner’s untimely - and embarrassing - demise, she stumbles across a discreet bondage society whose members are being systematically exploited and blackmailed.  But how does all this connect to a local gangster recently returned to Iceland after many years abroad, and the unfortunate loss of a government laptop containing sensitive data about various members of the ruling party?  What begins as a straightforward case for Gunnhildur soon explodes into a dangerous investigation, uncovering secrets that ruthless men are ready to go to violent extremes to keep.  Chilled to the Bone is by Quentin Bates and is due to be published in April 2013.

Two books by Elizabeth Hand are due to be published in June 2013.  Generation Lost – Famous in the seventies as a NYC punk photographer, thirty years later, Cass Neary’s on her way down until an old acquaintance gives her a lifeline.  Sent to interview a reclusive photographer on a wind-lashed island off Maine, Cass stumbles upon a decades old mystery still claiming new victims – and realises that she has one final shot at redemption. Available Dark – Cass finds herself sucked into a vortex of ancient myth and betrayal, vengeance and serial murder, all set against a bone-splintering soundtrack of black metal and the terrifying beauty of the sunless Icelandic wilderness.

The Fear Collector is by Gregg Olsen and is due to be published in January 2013.  For two women, Ted Bundy, America's most notorious serial killer is the ultimate obsession.  One is a cop whose sister may have been one of Bundy's victims.  The other is a deranged groupie who corresponded with Bundy in prison - and raised her son to finish what he started.  To charm and seduce innocent girls.  To kidnap and brutalize more women than any serial killer in history.  And to lure one obsessed cop into a trap as sick and demented as Bundy himself...

In a heartbeat, life changes.  A sunny, Sunday afternoon, a family barbecue, and Naomi Baxter and her boyfriend Alex celebrate good news.  Driving home, Naomi's recklessness causes a fatal accident, leaving nine-year-old Lily Vasey dead, Naomi fighting for her life, Alex bruised and bloody and the lives of three families torn apart.  Traumatised, Naomi has no clear memory of the crash and her mother Carmel is forced to break the shocking truth of the child's death to her.  Naomi may well be prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving.  If convicted she will face a jail term of up to 14 years, especially if her sister's claim that Naomi was drink driving is proven.  In the months before the trial, Carmel strives to help a haunted and remorseful Naomi cope with the consequences of her actions.  Blink of an Eye is by Cath Staincliffe and is a novel about the nightmare that could be just around the next bend for any one of us.  It is due to be published in April 2013.  

The Circus is the fourth book in the Inspector Caryle series and is due to be published in February 2013.  When the body of journalist Duncan Brown is found in the back of a rubbish truck, Inspector John Carlyle is thrown into the middle of a scandal that threatens to expose the corrupt links between the police, the political establishment and the hugely powerful Zenger media group.  Hunting down Brown's killer, Carlyle finds himself going head-to-head with his nemesis, Trevor Miller.  A former police officer turned security adviser to the Prime Minister, Miller has dirty money in his pockets and other people's blood on his hands.  Untouchable until now, he is prepared to kill again to protect his position - having failed once already to dispose of Carlyle he is not prepared to slip up again...

In April 2013 the first three in the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood are due to be published.  The first is Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates.  Bored socialite Phryne Fisher leaves the tedium of the London season for adventure in Australia!  Tea dances in West End hotels, weekends in the country with guns and dogs...Phryne Fisher - she of the grey-green eyes and diamante garters - is rapidly tiring of the boredom of chitchatting with retired colonels and fox-trotting with weak-chinned wonders.  Instead, Phryne decides it might be amusing to try her hand at being a lady detective - on the other side of the world!  As soon as she books into the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne, Phryne is embroiled in mystery: poisoned wives, drug smuggling rings and corrupt cops ...not to mention erotic encounters with beautiful Russian ballet star Sasha de Lisse; England's green and pleasant land just can't compete with these new, exotic pleasures!  Flying Too High is the second book in the series and another runaway adventure with glamorous heroine Phryne Fisher!  Whether foiling kidnappers' plans, walking the wings of a Tiger Moth or simply deciding what to wear for dinner, Phryne handles everything with her usual panache and flair!  Here, the 1920's most glamorous detective flies even higher, handling an abduction and a murder with style and ease ...all before it's time to adjourn to the Queenscliff Hotel for breakfast.  Whether she's flying planes, clearing a friend of homicide charges or saving a child from kidnapping, she handles everything with the same dash and elan with which she drives her red Hispano-Suiza.  In Murder on the Ballarat Train When Phryne Fisher arranges to go to Ballarat for a week, she eschews the excitement of her Hispano-Suiza for the sedate safety of the train.  But as the passengers sleep, they are all overcome by chloroform poisoning.  In the morning, Phryne is left to piece together all the clues: a young girl suffering from amnesia, the body of an old woman missing her emerald rings and rumours of white slavery and black magic ...the last thing Phryne was expecting of this train journey was that she would have to use her trusty Beretta.  32 to save lives!

After a lifetime of travel and experiences, widow Eleanor Trewynn is more than happy to retire to the sleepy village of Port Mabyn in Cornwall - but unfortunately, excitement seems to follow her around!  Her friend and neighbour, artist Nick Gresham, discovers several of his paintings in his shop have been slashed and destroyed.  The finger of suspicion rests on rival local artist Geoffrey Monmouth but when Nick and Eleanor go to have it out with him, they find Monmouth's stabbed body in his studio - and Nick is immediately flagged up as most likely suspect.  DI Scumble and DS Megan Pencarrow, Eleanor's niece, have been assigned to investigate the murder but Eleanor isn't leaving anything to chance - but once she starts investigating she learns Nick is far from being the only candidate with a compelling motive for murder...  Manna From Hades is the first book of three in the Cornish Mysteries series by Carola Dunn, which are due to be published in June 2013.  The second book in the series is A Colourful Death whilst the third is Valley of the Shadow.  A cryptic message spurs Eleanor on a frantic search for a refugee's missing family.  While walking her dog with friends, Eleanor rescues a young half-drowned Asian man out the water.  Delirious and concussed, he talks about his family being trapped in a cave.  While the young man, unconscious by this stage, is whisked away to a hospital, a desperate effort is mounted to find the family of which he spoke.  The local police inspector presumes they are refugees from East Africa, abandoned by the traffickers who brought them in, so while the countryside is being scoured for the family, Eleanor herself descends into a dangerous den of smugglers in a desperate search to find the man responsible while there is still time.

Dark Spaces is by Helen Black and is the fourth book in the series to feature Lily Valentine and is due to be published in April 2013.  Lilly Valentine tries to help a damaged teenager - but has she been horrifically abused, or is she lying to save her own skin?  Having recently split up from the father of her baby, Lilly is not in a happy place, matters being complicated further by the arrival of her ex-husband, needing a sofa to crash out on having been thrown out by his girlfriend.  In the midst of all this Lilly is asked by a child psychologist if she will help one of her patients: a girl currently sectioned having stolen a car while extremely drunk.  While Lilly visits her, she is introduced to Chloe, another unstable teenager who slips Lilly a note saying: 'Help us'.  And then Lilly's client is killed and Chloe accused of her murder.  Her case is not helped by the fact that the words 'Help us' have been carved on the dead girl's stomach....

The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Volume 10 is edited by Maxim Jakubowski and is due to be published in February 2013.  This title features 42 fantastic stories from Britain's best crime writers.  A superb collection of the year's most outstanding short crime fiction published in the UK.  Jakubowski has succeeded, as ever, in showcasing the impressive breadth of crime writing, from cosy tales of detection to noir mayhem and psychological suspense and terror.  There are puzzles to solve, nagging questions about the nature of the society in which we live, but, above all, there is an abundance of first-class entertainment...  Lee Child makes his debut and there is a first story from Neil Gaiman, too, in Sherlockian rather than fantastical mode.  Return offenders include Ann Cleeves, Phil Lovesey and Ruth Rendell, among many other familiar names.  There are a number of newcomers to the series, too, including Nina Allan, Joel Lane and Lisa Tuttle.

 DI Kate Simms is on the fast track to nowhere.  Five years ago, she helped a colleague when she should not have.  She's been clawing her way back from a demotion ever since.  Professor Nick Fenimore is a failed genetics student, successful gambler, betting agent, crime scene officer, chemistry graduate, toxicology specialist and one-time scientific advisor to the National Crime Faculty.  He is the best there is, but ever since his wife and daughter disappeared, he's been hiding away in Scotland, working as a forensics lecturer.  In Manchester, drug addicts are turning up dead and Simms' superior is only too pleased to hand the problem to her.  Then a celebrity dies and the media gets interested.  Another overdose victim shows up, but this time the woman has been systematically beaten and all identifying features removed.  The evidence doesn't add up; Simms' superiors seem to be obstructing her investigation; and the one person she can't afford to associate with is the one man who can help: Fenimore.  Everyone Lies is by A D Garrett, which is the pen name for writing duo Margaret Murphy (founder member of the Murder Squad and former Chair of the CWA) and Professor Dave Barclay a world-renowned forensics expert.  Everyone Lies is due to be published in June 2013.

Latest Crime News Round-Up

Arthur Ellis Award Results -

The winners of the 2011 Arthur Ellis Awards were announced on recently by the Crime Writers of Canada for excellence in works in the crime/mystery/thriller genre published for the first time in the previous year by permanent residents of Canada, or by Canadian citizens living abroad.

Best Crime Novel: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (Little, Brown)
Best First Crime Novel: The Debba by Avner Mandleman (Random House)
Best Crime Novel in French: Dans le quartier des agités by Jacques Côté (Éditions Alire)
Best Crime Non-Fiction: On the Farm by Stevie Cameron (Alfred A. Knopf)
Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book: Lost For Words (The Worst Thing She Ever Did) by Alice Kuipers (HarperCollins)
Best Crime Short Story: "So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)
Best First Unpublished Crime Novel: Better Off Dead by John Jeneroux

Alibi teamed up with HarperCollins and Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate to unearth some of the country's hottest new crime-writing talent of 2011.The shortlist has been drawn up and voting is now open. You can vote here? The overall winner will be announced during a special reception at Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

Those of us that are waiting for the release of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy will be pleased to learn that the date it will be released will be September 2011 for the UK and November for the US. With an all-star cast featuring amongst others, former Bond villain Toby Jones, Oscar winner Colin Firth, Kathy Burke, Gary Oldman, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt. Tinker, Tailor Soldier, Spy is an adaptation of John Le Carre‘s classic spy thriller that follows a British Intelligence operative whose task is to delve into the world of Cold War espionage and root out a Soviet mole in the Circus, the highest echelon in the British Intelligence Services.

Very interesting article on the Library Journal website about the gender reading stereotypes. A lot of suspense writers have commented on it. Makes for very interesting reading!

Nordic Bookblog have an interesting book review on The Tattooed Girl the Enigma of Stieg Larsson. Sounds that this will be of added interest to all those fans of Stieg Larsson!

Barry Forshaw whose book The Man Who Left Too Soon: The Biography of Stieg Larsson was published in 2010 is due to be the keynote speaker at a one-day symposium taking place at the University of Hertfordshire. Under the auspices of Film in Humanities the symposium will consist of talks and discussions on Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy - as a series of books, television programmes, and films.

With the recent release of the latest James Bond book, there is an interesting article in the Guardian about James Bond’s changing incarnations. The responses are as interesting as the article itself.

If you missed it the first time around then there is another chance to see the three-part series Whitechapel (Jack the Ripper) again. Featuring Rupert Penry-Jones it will be shown on ITV3 at 9pm on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 June 2011.

With lots of us looking forward to Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories due to be shown on BBC1 on Sunday 5 June at 9pm it is interesting to read Jason Isaac’s comments (not that I agree with them) on Jackson Brodie not being a detective. Are we talking about the same character here? I see this more as a marketing ploy not that I think one is needed.

Fans of the mobster film Goodfellas will enjoy reading 50 genius but useless facts about the film!

According to the Bookseller, former CWA Chair Tom Harper has moved publishers. Formerly published by Random House’s Cornerstone his next three books will be published by Hodder & Stoughton. The books described as "literary conspiracy thrillers.

From books to film!

According to NYmag.com David Fincher has optioned Jason Starr’s 2009 crime novel Panic Attack, about a New York shrink who shoots and kills a home intruder, then faces a media frenzy and the victim's vengeful accomplice.

Deadline.com have announced that Chris Columbus who produced a number of the Harry Potter films as well as Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief has acquired the fill rights to Michael Koryta’s thriller The Cypress House. There is also an excellent article in CNN about his latest book The Ridge.

Kerry Greenwood’s series featuring 1920s-era private detective Phryne Fisher is due (according to Australian ABC) to be made into a 13 part ABC series. Phryne Fisher is a sleuth who sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger sharp wit.

According to Variety.com Brendan Fraser, Matt Dillon and Craig Robinson have all signed up to the film adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s crime novel Freaky Deaky. William H Macy has already committed himself to the project.