It’s honestly been such a strong year in Australian crime fiction that I could have easily made this entire list up of local writers—Australia just has some of the best talent out there. From debut authors like Jacqueline Bublitz’s devastating, interior Before You Knew My Name and Karen Manton’s heavy, atmospheric The Curlew’s Eye, to sequels like the hilarious romp Nancy Business by RWR McDonald, or the latest book in a series so epic we’ve all lost count, like Lee Child’s Better off Dead—there are so many great books to choose from, and you can’t really go wrong with any of them.

There are the books on the lighter side, like Sally Scott’s cheese-filled 90s Fromage, and then the real side of crime, with true crime reads like CSI Told You Lies by Meshel Laurie. There’s Peter Papathanasiou’s The Stoning, or Adrian Hyland’s Canticle Creek, for anyone missing a new Jane Harper; if you want to travel to the past, head to the fifties with Inga Vesper’s the Long Long Afternoon, and if you want to head into an alarmingly prescient future, try Sara Foster’s nail-biting The Hush. Whatever you want to read this holiday season, there’s something to keep you reading under the covers long into the night—and into a fresh new year.

Nancy Business by RWR McDonald

Tippy, Uncle Pike and Devon are back for another camp cosy crime mystery when a new case is born and the Nancys re-form. It’s great to be back in Nancy business again, but this time it’s all different. Uncle Pike and Devon can’t agree on anything and Tippy is learning hard truths about the world and the people she loves the most. Can the Nancys stay together to do their best work and save the town? Or will the killer strike again? Gripping, heartwarming and hilarious, this novel is for those who enjoy the lighter side of crime.

The Hush by Sara Foster

In the six months since the first case of a terrifying new epidemic - when a healthy baby wouldn’t take a breath at birth - the country has been thrown into turmoil. The government has passed sweeping new laws to monitor all citizens. And several young pregnant women have vanished without trace. The Hush is a new breed of near-future thriller, an unflinching look at a society close to tipping point and a story for our times, highlighting the power of female friendship through a dynamic group of women determined to triumph against the odds.

The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper

It’s the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified toddlers and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor… A deeply atmospheric debut novel from the cracked heart of the American Dream, this novel is at once a page-turning mystery and an intoxicating vision of the ways in which women everywhere are diminished, silenced and ultimately under-estimated.

CSI Told You Lies by Meshel Laurie

CSI Told You Lies is a gripping account of the work of the forensic scientists on the frontline of Australia’s major crime and disaster investigations. Join Meshel Laurie as she goes ‘behind the curtain’ at VIFM, interviewing the Institute’s talented roster of forensic experts about their daily work. Her subjects also include others touched by Australia’s major crime and disaster investigations, including homicide detectives, defence barristers and families of victims as they confront their darkest moments.

1979 by Val McDermid

This is the atmospheric, heart-pounding first novel in a gripping new series by the Queen of Crime Val McDermid. 1979. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom and she needs something explosive for the boys’ club to take her seriously. When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she’s a woman in a man’s world … and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.