The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the 2020 shortlists for the Ned Kelly Awards for the best in Australian crime writing.

Here are the shortlists in each category:

Best crime fiction

• Death of a Typographer by Nick Gadd
  
• River of Salt by Dave Warner
  
• The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan
  
• The Strangers We Know by Pip Drysdale
  
• True West by David Whish-Wilson
  
• The Wife and the Widow by Christian White
  

Best debut crime fiction

• Eight Lives by Susan Hurley
  
• Lapse by Sarah Thornton
  
• The Nancys by R.W.R McDonald
  
• Present Tense by Natalie Conyer
  
• Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern
  
• Where the Truth Lies by Karina Kilmore
  

Best true crime

• Bowraville by Dan Box
  
• Dead Man Walking by Kate McClymont
  
• Shark Arm by Phillip Roope and Kevin Meagher
  
• Snakes and Ladders by Angela Williams
  

Best international crime fiction

• Cruel Acts by Jane Casey
  
• The Chain by Adrian McKinty
  
• The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter
  
• The Night Fire by Michael Connelly
  

The Ned Kelly Awards are Australia’s oldest prizes honouring published crime fiction and true crime writing. For more information about the awards, visit the ACWA website.