Winners of the 2024 Davitt Awards
Sisters in Crime Australia has announced the winners of the 2024 Davitt Awards for best crime books by Australian women.
The winning titles in each category in order of how they were presented, from last to first, are:
🔍 Best Adult Crime Novel
When One of Us Hurts by Monica Vuu
Port Brighton hates outsiders. It has its own ways of dealing with the evil, the foolish, the misled, and it holds tightly to them. But the seams start to split after two deaths occur on the same tragic night: a baby abandoned at the foot of a lighthouse, and a drunken teenager drowned in the storming sea.
Livvy is an insider. She keeps a watchful eye on what's happening in town while looking out for her troubled older brother. Marie is an outsider. She's escaped Port Brighton and started a new life, but she can't forget the night at the lighthouse. As gossip fuels rumours and tensions erode trust, the bonds that keep Port Brighton together begin to fray . . .
🔍 Readers' Choice
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Manner Ladies by Alison Goodman
Lady Augusta Colebrook, 'Gus', is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline.
🔍 Best Debut Crime Novel
The Half Brother by Christine Keighery
The bonds of sisterhood were unbreakable. Until him.
Hannah and Stef have always been there for each other. Growing up in a loving family, they're stunned to discover their mother adopted out a child before their parents met.
When Alex walks into their lives, the sisters are seduced by his charm, wealth and social status. But as they rush to make up for lost time, it soon becomes apparent their new brother's agenda is more complicated and sinister than the sisters could have imagined.
🔍 Best Young Adult Crime Novel
Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer by Amy Doak
Eleanor Jones has just started at her ninth high school in less than five years. Since she and her mum are always moving on, Eleanor likes to stay on the outer, to stay invisible. So maybe it's just bad luck that the very first person she talks to at Cooinda Secondary College, Angus Marshall, is stabbed and left for dead the same day. The last message on Angus's phone is from Eleanor Jones.
After being interviewed by the police, Eleanor realises they don't have all the facts and decides to investigate. In trying to understand what happened to Angus, Eleanor inadvertently becomes involved with an eclectic group of fellow students. As they slowly unravel Angus's secrets, Eleanor discovers the true meaning of friendship and uncovers a danger lurking at the heart of the town.
🔍 Best Children's Crime Novel
The Wolves of Greycoat Hall: Boris in Switzerland by Lucinda Gifford
A romp of a read, with an ingenious mystery to solve, and packed with endearing illustrations.
Boris is attending the Institute of International Excellence, a fancy Swiss boarding school while his parents are staying with Great Aunt Orfilia. Although worried about being the only wolf and having to navigate around the rude vice principal, he quickly makes friends, learns how to "log in" and heli-board, and has a plentiful supply of cake. But Boris can't shake the idea that something funny is going on . . .
🔍 Best Nonfiction Crime Book
The Schoolgirl, Her Teacher and His Wife by Rebecca Hazel
Teacher and former rugby league player Chris Dawson appeared to have it all – a loving family and a beautiful home in Sydney’s Northern Beaches. But in the summer of 1982 his wife Lynette disappeared and not long afterwards Dawson married a much younger woman, a former student.
Less than a decade later this young woman escaped the marriage and went to the police to record her suspicions that Dawson had been involved in Lynette’s disappearance. A homicide investigation followed but got nowhere until 1998, when Detective Sergeant Damian Loone was handed Lynette’s file. For nearly two decades he made it his business to honour Lynette and to find out what had happened to her. His work led to two coronial investigations, but no charges.
Rebecca Hazel has spent ten years working to ensure that the stories of two women who were misused by Chris Dawson are heard, that their perpetrator was brought to justice and that Lynette’s family can properly honour their much-loved sister, aunt, cousin and mother.
Judges for the 2024 awards included author and editor Ruth Wykes, former bookseller Deb Bodinnar, author and editor Emily Gale, author and communications manager Romany Rzechowicz, journalist, author and podcaster Emily Webb, and professor of education Lyn Yates.
Last year’s winners included All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien, Seven Days by Fleur Ferris, The Sugarcane Kids and the Red-bottomed Boat by Charlie Archbold, Out of the Ashes by Megan Norris, Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor and The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis.
