The Scarlet Stiletto

Thirty years of silver blades, scarlet stains and the most elegant of heels.

Thirty years of slipping in the knife, tightening the noose, measuring out the poison.

Thirty years of whispered threats and tangled plots, of murder and mayhem.

For thirty years, the annual Scarlet Stiletto women's crime and mystery short story competition - run by Sisters in Crime Australia - has uncovered dreadful deeds, righteous revenge, deadly high-jinks and wicked shenanigans, all while shining a light on the emerging and seasoned talent of Australian women who've taken to a life writing crime.

Celebrate this great competition's 30th anniversary with the gorgeous pearls that are the Scarlet Stiletto's First Prize winners, from 1994 to 2023, and discover why it's criminal what a girl has to do, to get a good read.

The winning perpetrators are: Cate Kennedy, Christina Lee, Siobhan Mullany, Janis Spehr, Josephine Pennicott, Roxxy Bent, Jacqui Horwood, Liz Filleul, Julie Waight, Aoiffe Clifford, Evelyn Tsitas, Amanda Wrangles, Ellie Marney, Angela Savage, Candice Graham, Judith Bridge, TJ Hamilton, Ruth Wykes, Rowena Harding-Smith, Philomena Horsley, Blanche Clark, Jessica Southern Reid, Hayley Young, Fin J. Ross, and Romany Rzechowicz.

Crime and mystery short stories of startling originality; and a grim warning of what evil lurks in Australian suburbia.

• Kerry Greenwood, Sponsor of the Malice Domestic Award