2009 Davitt Award Winners

The ninth Davitt Awards . This year 39 crime books were in contention. For the third year running, the awards were sponsored by the Victoria Police Museum. Ironic.

Best Adult Crime Fiction: A Beautiful Place To Die (PanMacmillan), Malla Nunn - This very atmospheric thriller is set in early 1950's south africa where segregation is just coming into play. A haunted city detective is sent to the country to investigate the murder of a white police chief, only to find himself shoved to the side by the security branch. However he keeps digging around the edges and uncovers some surprising secrets. Moody and compelling. More

Best Young Adult: Genius Squad, (Allen & Unwin), Catherine Jinks -Sometimes, when it comes to fighting evil, one genius just isn't enough. Cadel Piggott's been having a hard time since he chose to be good rather than evil. He doesn't know where he was born. He doesn't know who his father is. And he's under constant threat from Prosper English - the criminal mastermind he helped to put in gaol. Will Genius Squad be the answer to all Cadel's prayers? Or is he right to question their motives? Deciding what's good and bad is more difficult than Cadel could ever have imagined .. More

True Crime:The Tall Man -- Death and Life on Palm Island ((Penguin Books Australia)

In 2004 Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old resident of Palm Island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer. Within 45 minutes he was dead. The main suspect was well respected Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley. This is the story of what happened, the trial, and the Aboriginal myths around the case. More

Davitt Readers Choice: The Darkest Hour Katherine Howell - Paramedic Lauren Yatesstumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley, for the killer lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him - he's Thomas Werner, her sister's ex, and a very bad man indeed. But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back. Will Ella's investigation put her career on the line, just when she's finally got her foot in the door? And can Lauren keep her family safe before Werner makes good on his promise, or will they all pay the ultimate price? 'Howell may have left the ambulance service but she can still drive a narrative at full speed with the sirens blaring. Pass me the oxygen' - "Sydney Morning Herald". More

Judges

The judging panel comprised Dr Shelley Robertson (Sisters in Crime member, forensic pathologist), Rosi Tovey (former owner of Chronicles Bookshop in St Kilda), Dr Sue Turnbull (Head of Media Studies, La Trobe University, Sisters in Crime national co-convenor and Sydney Morning Herald crime columnist), Sylvia Loader (Sisters in Crime national co-convenor, and reviewer) Tanya King (reviewer and former Sisters in Crime national co-convenor).

2009 |Past Winners| Judges | Fishpond Books Australia |ebooks | top | home page

Past Winners

Year	Best Adult	Best Young Adult	True Crime	Readers' Choice
2001		Eye to Eye by Caroline Shaw
2002	A Simple Death by Carolyn Morwood	Three-Pronged Dagger by Kerry Greenwood		Bleeding Hearts by Lindy Cameron
2003	(tie) Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing by Gabrielle Lord Blood Redemption by Alex Palmer	Fireworks and Darkness by Natalie Jane Prior		Skin Deep by Cathy Cole
2004	Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital	Muck-Up Day by Ruth Starke		Thicker Than Water by Lindy Cameron
2005	Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox	Devastation Road by Joanna Baker		Peepshow by Leigh Redhead
2006	The Butterfly Man by Heather Rose	Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks		(tie) Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood Rubdown by Leigh Redhead
2007	Undertow by Sydney Bauer	The Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty	Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage by Karen Kissane	(tie) Devil's Food by Kerry Greenwood Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage by Karen Kissane
2008	Frantic by Katherine Howell	The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Mandy Sayer	Killing Jodie by Janet Fife-Yeomans	Scarlet Stiletto - The First Cut by Lindy Cameron

* thanks to wiki for details above

2009 |Past Winners| Judges | Fishpond Books Australia |ebooks | top | home page