Davitt Awards 2015 winners

Sutherland Shire Libraries Thursday, September 03, 2015
Sisters in Crime has announced the winners of the 2015 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. 


Adult Novel winner: 
Big Little Lies  by  Liane Moriarty

 A murder…A tragic accident…Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead.


Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.


Young Adult Novel winner: 
 Every Word  by Ellie Marney

Sparks fly when Watts follows Mycroft to London in this second sophisticated thriller about the teen crime-fighting pair.
Rachel is still getting used to the idea of Mycroft being her boyfriend when he disappears to London with Professor Walsh. They're investigating the carjacking death of the rare books conservator, which appears to be linked to the theft of a Shakespeare First Folio from the Bodleian Library. Worried about similarities between the conservator's accident and the death of Mycroft's own parents, Rachel follows Mycroft to London . and straight into a whole storm of trouble.

Children’s Novel winner: 
Withering-by-Sea  byJudith Rossell
Ages: 9+
High on a cliff above the gloomy coastal town of Withering-by-Sea stands the Hotel Majestic. Inside the walls of the damp, dull hotel, eleven-year-old orphan Stella Montgomery leads a miserable life with her three dreadful Aunts.
But one night, Stella sees something she shouldn't have ... Something that will set in motion an adventure more terrifying and more wonderful than she could ever have hoped for ...

From hugely talented Australian writer-illustrator Judith Rossell comes a thrilling and gripping Victorian fantasy-adventure, the first in an extraordinarily exciting new series.

Non Fiction Winner: 
 Last Woman Hanged  by  Caroline Overington

One woman. Two husbands. Four trials. One bloody execution. The last woman hanged in NSW.
In January 1889, Louisa Collins, a 41-year-old mother of ten children, became the first woman hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol and the last woman hanged in New South Wales. Both of Louisa's husbands died suddenly. the Crown was convinced that Louisa poisoned them with arsenic and, to the horror of many in the legal community, put her on trial an extraordinary FOUR tIMES in order to get a conviction. Louisa protested her innocence until the end. Now, in Last Woman Hanged, writer and journalist Caroline Overington delves into the archives to re-examine the original, forensic reports, court documents, judges notebooks, witness statements and police and gaol records, in an effort to discover the truth.
Much of the evidence against Louisa was circumstantial. Some of the most important testimony was given by her only daughter, May, who was just 10-years-old when asked to take the stand.

the historical context is also important: Louisa Collins was hanged at a time when women were in no sense equal under the law - except when it came to the gallows.

Debut novel winner: 
Intruder by Christine Bongers
I don't walk past the house next door. I wish the woman who lives in it was dead. Which makes it hard . . . because she was the one who came running when I screamed. 
Kat Jones is woken by an Intruder looming over her bed. She's saved by Edwina – the neighbour Kat believes betrayed her dying mother. 
Her dad issues an ultimatum. Either spend nights next door, or accept another Intruder in her life – Hercules, the world's ugliest guard dog. It's a no-brainer, even for dog-phobic Kat. 
When she meets adorkable Al at the dog park, finally Kat has someone to talk to, someone who cares.
But the prowler isn't finished with Kat. To stop him, she needs Edwina's help . . . and what Kat learns could mend fences – or break her fragile family apart forever.

 Adult Novel Short list
Through the Cracks by Honey Brown
 Forbidden Fruit: A Nell Forrest Mystery by Ilsa Evans
 A Murder Unmentioned  by Sulari Gentill 
A Morbid Habit  by Annie Hauxwell 
Present Darkness by Malla Nunn

Young Adult Shortlist
Intruder by Christine Bongers
The Ratcatcher’s Daughter by Pamela Rushby
Non Fiction Shortlist

 Debut Novel Shortlist
 Hades  by Candice Fox
What Came Before  by Anna George
 Gap by Rebecca Jessen
Tell Me Why by Sandi Wallace  
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