The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the shortlists for this year’s Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime writing. 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. (HT to Shots Magazine)

The shortlisted works in each category are:

Best crime fiction

• Death of a Typographer (Nick Gadd, Australian Scholarly Publishing)
• River of Salt (Dave Warner, Fremantle Press)
• The Scholar (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins)
• The Strangers We Know (Pip Drysdale, S&S)
• True West (David Whish-Wilson, Fremantle Press)
• The Wife and the Widow (Christian White, Affirm)

Best debut crime fiction

• Eight Lives (Susan Hurley, Affirm)
• Lapse (Sarah Thornton, Text)
• The Nancys (R W R McDonald, A&U)
• Present Tense (Natalie Conyer, Clan Destine Press)
• Six Minutes (Petronella McGovern, A&U)
• Where the Truth Lies (Karina Kilmore, S&S)

Best true crime

• Bowraville (Dan Box, Viking)
• Dead Man Walking: The murky world of Michael McGurk and Ron Medich (Kate McClymont, Vintage)
• Shark Arm (Phillip Roope and Kevin Meagher, A&U)
• Snakes and Ladders (Angela Williams, Affirm)

Best international crime fiction

• Cruel Acts (Jane Casey, HarperCollins)
• The Chain (Adrian McKinty, Hachette)
• The Last Widow (Karin Slaughter, HarperCollins)
• The Night Fire (Michael Connelly, A&U).