Davitt Awards 2026 longlists announced

Sisters in Crime has announced the longlists for the 2026 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women.

The longlisted titles in each category are:

Adult novels

• At Cafe 64 (Shaeden Barry, Echo Publishing)
• Lyrebird (Jane Caro, Allen & Unwin)
• Unfinished Business (Shankari Chandran, Ultimo Press)
• Skull River (Pip Fioretti, Affirm Press)
• When She Was Gone (Sara Foster, HarperCollins)
• Revelation Beach (Susan Francis, Wild Dingo Press)
• Learned Behaviours (Zeynab Gamieldien, Ultimo Press)
• Unbury The Dead (Fiona Hardy, Affirm Press)
• Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan)
• The Canvas Killings (Elise Janes, JETT Books)
• The Bluff (Joanna Jenkins, Allen & Unwin)
• Melaleuca (Angie Faye Martin, HQ Fiction) (debut)
• The Wolf Tree (Laura McCluskey, HarperCollins) (debut)
• The Prospect (Fleur McDonald, HarperCollins)
• Stillwater (Tanya Scott, Allen & Unwin) (debut)
• Nemesis (Patricia Wolf, Echo Publishing)

Nonfiction

• Groomed (Sonia Orchard, Affirm Press)
• Outrageous Fortunes: The Adventures of Mary Fortune, Crime-writer, and Her Criminal Son George (Lucy Sussex & Megan Brown, La Trobe University Press)
• The Red House (Kate Wild, Allen & Unwin)

YA

• What Have They done to Liza McLean? (Amy Doak, Penguin Random House Australia)
• A Murder Is Going Down (Kate Emery, Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• We Saw What You Started (Carla Salmon, Pan Australia) (debut)

Children’s

• Run (Sarah Armstrong, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
• True South (Gisela Ervin-Ward, MidnightSun Publishing) (debut)
• The Girl and the Ghost (Jacqueline Harvey, Penguin Random House Australia)
• Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #4) (Jessica Townsend, Hachette Children’s)
• Promises and Other Lies (Sue Whiting, Walker Books).
• The Wicked Ship (Oceanforged #1) (Amelia Mellor, Affirm Kids)

Shortlists will be announced in July. Winners of each category awards – along with recipients of additional awards for best debut and the readers’ choice award – will be announced at a gala dinner in August/September in Melbourne.

Last year’s winners include To the River (Vikki Wakefield, Text), The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell (Lucia Osborne-Crowley, A&U), Into the Mouth of the Wolf (Erin Gough, HGCP), The Midwatch (Judith Rossell, HGCP), What I Would Do to You (Georgia Harper, Vintage) and What Happened to Nina? (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins).

More information about the awards is available on the Sisters in Crime website.

Category: Awards Local news