SHAMUS AWARDS

The Private Eye Writers of America have announced winners of the 2021 Shamus Awards.

The juried award is given for private eye novels and short stories first published in the United States in 2020.

BEST PI HARDCOVER

• Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle (Oceanview)

BEST ORIGINAL PI PAPERBACK

• Brittle Karma by Richard Helms (Black Arch Books)

BEST PI SHORT STORY

•  “Mustang Sally” by John M. Floyd in Black Cat Mystery Magazine

BEST FIRST  PI NOVEL 

• The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho)

THE EYE, the PWA Life Achievement Award

• Michael Z. Lewin

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DASHIELL HAMMETT AWARD

The 2019 Dashiell Hammett Award for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing winner has been named by the International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch).

• When These Mountains Burn by David Joy (Putnam) 

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 DAVITT AWARDS

The shortlist for the 2021 Davitt Awards, given out by Sisters in Crime Australia, has also been unveiled. The awards highlight “the best crime and mystery books by Australian women.”

ADULT CRIME NOVELS 

• B M Allsopp, Death Beyond the Limit (Fiji Islands Mysteries #3) (Coconut Press)
• Sarah Barrie, Deadman’s Track (Calico Mountain #3) (HQ Fiction, an imprint of Harlequin Australia)
• Candice Fox, Gathering Dark (Penguin Random House Australia)
• Sulari Gentill, A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) (Pantera Press)
• Sally Hepworth, The Good Sister (Pan Macmillan Australia)
• Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia) 
• Suzanne Leal, The Deceptions (Allen & Unwin) 
• Mirandi Riwoe, Stone Sky Gold Mountain (University of Queensland Press)
• Kimberley Starr, Torched (Pantera Press)

YOUNG ADULT CRIME NOVELS 

• Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing) 
• Sarah Epstein, Deep Water (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Ellie Marney, None Shall Sleep (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Christie Nieman, Where We Begin (Pan Macmillan Australia) 
• Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press) 

 CHILDREN’S CRIME NOVELS 

• Jackie French, The Ghost of Howlers Beach (Butter O’Bryan Mysteries #1) (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press) 
• Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press) 
• Pamela Rushby, The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle (Walker Books Australia)
• Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s) 
• Sue Whiting, The Book of Chance (Walker Books Australia)

 NON-FICTION CRIME BOOKS 

• Stephanie Convery, After the Count: The death of Davey Browne (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House Australia) 
• Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications) 
• Louise Milligan, Witness: An investigation into the brutal cost of seeking justice (Hachette Australia)
• Caroline Overington, Missing William Tyrrell (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Angela Williams, Snakes and Ladders: A memoir (Affirm Press) 
• Sonya Bates, Inheritance of Secrets (HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Davina Bell, The End of the World Is Bigger than Love (Text Publishing)
• Melissa Davey, The Case of George Pell: Reckoning with child sexual abuse (Scribe Publications)
• Anna Downes, The Safe Place (Affirm Press)
• Mary Jones, Troubled Waters (Green Olive Press)
• Karina Kilmore, Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Amelia Mellor, The Grandest Bookshop in the World (Affirm Press)
• Kate Mildenhall, The Mother Fault (Simon & Schuster Australia)
• Julianne Negri, The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Affirm Press)
• Leah Swann, Sheerwater (4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Australia)
• Lian Tanner, A Clue for Clara (Allen & Unwin Children’s)
• Lisa Walker, The Girl with the Gold Bikini (Wakefield Press)

Sisters in Crime Australia was set up 29 years ago and has chapters in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The Davitts are named after Ellen Davitt, the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865.

[Thanks to Cora Buhlert for the story.]