“Crime has moved to the Tropics with Caroline de Costa’s series in Cairns and Candice Fox’s Crimson Lake books set nearby. What Sisters in Crime calls ‘Tropic Noir’ is also in vogue, Horwood said. L J M Owen’s novels skip from ancient cultures to modern-day Canberra while Kirsty Manning’s The Jade Lily is set in both wartime Shanghai and 2016 Melbourne and Toni Jordan’s book is located in 1938 New York and 1986 Brisbane.” Often these books have a foot in both the past and present. “Historical mysteries are increasingly popular with books such as Deborah Burrows’ ‘Ambulance Girl’ series set in the London Blitz and M J Tjia’s series featuring the 1860s’ London Eurasian courtesan sleuth. “Crime continues to move from the mean streets of Australia’s major cities to small towns and the outback as evident in the books by Jane Harper, Aoife Clifford, Sandi Curtis, Sue Williams and Ellie Marney,” she said. Horwood said that a number of trends were already evident in this year’s Davitt entries. It’s just that the outcome is often deadly.”

And it’s not all deadly serious – there is lots of fun, lots of humour, and lots of irony. “When a lot of fiction has literally lost the plot (and a large readership), crime writing stands tall with compelling narratives, a keen sense of place, strong female characters and an acute sense of justice. Crime allows authors to apply the blow torch to contemporary issues whether it’s the gendered nature of so much violence or the dangers lurking in the dark web,” she said. Crime is the most popular – and best-selling – literary genre and it’s a broad church. “More and more women are turning to crime – and for good reason. “It’s not just a crime wave – it’s a tsunami,” says Davitt judges’ wrangler, Jacqui Horwood. This year the Davitts are again sponsored by Swinburne University of Technology. Almost half – 49 books in total – are debut offerings. An astonishing 73 adult crime novels have been entered. This figure tips last year’s record by 16. A record 127 books are in contention for Sisters in Crime Australia’s 19th Davitt Awards for best crime and mystery books by Australian women.

Cruelty's Daughter by Anna Willett