Congratulations to the 2018 winners of the Ned Kelly Awards for the best in Australian crime writing.

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Best Fiction

Crossing the Lines by Sulari Gentill

Mystery writer Madeleine d'Leon is working on a new story featuring her beloved protagonist, literary writer Ned McGinnity, who in turn, happens to be writing a story about Madeleine. As Ned and Madeleine play out their own lives while writing the other’s story, they find themselves crossing the lines that divide the real and the imagined.

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Best first fiction

The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

A beautiful young teacher has been murdered, her body found in the lake, strewn with red roses. Local policewoman Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock pushes to be assigned to the case, concealing the fact that she knew the murdered woman in high school years before. But that is not her only secret. The lake holds the key to solving the murder, but it also has the power to drag Gemma down into its dark depths.

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Best true crime

Unmaking A Murder by Graham Archer

When Henry Vincent Keogh was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his finance, Anna-Jane Cheney, the case caught the interest of journalist Graham Archer – it wasn’t a matter of Keogh’s guilt or innocence, but that he may not have received a fair trial. Over the next 13 years, the story became an odyssey for Archer. Unmaking A Murder is an investigation into an intriguing murder case and an unprecedented account of how the decisions made by organs of government can be defended and mistakes covered up.

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Garry Disher was also honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his ‘outstanding contribution to Australian crime fiction, using his characters to explore and expose Australian culture’.

Find out more about the Ned Kelly Awards here.