The Australian Crime Writers Association is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards.

You can see our standout selections from the last twelve months in Australian crime writing below, separated out by category.

NED KELLY
Shortlist: 2025 Best Debut Crime Fiction

Down the Rabbit Hole  - By Shaeden Berry
A Town Called Treachery - By Mitch Jennings
The Chilling - By Riley James
All You Took From Me - By Lisa Kenway
Everywhere We Look - By Martine Kropkowski
The Crag - By Claire Sutherland

NED KELLY
Shortlist: 2025 Best True Crime

They’ll Never Hold Me – By Michael Adams
A Thousand Miles from Care – By Steve Johnson
The Kingpin and the Crooked Cop - By Neil Mercer
Meadow’s Law - By Quentin McDermott
The Lasting Harm - By Lucia Osborne-Crowley

NED KELLY
Shortlist: 2025 Best International Crime Fiction

Return to Blood - By Michael Bennett
Leave the Girls Behind - By Jacqueline Bublitz
The Waiting - By Michael Connelly
A Case of Matricide - By Graeme Macrae Burnet
Moscow X - By David McCloskey
Home Truths - By Charity Norman

NED KELLY
Shortlist: 2025 Best Crime Fiction

Shadow City - By Natalie Conyer
Sanctuary – By Garry Disher
Unbury the Dead – By Fiona Hardy
The Creeper – By Margaret Hickey
Cold Truth – By Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Highway 13 – By Fiona McFarlane
17 Years Later – By JP Pomare
Storm Child - By Michael Robotham