Scarlet Stiletto — Every Cut
The Scarlet Stiletto series features award-winning crime stories culled from thousands of entries to the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, presented by Sisters in Crime Australia for the last twenty-five years.
Showcasing the undeniable talent of Australian women writers taking to a life of crime…writing, the entire Scarlet Stiletto series offers hundreds of tales of mystery, murder, mayhem, justice, revenge and just desserts.
From murder and mayhem to police procedurals, some of the stories will have your blood running cold, some will raise gooseflesh, and others will make you laugh – but all will have you on the edge of your seat, and wanting more.
“A crime and mystery short story collection of startling originality;
and a grim warning of what evil lurks in Australian suburbia.”
— Kerry Greenwood, about Scarlet Stiletto the First Cut.
Which Cut's gonna contain your new favourite author or award-winning story? Find out below, then order above!
Scarlet Stiletto: the First Cut
edited by Lindy Cameron
Scarlet Stiletto the First Cut features 26 award-winning crime stories culled from the first 13 years of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
Thirteen years: 1495 entries, 468 shortlisted short stories, 13 first prize trophy winners, 91 category winners.
From 104 prize winning crime and mystery stories, 26 were chosen to showcase the undeniable talent of Australian women writers taking to a life of crime - writing. With so many tales of mystery, murder, mayhem, justice, revenge and just deserts, it was not an easy task.
Obviously the Scarlet Stiletto winning stories - 13 First Prize stories by only nine women - made the first cut of The First Cut.
Then a cross-section of category winners completed the mix. The final line-up reveals evidence of the twisted, the dark, the sinister and the nefarious; bit mostly exposes the guilty pleasure of the perfectly executed crime... story.
Pick your preferred poison — uh, book — paperback or ebook, from the drop-down menu above.
“A crime and mystery short story collection of startling originality; and a grim warning of what evil lurks in Australian suburbia.” Kerry Greenwood
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Scarlet Stiletto the Second Cut
The Second Cut features 23 crime and mystery stories culled from all years of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented annually by Sisters in Crime Australia.
This sequel to Scarlet Stiletto the First Cut, this book includes the First Prize winners from 2007 to 2010, and a selection of category-winning tales from the 17-year history of the awards, which began in 1993.
The stories are daring, thrilling, funny and deadly serious; they're darkly comic, violent and nasty or poignant and poetic.
Scarlet Stiletto the Second Cut is a superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes.
Featuring cops, killers, PIs, crooks and amateur sleuths, these award-winning stories will have you on the edge of your seat, will chill your blood and sometimes make you laugh out loud.
They are all wildly entertaining and showcase the talent of women crime writers in Australia.
Scarlet Stiletto the Second Cut is available in ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions, and in paperback from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Third Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2011 Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the authors in Scarlet Stiletto the Third Cut are:
Angela Savage
Liz Filleul
Carmela Saloman
Vicky Daddo
Marguerite Johnson
Anne Cost
Fiona Drury
Sarah Evans
Kim Westwood
Mary Evans
Sarah Robinson-Hatch
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Third Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Fourth Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2012 Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
Scarlet Stiletto The Fourth Cut features: strong political themes – from the environment, to terrorism, to corrupt politicians; some innovative 'body in the library’ stories; yarns with the classic twist in the tale; and stories that bravely delve into diverse and interesting new areas.
A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the authors in Scarlet Stiletto The Fourth Cut are:
Josephine Pennicott
Emilie Collyer
Claire McKenna
Sarah Evans
Candice Graham
Robyn McWilliam
Helen Iles
Ebony Franzmann
Aoife Clifford
Kath Harper
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Fourth Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Fifth Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2013 Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
The Fifth Cut features tales filled with history, bigotry and revenge, car chases, dead blondes and PIs, tears, chills and laughter, from 12 talented women writers from across Australia.
A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the authors in Scarlet Stiletto The Fifth Cut are:
Candice Graham
Vicky Daddo
Kylie Fox
Moraig Kisler
Shannon Todd
Sandi Wallace
Emilie Collyer
Loren Order
Sarah Robinson-Hatch
Alison Manthorpe
Aoife Clifford
Dawn Farnham
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Fifth Cut are available now, select from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Sixth Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2014 Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
Scarlet Stiletto: the Sixth Cut features gold nugget wielding daughters, killer scrabble players, crooked cops, blue-tongued husbands and the dirty little secrets of librarians.
Revenge is always a steady theme in the history of the Scarlet Stilettos, but in the 2014 anthology not only husbands and significant others but also bullying colleagues and statue-stealing weirdos were targeted. This delicious array of stories offers excellent advice on how to be rid of bothersome people, and a satisfying and at times comic treat for lovers of all things criminal.
A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the authors in Scarlet Stiletto The Sixth Cut are:
Judith Bridge
Julianne Negri
Fin J Ross
Frances Sutherland
Suzanne Frankham
Katie Mills
Richenda Rudman
Melanie Myers
Sandi Wallace
Vicky Daddo
Anna Snoekstra
Bridey Carmel
Natalie Conyer
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Sixth Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Seventh Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2015 Scarlet Stiletto Awards presented by Sisters in Crime Australia.
Featuring cops, killers, PIs, crooks and amateur sleuths, these award-winning stories will have you on the edge of your seat, will chill your blood and sometimes make you laugh out loud.
A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the authors in Scarlet Stiletto The Seventh Cut are:
T.J. Hamilton
Kate Olivieri
Natalie Conyer
Kath Harper
Fin J Ross
Ellen Vickerman
Kylie Fox
Annie Hauxwell
Amanda Coleman
Katie Mills
Jenny Spence
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Seventh Cut are available now, select from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Eighth Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2016 Scarlet Stiletto Awards held by Sisters in Crime Australia.
This superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes. It is a tantalising mixture of surprising and chilling tales of a killer with stone-cold eyes, female footballers with real kick, a sleep-walking hedge trimmer, murder in ancient Greece and much more.
Featuring cops, killers, PIs, crooks and amateur sleuths, these award-winning stories will have you on the edge of your seat, will chill your blood and sometimes make you laugh out loud.
In 2016 Sisters in Crime Australia celebrated 25 years of skulduggery, murder, mayhem and good old cold-blooded revenge.
To mark the anniversary, the 23rd annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards competition included a special, one-off and separately-judged Silver Stiletto Award. This was only open to previous Scarlet Stiletto First Prize winners, including the "Two-Shoe Winners" - those relegated to the Judging panel for being too good, by winning the First Prize twice.
The ony pre-requsite for this award was that stories had to mention the word ‘silver’. The winning story is included in The Eighth Cut.
The authors in Scarlet Stiletto The Eighth Cut are:
Ruth Wykes
Liz Filleul
Jenny Blackford
Fin J Ross
Leisl Egan
Katie Mills
Sandi Wallace
Ellen Vickerman
Catherine Moffat
Jacqui Horwood
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Eighth Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto: the Ninth Cut
Award-winning crime stories from the 2017 Scarlet Stiletto Awards held by Sisters in Crime Australia.
Scarlet Stiletto the Ninth Cut is a thrilling mixture of surprising and chilling tales featuring amateur sleuths, journalists, writers, spies, cops, librarians, crooks and killers. These 13 award-winning stories will have you on the edge of your seat, will chill your blood and sometimes make you laugh out loud.
A superb collection of page-turning crime and mystery stories in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes, the categories and winners of Scarlet Stiletto the Ninth Cut are:
FIRST Prize and Scarlet Stiletto Shoe: Rowena Harding-Smith
SECOND Prize & Best Film Idea: Lucy Kiff
THIRD Prize: Katie Mills
Body in the Library Prize: Narrelle M Harris
Body in the Library runner-up: Natalie Conyer
Malice Domestic: Maryanne Ross
Mystery with History: M J Tjia
Cross Genre: Christine Tondorf
Romantic Suspense: Julie Alavoine
Financial Crime: Rachel Smith
Disabled Protagonist: Suzanne Frankham
Great Film Idea: Lucy Kiff
Young Writer’s Prize: Ellen Vickerman
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Ninth Cut are available now, select from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Tenth Cut
This 2018 collection features nine award-winning stories from the 25th annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
The Scarlet Stiletto series of eBooks – the First to the Tenth Cuts – feature superb collections of spine-chilling crime and mystery short stories, by Australian women writers, curated from 25 years of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards hosted by Sisters in Crime Australia.
‘The categories and winners of Scarlet Stiletto the Tenth Cut are:
Philomena Horsley: ‘Darkness in the Port’
Fin J Ross: ‘Deadly Ernestine’
Kat Clay: ‘Lady Loveday Investigates’
Jenny Castles: ‘The Poe’
Lisa Louden: ‘Starfish under Falling Water’
Sandi Wallace: ‘Fire on the Hill’
Fin J Ross: ‘Victory of Kyrnos’
Helen Richardson: ‘The Stand-In’
Olivia De Lesantis: ‘Wayward’
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Tenth Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Eleventh Cut
This 2019 collection features nine award-winning stories from the 26th annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
Over the years the Scarlet Stilettos have had murders in nursing homes and ancient Rome, in ballet schools and swimming pools, in libraries – many, many in libraries – on pirate ships and spaceships, in caves and kitchens and stables and yoga studios and post offices and op shops, in the midst of elections and bushfires and midlife crises. Murder, the ultimate transgression, happens everywhere and fascinates us all.
In 2019 the judges shortlisted 29 stories – from the 185 entered – and awarded 15 prizes. Somehow, every year, there’s always a recurring theme or two, as if there’s something in the water, or lurking in the suburbs.
This year a lot of stories were set in residential aged care, quite a few had a ghostly theme, and there were some deeply satisfying tales of revenge by your favourite authors and your new favourites, including:
At Length I would be Avenged: Blanche Clark
Dead End: Philomena Horsley
The Fossil Hunters: Bridgette Cummings
Death in the Catacombs: Kelly Gardiner
Marie’s Voice: Jaimee Sharrett
Loose Lips: Eugenie Pusenjak
Screwed: Caroline de Costa
Plenty More Fish: Kristin Murdock
Sweet Baby Dies: Sandi Wallace
Manny: Natalie Conyer
The Emerald Lady: Missy Jane Birch
Death by Couch: Lyra Philp
Lifeboat: Janette Ellis
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Eleventh Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Twelfth Cut
This 2020 collection features twelve award-winning stories from the 27th annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
This volume's stories include an award-winning World War II tale, a story set during the COVID pandemic, and a mystery in which a murder at a writers’ retreat is perpetrated with a volume of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. How improbable!
A record 241 short stories competed in the 2020 Scarlet Stiletto Awards, these were then whittled to a long list of 62 stories and a final short list of 27. Fifteen writers won Highly Commended certificates;
and 12 writers shared the 15 prizes on offer – a historic high of $10,460 in prize money and benefits.
It's time to see 2020 out the door with a dozen tales of mystery, murder, and much, much more by authors you've loved – and new ones you soon will, including:
Introduction – Christina Lee
Death in the Skies – Jessica Southern-Reid
The Monitor – Cheryl Rogers
A View for Tea and Biscuits – Veronica Lando
The Irony of Silence – Kristin Murdock
Murder by the Book – Fin J. Ross
The Wrong Verdict – L.J. Owen
The Garden Fork Murder – Nicola Wardley
Viral – Jane Lee
Signs of Life – Natasha Nette
Leash – Ellen Vickerman
Mrs. Betty Jones: Lady Vigilante – Hayley Barry-Smith
House of War – L.J. Owen
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Twelfth Cut are available now, click on the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Thirteenth Cut
Introduction — Christina Lee
Monster Hunters — Hayley Young
On the Inside — Jaclyn Riley-Smith
The Gospel of Cecily — Ellen Coates
The Fragrance of the Corpse Flower — Caroline de Costa
Death’s Waiting Room — Clare Fletcher
Creativity Now! — Susan Green
Waiting — Christine Fontana
Mystery off the Jillawong Road — Stephanie Holm
What I did in Lockdown by Chloe Martin Age 9-1/2 — Jane Lee
Cash Sale — Janet Moor
The Séance — Natalie Conyer
Put the Kettle On — Janice Shaw
The Braxton Mystery — Caitlyn Whitbread
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Thirteenth Cut are available to order from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Fourteenth Cut
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and category-winning stories and authors for 2022 are:
Tuesday Jocks — Fin J. Ross
The Handbook of Steak Knives — Hayley Young
Life After Knife — Katherine Kovacic
Doppelgänger — Raina Han
The Surrogate — Jem Tyley-Miller
Armchair Detective — Maeve James
A Perfect Fit — Nellie Crawford
Alys — Natalie Conyer
The Florentine — Danielle Angeli
The Paynes Hill Murders — Kimberly Riskas
Underestimated — Catherine Craig
Accession — Brid Cummings
ePub and Kindle (aka mobi) versions of Scarlet Stiletto the Fourteenth Cut are available to order from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Fifteenth Cut
Scarlet Stiletto the Fifteenth Cut showcases the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize and category-winning stories of the 2023 Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
The Fifteenth Cut coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Scarlet Stiletto Women's Crime and Mystery short story competition run by sisters in Crime Australia.
The book features these riveting, intriguing, creepy, mysterious, hard boiled and cozy crime stories for your reading pleasure:
Skin and Bone - Romany Rzechowicz
End of Life - Jude Bridge
The Safehouse - Sandra Thom-Jones
The Murder in the Library - Alison Pascoe
Borrowed Time - Kim Graham
Bush Chicken - Cheryl Fairclough
Sticky Fingers - Georgina Coleman
The Body in the Bookshop - Josephine Brick
Shanty Shooting - JB Rowley
Spiderwoman - Caroline de Costa
Lady Bethany Homestead - Kim Robyn-Smith
The Motif in the Motives - Sandra Thom-Jones
The Model Husband - Athena Law
An ePub version of Scarlet Stiletto: the Fifteenth Cut is available to order from the drop-down menu above.
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Scarlet Stiletto the Sixteenth Cut
Scarlet Stiletto the Sixteenth Cut showcases the 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize and category-winning stories of the 2024 Scarlet Stiletto Awards.
The stories were presented at the 31st Scarlet Stiletto Women's Crime and Mystery short story competition run annually by Sisters in Crime Australia.
The book features these riveting, intriguing, creepy, mysterious, hard boiled and cozy crime stories for your reading pleasure:
Lilly Pilly Don’t Be Silly – Nikki Lee Taylor
Heel and Toad – Heidi Catherine
Unconscionable – Blanche Clark
The First Edition – Naomi Manuell
Crime and Management – Katrina Watson
Green Thumbs – Fiona Hardy
Under the Circumstances – Jennifer White
Noblesse Oblige – Stephanie Whitelock McMillan
Amelia Anderson is All At Sea – Jessica Southern-Reid
Loops & Spirals – Samantha Holz
Capeweed – Laree Chapman
The Echoes We Leave Behind – Rose Mebrhatu
The Applewood Murder – Jenny Blackford
Red Oxide – Amanda Nye
You Didn’t Have To Be There – Kimberley Ivory
An ePub version of Scarlet Stiletto: the Sixteenth Cut is available to order from the drop-down menu above.
