Helen 0:00

The Kill City podcast acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands we're on. Here in Melbourne, that's the Warundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We honour their deep connection to storytelling, a tradition carried across more than 2,000 generations. Pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging, and we extend that acknowledgement to First Nations people listening today. I'm good, how are you? Excited about Eddie Kelly.

Leigh 0:57

Absolutely. Well, welcome back to the Kill City Podcast. Today we are diving into one of our favourite events on the crime riding calendar. We're gonna do a recap on the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards.

Helen 1:19

Yeah, noir just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? Well, I'll be taking you to all the major winners from the big names to the breakout debuts, and plus I'm gonna sneak in at a personal favourite that I just couldn't leave out. Um and for those listening, if you're reaching for your pen, don't worry. We put every book we mentioned in the show notes so you can actually check them out at your own pace.

Leigh 1:42

And we'll also have a quick look ahead at the 2026 Ned Kelly Awards, uh including when you can expect a short list announcement so you can stay one step ahead on your reading list.

Helen 1:53

So this is a goodie. So if you need to grab a cup of tea or maybe even a beer or a wine, settle in and um let's celebrate the best in crime writing this year. Courtesy of the Ned Kelly Awards.

Leigh 2:07

So for anyone that isn't familiar with the Ned Kelly Awards, what can you tell us about them?

Helen 2:13

Well, I'm glad you asked. Um, they were actually established by the Australian Crime Writers Association um back in the mid-90s, and they are Australia's oldest and most prestigious acknowledgements for crime fiction and true crime writing, so they've had a pretty great history. Or the ACWA, as they were formerly known as the Crime Writers Association of Australia, actually rebranded in the mid-90s, and that's when they introduced the Ned Kelly Awards. But this organisation sort of really consistently played a big role in shaping the direction of Australian crime fiction and giving writers a platform to be discovered. So it's just amazing the work that they've done to sort of really champion the craft. They've been amazing in supporting emerging voices, and they also help to keep our crime writing scene in Australia so well connected and really vibrant. So I feel like that we're really fortunate here. The other thing is the list of previous winners of the Ned Kelly Awards is absolutely stellar. Um look, I'm not going to bang on forever, but it includes Peter Temple, I know a big favourite of yours, Leigh, Shane Maloney, Helen Garner, Gabriel Lord, Gary Disher, Candace Fox, John Sylvester, and Duncan McNabb, just to name a few. And of course, as everyone knows, the Ned Kelly Awards take their name from Ned Kelly himself. So for everyone here in Australia who knows about this 19th-century Bush Ranger who's just iconic, look, Ned Kelly's life of hardship, rebellion, confrontation with authority really turned him into one of the country's most enduring and widely debated figures. And his story, I think, really sits in that blurry space between crime and legend, and I reckon that's exactly why the awards ended up taking his name, because it gives him this really unmistakably Australian flavour, and it kind of traps into that long tradition that we've got a really gritty, complicated stories that we just love telling about ourselves, and one of the reasons that I love Australian crime. So, of course, in true Aussie fashion, everyone just calls them the Neds because we really do like abbreviating absolutely everything if we're given half the chance.

Leigh 4:18

Yes, we are good at that, aren't we?

Helen 4:20

And of course, I reckon everyone, because you and I, Leigh, both live in Victoria, and I'm pretty sure most of us have made the pilgrimage to Glen rowan, which is the site of Ned Kelly's gang's last stand. It's only a couple of hours' drive from Metro Melbourne. Um, and look, that's just such a wild piece of history in itself, because the actual siege went on for like more than 12 hours. It all got sparked after the gang murdered three police officers at Stringy Bark Creek. And unfortunately, you know, deaths are bound. Three of Ned Kelly's men were then killed at Glenrowan, and of course, Ned himself was captured, got convicted of murder, and was eventually hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol. I think you can see his death mask at the jail if you go on a sort of those macabre tours you can do. Um and we even had thousands of people that actually rallied and signed petitions trying to save him. So it's such a huge part of our soak law, isn't it Leigh? I don't know, have you taken the kids there yet? Is it on the to-do list?

Leigh 5:17

I haven't taken them there yet, but uh I would certainly yeah, I'd certainly like to one day, actually. I think it would be a great trip to do with them. Um and I am looking forward to um being able to sort of help their knowledge on Australian and Victorian history as they get older. So it's a very good idea to take them for a day trip or a trip up there. I'm not quite sure they're ready for prison tours yet, unless I'm trying to just genuinely petrify them against ever doing anything wrong. Which is not a bad strategy.

Helen 5:48

Yeah, it worked successfully with my kids, I can tell you. I think I've still got the photos of them hanging onto the bars trying to get out. It's fantastic.

Leigh 5:56

Well, let's get into the big stuff. The winners of the 2025 Ned Kelly Awards, which we are obviously recapping today. Uh, these were announced in Thabarton, South Australia, last September. Um, and it felt like a really strong year across all the categories. So um, where do you want to start?

Helen 6:14

Oh, good question, Leigh. It was so many good novels to read in this selection. I think we should start at the top, um, the breast crime fiction, because really that's the headline act. And this year, the award actually went to The Creeper by Margaret Hickey, which honestly, for me, having read it, it just felt like the perfect choice. Now, Margaret Hickey, if for anyone who hasn't discovered her yet, she's an award-winning author again from Northeast Victoria. I don't know what it's about Victorians this episode, and pretty much she's been she's been crowned the Queen of Australian rural crime. She's got a best-selling series that fixtures a detective called Mark Arriti, who's been um hugely popular. And the first book, Cutter's End, was even shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Novel. So now she's followed that up with a win for best crime fiction, which is fantastic at the 2025 Meds. And um, yeah, so pretty cool projectory. Now, but the creeper actually takes us somewhere new. So instead of Mark Arriti, we meet a new character. So this is senior constable Sally White, and she's actually the sole police officer in a tiny Victorian country town, and the story kind of centres on the 10-year anniversary of a really brutal massacre where five hikers were found murdered by a local stalker who's called Bill Creeper Duran, and everyone assumes he was responsible. But Bill's brother started asking questions, so Sally starts digging and then she uncovers things that kind of really take her into a much darker spiral. Now, reading the judge's reports, they absolutely love the atmosphere that Hickey created, and they were right, it's really tense, it's unsettling, and it just grabs you from the first page. I was completely hooked and I tore through it in a single weekend. So, and if you're already a Margaret Hickey fan, you'll be really happy to know she's actually got 14 published novels now. And her latest one, called An Ill Wind, it actually brings back the fan favourites, Detective Belinda Burnley, and we'll love it. So that's definitely going straight on my leading list, too.

Leigh 8:22

We have talked about this a lot, and I know we've talked about it um offline as well. But the best debut novel category I find fascinating. It has launched just some massive careers in this country. Jane Harper with The Dry, Sarah Bailey with The Dark Lake, um Dervla McTiernan with The Ruin, Shelley Burr with Wake, which was absolutely one of my favourites, um Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskick, um Joc Serong with Quota, and Josh Kemp with Banjawan. It's a really impressive alumni list. Um, so who is joining that list in 2025?

Helen 9:00

I know I could talk all day about those lists of books. They're all on my favourites. It just shows you the power and the value of these awards. But yes, no, um, best debut novel. So the winner this year is actually a novel called All You Took From Me by Lisa Kenway. And it's actually really intriguing. Now it sort of starts with a really familiar setup because the main character, a Dr. Claire Carpenter, wakes up from a coma in a Sydney hospital to discover that her husband's dead, and of course, she has no memory of what's happened. You know, we all know that trope, but this is where it's a bit different. It kind of what follows is a really gripping psychological thriller. So Claire has to essentially investigate her own life, and the police, though, clearly know more than they're letting on. So she actually has to try and dig through her own fractured memories to piece the truth together. And what makes it really interesting is that our author, Lisa, is a real nice anethetist. So you can actually feel that expertise in the way she writes around memory and consciousness and that kind of strange in-between states of anesthesia, and it kind of gave that story a whole extra layer of authenticity that I found really fascinating. Now, to be honest, Claire wasn't actually the most likable protagonist in the book, and I'm not always a huge fan of first person narration, but for a debut, the pacing of this book is just fantastic. Plot twists are drip fed in such a satisfying way, and I really raced through this book as well. And actually, parts of it even reminded me of um that film Memento. Do you remember that Christopher Nolan film with Guy Pierce? Yeah, where you're constantly questioning what's real and what's reconstructed. And all I have to say to finish off is that I'm still wondering whether what happens at the Megan Medieval Fight Club stays in Fight Club. So yeah, I thought it was a really strong debut, and I'm really curious to see what she writes next.

Leigh 10:58

Yeah, so that one is on my list. Um man, it's a big list. Um, but I am I'm looking forward to reading that as well. Um and I and I love um people who have skills, but you know, particular skills uh or qualifications, obviously in this case she's an etherist. Um being able to sort of shine a light and peek behind the curtain is fantastic. No, we are a I know we are predominantly a crime fiction podcast, but you cannot go past the true crime category. Uh and this year's winner sounds absolutely heartbreaking. Um, what can you tell us about the book that won Best True Crime for 2025?

Helen 11:40

Absolutely. Well, the winner this year, again, um, was a book called A Thousand Miles from Care by Steve Johnson, and it's just an incredibly moving and deeply personal piece of true crime writing, which I think just stands it on a sort of pedestal of its own. And it actually follows a really um tragic story. It follows Steve Johnson's 30-year fight to get the New South Wales justice system to sort of properly investigate the death of his younger brother Scott Johnson, who was found dead at Bluefish Point near Manley back in 1988. And at the time, Steve, who was living in the US and I think he was working as an IT entrepreneur, he was told that Scott had taken his own life, and the explanation was that he jumped naked from a cliff top, leaving his clothes neatly folded above. And police even suggested that it was a common place for gay men to commit suicide, but Steve did not believe that story, and he really refused to let it go. So, what unfolds in the book and how Steve relays it in sort of such a matter-of-fact but just truthful and honest way, is his decades-long battle to uncover that truth, and it took three coronal inquests. Steve had to hire his own private investigator, and he had to just put relentless pressure on the authorities before a proper homicide investigation was finally opened in 2018. Now, in doing that, he actually exposed a much wider, largely hidden history of gay hate crimes in Sydney in the sort of 80s and 90s. And these were attacks that were often never reported, never investigated, and never acknowledged. So it's really a devastating story, but it's really such an extraordinary testament to his sort of persistence and love. And you really feel the weight of those lost decades and the courage it took to keep pushing when everyone around him wanted the case, the case closed. Yeah, just so impactful.

Leigh 13:29

It's such a powerful story, and um it is incredible how long Steve Johnson had to fight just to get the truth recognised. I can't even for a moment imagine the difficulty and the what would be seemingly insurmountable mountains and barriers everywhere. To maintain the energy to fight for as long as he did is you know, it's a it's it's a remarkable effort and yeah, it's um I can I just can't imagine what he went through along the way, and obviously what his brother had gone through. The Ned's also on uh the best crime writing from overseas and this year's best international crime fiction winner has been getting a lot of buzz. What can you tell us about that one?

Helen 14:17

So the winner of the best international crime fiction was actually a book called A Case of Matricide by Graham McRae Bernay. I hope I've pronounced that right. Now, I actually haven't read this one, um, so I did rely on reading the judge's notes, but they were absolutely glowing about it. Um they described it as a brilliantly constructed, psychologically rich mystery that keeps you constantly questioning about what's real and what's been conveniently shaped by the people telling the story, which always piques my interest. And what's interesting about this book is that it brings back one of Bernays' reoccurring characters, Inspector Georges Gorski. Now he's appeared in two of Bernay's earlier novels, and he's very much the anchor in this one as well. And Gorski works in this little unremarkable quiet French town called Saint Louis, and that setting is part of the charm. And the judges talked about how it's a really quiet and ordinary background, and then Bernay drops this murder investigation right in the middle of it, and that kind of works to give the sort of the whole story this simmering tension. And um the judges went on to say that they praise Bernay's ability to blend that procedural detail into the sort of deeper psychological layers, and they said the book was clever and unsettling and kind of full of subtle shifts in perspective that um the authors really become known for. So um they said that even though it's his third outing with Inspector Gorsky, the judges felt that this plot development was really fresh and surprising. So, another one to add to that ever-growing list, Leigh.

Leigh 15:47

Yes, that's exactly right. That sounds really interesting, though. We'll have to put that one on the list as well. Um, so before we wrap up the Ned Kelly's for 2025, I know there was a book on the shortlist this year that really stuck with you. And even though it didn't take home a Ned, um, did you want to give it a quick shout out?

Helen 16:05

I sure do. Now, as you know, I cannot resist a good short story collection. And one of my favourite reads of 2025 of Australian novels was actually a shortlisted title for Best Crime, which I was gunning for. And this is um Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane. Now it's actually her second short story collection and her fourth work of fiction, I think, that she's done. And look, I just thought it was brilliant. I really believe that short stories don't get the love that they deserve, but when they're done well, they can create such an incredible mosaic of voices and moments, and that's exactly what she pulls off here. Now, in this collection, all the stories are really loosely connected through their ties to a serial killer. I don't know what it is about Australians in love with serial killers. But this fellow's name is Joe Bigger, and he's actually modelled on the real-life backpacker murderer Ivan Millette, who hopefully you remember, not for good reasons, but you know, he was famous because he actually murdered two men and five women. I think it was between 1989 and 1992, and what he did was he lured backpackers along the Hume Highway and before he took them into the Belangalow State Forest. And it really was one of the darkest chapters of Australian criminal history. And what McFarlane uses is that backdrop really to explore how violence echoes across communities and across time. Look, I found it such an unsettling, beautifully written book, and it really stayed with me after I finished it. So even though it didn't win, I really wanted to give it a shout out. Now, just before we wrap up, I actually think it's worth mentioning that while the Neds didn't award a Lifetime Achievement Award this year, they do present it occasionally, and it's always a really special moment when they do. And now the past recipients have included some of the absolute giants of Australian crime fiction, and here we go again reeling off these lists, but there's just so many names. There's Peter Corras, who was often called the godfather of Aussie Noir, particularly for his Cliff Hardy novels. Uh, Gabriel Lord, who known as Australia's First Lady of Crime, whose work helped define sort of the modern thriller here in Oz. And Barry Maitland, a Scotsman, who actually moved to Newcastle in New South Wales in the 80s. And he wrote the first of his highly successful Brock and Collar novels, actually inspired by his first hand experience of the massive earthquake that devastated Newcastle back in 1989. Look, and I think it's really just a lovely reminder of the legacy behind this genre and just shows how many writers have paved the way for the incredible talent that we get to celebrate today.

Leigh 18:39

Absolutely. And I'll add Peter Lawrance, who was one of the co-owners of the Kill City bookstore in Melbourne that our the name of our podcast is paying homage to, um, he was also a 2015 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. So a fantastic list of people that have really paved the way and um uh made a massive difference to the Australian crime writing scene.

Helen 19:03

Absolutely. Well, I think that just about covers the Ned Kelly Awards. But before we finish up, and for anyone who wants to dive deeper into the books we've talked about today and maybe get ahead of next year's awards, Leigh, what do they have to keep an eye out for?

Leigh 19:18

So, great question. Uh the 2026 entries will open in March and across those categories. So Best True Crime, Best Debut Crime Fiction, Best Crime Fiction, and Best International Fiction. We'll pop the titles of all the books we've mentioned today into the show notes so you can browse, borrow or buy them at your leisure. And for those that like to follow the NES closely, the 2026 Ned Kelly Awards are already on the horizon. Entries open in March 2026 and close in April with the winners announced in September. Shortlist date hasn't been confirmed yet, still a TBC. My guess is it's probably sort of mid-year. Um, but as soon as the Australian Crime Rides Association releases it, we'll bring you all the details. So keep an eye out on the feed, check the show notes for everything we've talked about today, and we'll guide you through the 2026 shortlist the moment it drops. Now, exciting for me, especially um teaser for the next episode. We are going to be discussing Peter Temple, who you may have already picked up, is one of my favourites. So I'm very much looking forward to um having a discussion on him. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you, Helen. Always good chatting, uh, and I look forward to chatting again soon.

Helen 20:29

Absolutely can't wait.