Dubbo author Toni Grant is checking her emails regularly after her debut novel Serpent Song was included on the long list for the Sisters in Crime 18th Davitt Awards.
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The competition’s short list is set for release early this month.
Sisters in Crime has been running the Davitt Awards since 2001 to find and acknowledge the best crime books written by Australia women.
They are named after author of Australia’s first mystery novel Force and Fraud, Ellen Davitt.
In 2018 a total of 101 books are vying for six awards, 37 of them debut offerings.
Serpent Song was nominated by its publisher, Melbourne-based Brolga Publishing.
The nomination coincided with the release earlier this year of Mrs Grant’s sequel to Serpent Song called Serpent Sting.
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“My publisher contacted them and gave them a synopsis of Serpent Song as well as a copy of the book,” Mrs Grant told the Daily Liberal.
“The judges go through and vet all the submissions and create a long list.
“To get through the vetting process and get onto the long list feels pretty awesome.”
Mrs Grant is competing in the categories of best adult crime novel, best debut book in any category and readers’ choice.
There are 71 adult crime novels on the long list with multiple entries by some authors.
Former winners of the category include Liane Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies.
Serpent Song is described as an action-packed thriller involving love, greed, betrayal and moral conflict.
It is set against an organised crime background and follows Detective Francesca Salucci from Sydney to Western NSW, Rome and the glittering Cinque Terre.
Serpent Sting “unravels one family’s desire for revenge and another’s quest for peace” from an Afghanistan war zone to Fiji and Venice.
Mrs Grant has begun work on the third book in her crime/drama series.
“I wrote the first five chapters of the third book early this year,” she said. “I am really excited at how it’s coming along.”
But the passionate writer has shelved the book temporarily as she adapts a play to be performed by Black Box Creatives youth theatre company based at Western Plains Cultural Centre.
“This opportunity came up and I couldn’t say no,” she said.
