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 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.
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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 Fourteenth Cut
The prize-winning short stories are now available in Scarlet Stiletto: The Fourteenth Cut, edited by Phyllis King, and with an introduction by Christina Lee.
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and category-winning stories and authors for 2022 are:
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 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 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 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 – 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
