Scarlet Stiletto The Seventh Cut 2015

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.

The Second Cut features a thrilling selection of stories culled from the Scarlet Stiletto Awards held annually by Sisters in Crime Australia. This sequel to the bestselling First Cut features the 1st Prize winners from 2007 - 2010, and a selection of category winners from the 17-year history of the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. 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.

Scarlet Stiletto: The First Cut presents a superb collection of spine-chilling crime fiction stories culled from the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards hosted by Sisters in Crime Australia. You'll find the whole gamut from murder and mayhem to police procedurals and crime in verse. Some 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

The Scarlet Stiletto Awards were set up 26 years ago to encourage and support female crime writers. Since then over 3000 stories have been entered in the annual short story competition which requires the author and the main protagonist of the story to be women. 2017 saw 186 entries, 26 of which were shortlisted, with 13 being chosen to receive awards and which appear in this collection. The stories are set in varied locations, from the outback to busy cities; they are funny, poignant and thought-provoking. But they are all written by talented women and Sisters in Crime are honoured to present their work.

Thirty years of silver blades, scarlet stains and the most elegant of heels. Thirty years of slipping in the knife, tightening the noose, measuring out the poison. Thirty years of whispered threats and tangled plots, of murder and mayhem. For thirty years, the annual Scarlet Stiletto women's crime and mystery short story competition - run by Sisters in Crime Australia - has uncovered dreadful deeds, righteous revenge, deadly high-jinks and wicked shenanigans, all while shining a light on the emerging and seasoned talent of Australian women who've taken to a life writing crime. Celebrate this great competition's 30th anniversary with the gorgeous pearls that are the Scarlet Stiletto's First Prize winners, from 1994 to 2023, and discover why it's criminal what a girl has to do, to get a good read. The winning perpetrators are: Cate Kennedy, Christina Lee, Siobhan Mullany, Janis Spehr, Josephine Pennicott, Roxxy Bent, Jacqui Horwood, Liz Filleul, Julie Waight, Aoiffe Clifford, Evelyn Tsitas, Amanda Wrangles, Ellie Marney, Angela Savage, Candice Graham, Judith Bridge, TJ Hamilton, Ruth Wykes, Rowena Harding-Smith, Philomena Horsley, Blanche Clark, Jessica Southern Reid, Hayley Young, Fin J. Ross, and Romany Rzechowicz. Crime and mystery short stories of startling originality; and a grim warning of what evil lurks in Australian suburbia. - Kerry Greenwood, Sponsor of the Malice Domestic Award

The New York Times bestselling authors of Celebutantes return with a dazzling new novel set among the star-studded crowds of the Cannes Film Festival, where everyone's hoping to discover, sign, screw or become the Next Big Thing. And a three-picture deal would be nice. Lola Santisi—CEO of a struggling fashion line, reformed Actorholic and daughter of Hollywood Royalty—is now not only bicoastal, she's Bi-Lolar: That is the condition which causes her to swing like a pendulum between the opposing poles of the fashion world in New York and the real world with her Doctor Boyfriend in Los Angeles. She hardly knows which shoe fits her anymore: the Louboutin stiletto or the Croc. As Lola tries to launch Julian Tennant's new dress line, it looks like they're about to get their next big break: his wedding dresses have been chosen to feature in the top film at the Cannes Film Festival. And suddenly Lola is staging a full-blown couture show on a yacht – in the middle of the Med. Think those super models had trouble walking down the catwalks at Fashion Week? With an unexpected finale twist, this time it's Lola who's tumbling off the runway. Having recently endured a disastrous break-up with Lola's brother Christopher, Kate Woods, Lola's BFF and CAA's rising star agent, is newly single, and focused 24-7 on her clients. The only thing worse than thinking it was a good idea for Kate to date Lola's brother, is thinking it was a good idea for Kate to put one of her most loose-cannon clients, Nic Knight, in Lola's father's movie. Among Kate's other mega star clients is Saffron Sykes whose appearance on the cover of Vain magazine in Julian Tennant could be the difference between Julian Tennant, Inc. weathering the economy or going bust. As Lola fights to survive the Cannes Film Festival, will she get swept into the French Riviera's riptide of glamour and superficiality? Are real love and couture mutually exclusive? Or can Lola have it all – the good doctor and her Louboutins. With her father and brother vying for the same prize, her mother starring in her new reality show, and one heartbroken girlfriend about to declare motherhood, it's all on Lola to come up with the answers. And it's going to take more than one of her mother's prosperity chants to save the day.

Decreed by David Letterman (tongue in cheek) on CBS TV’s The Late Show to be the pick of “Dave’s Book Club 2006,” Candy Girl is the story of a young writer who dared to bare it all as a stripper. At the age of twenty-four, Diablo Cody decided there had to be more to life than typing copy at an ad agency. She soon managed to find inspiration from a most unlikely source— amateur night at the seedy Skyway Lounge. While she doesn’t take home the prize that night, Diablo discovers to her surprise the act of stripping is an absolute thrill. This is Diablo’s captivating fish-out-of-water story of her yearlong walk on the wild side, from quiet gentlemen’s clubs to multilevel sex palaces and glassed-in peep shows. In witty prose she gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at this industry through a writer’s keen eye, chronicling her descent into the skin trade and the effect it had on her self-image and her relationship with her now husband.

Currawongs appearing at the Manor in vast numbers had come to portend one thing... Death was on its way. When photographer Elizabeth Thorrington is invited to document the history of Currawong Manor for a book, she is keen to investigate a mystery from years before: the disappearance of her grandfather, the notorious artist Rupert Partridge, and the deaths of his wife, Doris, and daughter, Shalimar. For years, locals have speculated whether it was terrible tragedy or a double murder, but until now, the shocking truth of what happened at the Manor that day has remained a secret. Relocating to the manor, Elizabeth interviews Ginger Flower, one of Rupert's life models from the seventies, and Dolly Shaw, the daughter of the enigmatic 'dollmaker' who seems to have been protected over the years by the Partridge family. Elizabeth is sure the two women know what happened all those years ago, but neither will share their truths unconditionally. And in the surrounding Owlbone Woods, a haunting presence still lurks, waiting for the currawongs to gather... An evocative tale set in the spectacular Blue Mountains, Currawong Manor is a mystery of art, truth and the ripple effects of death and deception.