ABIAS 2023 Shortlist Announced
19 April 2023
We’re pleased to announce we have four titles shortlisted for the 2023 Australian Book Industry Awards.
General Fiction Book Of The Year
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Published in Large Print in October 2022.
I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder. Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort.
The thing is, us Cunninghams don't really get along. We've only got one thing in common: we've all killed someone. My brother, my stepsister, my wife, my father, my mother, my sister-in-law, my uncle, my stepfather, my aunt. Even me.
(Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once.)
When they find the first body in the snow, it's clear that only a Cunningham could have committed the crime - and it's up to me to prove it.
There are plenty of killers in my family. But only one murderer...
International Book Of The Year
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell
Published in CD, MP3 CD Audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in October 2022.
Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight when the duke requests her hand in marriage. Having barely left girlhood, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appears to be before their wedding, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? As Lucrezia sits in uncomfortable finery for the painting that is to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court's eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, her future hangs entirely in the balance.
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
Published in Large Print in October 2022.
It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal.
Except that trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club is concerned. A local news legend is on the hunt for a sensational headline, and soon the gang are hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart.
To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit, presenting her with a deadly mission: kill or be killed...
While Elizabeth grapples with her conscience (and a gun), the gang and their unlikely new friends (including TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels) unravel a new mystery. But can they catch the culprit and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again?
The Matt Richell Award For New Writer Of The Year
Wake by Shelley Burr
Published in Large Print, CD, MP3 CD Audiobook and uLibrary eAudiobook in July 2022.
Mina McCreery's sister Evelyn disappeared nineteen years ago. Her life since has been defined by the intense public interest in the case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, she lives alone on her family's destocked sheep farm.
When Lane, a private investigator, approaches her with an offer to reinvestigate the case, she rejects him. The attention has had nothing but negative consequences for her and her family, and never brought them closer to an answer.
Lane wins Mina's trust when his unconventional methods show promise - but he has his own motivations for wanting to solve the case. And his obsession with finding the answer will ultimately risk both their lives...