Scarlet Stiletto Bites

“Tallow” by Ellie Marney won the 2010 Scarlet Stiletto Award catapulting her into a publishing contract, a debut novel, and what has turned into a long-term career. Ellie is now a New York Times bestselling and multi-award-winning author of crime thrillers. Her eleven titles include smash hit None Shall Sleep and its Kirkus-starred sequel Some Shall Break, as well as The Killing Code, the Every se...

Siobhan Mullany won the Scarlet Stiletto in 1997. She is a current NSW Convenor of Sisters in Crime. She worked as a criminal defence lawyer. Her non-fiction has been published in legal journals and short stories published by Sisters in Crime. She has also reviewed TV crime shows for Sisters in Crime. Credits Concept designer, co-producer and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Shute Annou...

Roxxy Bent is a founder of Vitalstatisix Theatre Company. She wrote award winning plays for Vitals and other companies; several of which have been published in anthologies. She has also written for the screen. She has worked as an actor and writer on multiple community projects. Winning two Scarlet Stilettos, for best short crime fiction in 2002 and 2006, inspired Roxxy to complete a Masters in Cr...

Cate Kennedy has been writing short stories for going on 30 years, ever since entering the first Scarlet Stiletto Awards in 1994 and winning two trophies in a row (after which she was invited to become a judge). Cate rapidly became one of Australia’s most admired and awarded short-story writers. She’s also written and published a novel, a travel memoir, and three collections of poetry. Cate works...

Evelyn Tsitas is writer, artist, and curator. Her published and performed works range across fiction, nonfiction, stage, and journalism. Evelyn’s short story “Undeceive” won the first prize trophy and Innovation Prize in the 2008 Scarlet Stiletto Awards and while it piqued the interest of publishers it was deemed too innovative – as it was in verse! By that stage, however, Evelyn was on a path to...

Journalist and award-winning short story writer Blanche Clark hails from Melbourne/Naarm. After seven years as the Herald Sun's Books Editor, she became an uber-mature, part-time creative writing student at Swinburne University. When she is not working, studying, writing or reading, Blanche traverses Melbourne hunting for the best coffee and pastries, and making time-wasting reels featuring food,...

In 2018 Philomena’s dear friend and co-founder of Sisters in Crime, Mary-Ann Metcalf, died unexpectedly. After the funeral, Philomena was prompted to enter the Scarlet Stilettos for the first time – and won! She entered again the following year and came runner-up. Naturally, a life of crime writing beckoned. To better study the craft, in 2020 Philomena joined the Davitt Judges panel as its Coordin...

Rowena is a cross-genre writer with a preference for writing crime. She has been publishing short stories, creative non-fiction and articles since 1994 in various magazines including Southerly and Island . In 2017 she won six awards for her short stories and creative non-fiction, of which the most thrilling was the Scarlet Stiletto Award. Winning the Stiletto, and gazing on the shoe every day – it...

In 2003, when Jacqui won the Scarlet Stiletto Award, she was an emerging writer working at Victoria Police and scratching away at short stories. In 2016, when she won the special Silver Stiletto at Sisters in Crime convention, SheKilda 3, she was an emerging writer who had two draft manuscripts and a number of published short stories under her belt. The shoes have boosted her confidence and remind...

TJ Hamilton is a retired police officer, a criminologist, a published author, a one-time crime reporter, and now TV screenwriter. With a deep understanding of the crime genre, TJ is one of Australia's most sought-after technical consultants and story producers for scripted dramas, having worked across various productions in both Australia and the U.S.Winning the shoe in 2015 was a huge turning poi...

When Judith won the trophy in2014, she had sold a few stories to That’s Life and been published in a few obscurejournals with three readers. Flying to Melbourne and attending the event made her feel recognised as a writer. When she returned to Perth, there was a work thang summing up the year so far and the University Librarian said “and now we have an award-winning writer”, which was terribly exc...

In 2013, Candice Graham was studying her Masters in Clinical Neuropsychology when she won the Scarlett Stiletto Award. Just one year prior, she won the Catherine Leppert Best Environmental Theme Award with her first ever Scarlet Stiletto entry. Candice reportedly remembers thinking at that time (surrounded by such talented ladies) that first prize was probably out of her reach. Above all else, Can...

Eleven years elapsed between Josephine Pennicott’s first Scarlet Stiletto shoe for “Birthing the Demons” in 2001 and her second shoe for “Shadows” in 2012. This taught her a lot about tenacity and belief in self. Winning the Scarlet Stiletto helped Josephine gain attention from a major publishing company, which led to her securing a literary agent. Since then, she has had five books published both...

Angela Savage is an award-winning writer, former CEO of Writers Victoria, and current CEO of Public Libraries Victoria. Her debut novel, Behind the Night Bazaar , featured Jayne Keeney, the Thai-based P I in her story which won third prize in 1998. The book won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Unpublished Manuscript, and all three of her Jayne Keeney PI novels were shortlisted for Ned Ke...

Sometimes an investigation on a hot case unearths a revelation about a cold case. In today’s story, a rookie Constable must sort through her suspicions to find the prime suspect… Fin J Ross has become a repeat offender, winning several Scarlet Stiletto category prizes in the past ten years. She finally kidnapped the coveted Scarlet Stiletto trophy at the 2022 awards with her entry, “Tuesday Jocks”...

Bad dreams often come from bad deeds, but who’s bad deeds…. Janis Spehr lives in northern Victoria. She has published five story collections and a novel with Ginninderra Press. She is currently writing her second novel, The Blue Door. Her writing journey has taken her away from crime fiction but she retains fond memories of the Scarlet Stiletto. She won first prize two years on a trot, 1999 and 20...

Everyone seems to be buying, selling, even collecting online – but scammers are lurking in cyberspace and even hard copy vintage books are targeted, as you’ll see in today’ s story. When Liz Filleul won the Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2004, she had recently rediscovered the children’s books she’d loved growing up in England – books like the Famous Five, the Chalet School, the Lone Piners, and Antoni...

Some crimes are solved by intuition or gut instinct. Others by serendipity. In today’s story an OpShop provided clues... Cate Kennedy has been writing short stories for going on 30 years, ever since entering the first Scarlet Stiletto Awards in 1994 and winning two trophies in a row (after which she was invited to become a judge). Cate rapidly became one of Australia’s most admired and awarded sho...

The outback of Australia can hold many mysteries and secrets. And its vastness can cover a criminal’s tracks and a family’s hidden past... Hayley Young lives in Canberra with her family and enjoys writing across multiple genres. In 2021, she was at work (sneaking a snack) when she returned a missed call to learn she had won the 28th Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Award and Scriptworks Award for...

Murders happen in the strangest places and for the strangest reasons… as today’s story illustrates. When Aoife Clifford won the Scarlet Stiletto in 2007, she was at home with two small children, suffering terrible morning sickness with what was soon to be her third. Now her eldest has left home and her third crime novel is about to come out in hardback in the UK and she is writing her fourth. The...

Sometimes is gets very hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. And often the good guys can get burnout, like Lizzie in today’s story. In 2003, Jacqui Horwood was an emerging writer working at Victoria Police and scratching away at short stories. In 2016 she was an emerging writer who had two draft manuscripts and a number of published short stories under her belt. The shoes have boosted her...

Crime can come close to us in more ways than one. Would you rather have a loved one who is a victim? Or a perpetrator? The Mother in today’s story, has both. Eleven years elapsed between Josephine Pennicott’s first Scarlet Stiletto shoe for “Birthing the Demons” in 2001 and her second shoe for “Shadows” in 2012. This taught her a lot about tenacity and belief in self. Winning the Scarlet Stiletto...

Sometimes it is hard to look past the “usual suspects” when a crime is investigated. Perhaps it even takes a smidge of “women’s intuition... Ruth Wykes is an author and editor who lives and works on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Ruth has co-authored two true crime books: Women Who Kill with Lindy Cameron and Invisible Women with Kylie Fox (both Clan Destine Press). Ruth is currently writing her...

Do we really wonder WHY women kill? We watched the TV series of that name… well a lot of us did. Long before Coercive Control was even a thing, women were responding to it, with dreams of their own domestic revenge. In today's Scarlet Stiletto Bite - the character Cyndi, an ordinary suburban woman does a bit more than dream… Back in 2005, a friend suggested to Julie Waight that she enter the Siste...

We all feel cynical sometimes, don't we? Today on Scarlet's Stiletto Bites, we meet a super cynic. She's seen everything, but her cynicism leads her to discover seriously sinister crimes. Thursday Night at the Opera by Christina Lee, the Scarlett's Stiletto winner in 1998, and warning: there are a few dark themes in this story. About the Author, Christina LeeChristina Lee won the Scarlet Stiletto...