David Whish-Wilson page-turner, Cutler, shortlisted for Danger Award
Cutler has garnered its second shortlisting in as many weeks. The first book in Whish-Wilson’s undercover series has been named in the Crime Fiction category of the 2025 Danger Awards.
To be announced on 13 September, the winner will receive $1,000 prize money, a Danger Award Trophy and will be invited to speak at the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival 2026.
Cutler follows off-the-books undercover operative Paul, who is tasked with investigating the disappearance of an Australian marine scientist on a Taiwanese distant water fishing vessel.
The next book in the series, O’Keefe, will be released in October 2025. Assuming his new identity as Paul O’Keefe, Paul is tasked with finding the supplier of a surge of Mexican cartel meth flooding Australian streets.
About the award:
Now in their eighth year, the Danger Awards continue to honour books featuring Australia as a setting for stories about crime and justice. At the BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival in September 2025, four awards will be presented: for Best Crime Fiction, for Best Crime Fiction Debut, for Best Crime Non-Fiction and thanks to the generous sponsorship of OverDrive Australia, a People’s Choice award will be presented, selected from the shortlist in all three categories.
The full Best Crime Fiction shortlist is:
- Shadow City by Natalie Conyer (Echo Publishing)
- Sanctuary by Garry Disher (Text Publishing)
- Bone Lands by Pip Fioretti (Affirm)
- High Wire by Candice Fox (Penguin Random House)
- Joy Moody is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne (Penguin Random House)
- Highway 13 by Fiona McFarlane (Allen & Unwin)
- Pheasant’s Nest by Louise Milligan (Allen & Unwin)
- The Dream by Iain Ryan (Ultimo Press)
- Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor (Pan Macmillan)
- Cutler by David Whish Wilson (Fremantle Press)
