Fremantle Press crime writer Karen Herbert in the running for coveted Ned Kelly Award

The Ghost Walk by Karen Herbert is on the shortlist for Best Crime Fiction in the 2026 Ned Kelly Awards.

The Ghost Walk’s protagonist is amateur sleuth Ruby Rose Gillespie, who lives with cystic fibrosis. Undeterred by her chronic illness, she sets out to solve the murder of her secret lover, and starts to wonder whether she really knew him at all. 

Karen Herbert said Ruby Rose is close to her heart and she was delighted that her story spoke to the Ned Kelly judges. The character of Ruby Rose was inspired by her good friend Jo Giles who, until her death this year, was a beloved Western Australian poet and winner of the 2024 Australian Slam Poetry Champion.  

Karen said, ‘I was having a coffee with Jo and we were talking about characters with disabilities in crime novels. We wondered how a disability would help or hinder the search for a killer. So, I decided to give it a go and Ruby Rose Gillespie was born.’

Fremantle Press Publisher Georgia Richter described Karen’s work as always distinctive in its choice of unexpected sleuth characters and victims with sometimes ambiguous moral codes. Georgia said, ‘Always full of surprises, Karen’s books are beautifully written and thrilling to read. This shortlisting is well deserved and well overdue.’

Named after Australia’s most notorious bushranger, since 1995 the Ned Kelly Awards have celebrated the best crime reads on offer from Australia’s true crime writers – both debut and established novelists – and from international writers too.

The annual Ned Kelly Awards are run by the Australian Crime Writers Association with the support of AustCrime members, the generosity of local publishers and a starting grant from Copyright Agency Limited (CAL).

Karen joins a prestigious shortlist of writers that includes Jack Beaumont, Jane Caro, Susi Fox, Sally Hepworth, Daniel Oakman, Michael Robotham and Iain Ryan. The winner will be announced in September.