Launched by writer Bridget Lawless earlier this year, the Staunch Book Prize celebrates thrillers where women are not beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped, or murdered. Now six titles have made the award’s 2018 shortlist: A.L. Gaylin’s “If I Die Tonight,” Joyce Thompson’s “Cops & Queens,” Anna Porter’s “The Appraisal,” Peter Adamson’s “The Kennedy Moment,” Jock Serong’s “On the Java Ridge,” and Khurrum Rahman’s “East of Hounslow.”
Five of the novels are published, while “Cops & Queens” is looking for a home, the Staunch Prize announced.
“If I Die Tonight” delves into the aftermath of a hit-and-run, and the Budapest-set “The Appraisal” centers on the underground dangers of the high-end art world. “Cops & Queens” is a portrait of a young gay, black cop with several drag personas who goes undercover. “The Kennedy Moment” sees a friends’ weekend getaway taking an unexpected turn, while “On the Java Ridge” traces the collision of a federal election, new legislation regarding asylum-seekers, and a storm on the Indonesian island of Dana. “East of Hounslow” is the story of a small-time drug dealer who is recruited by MI5.
Official synopses of the shortlisted titles are below, courtesy of the Staunch Book Prize.
“If I Die Tonight”
Late one night in the quiet Hudson Valley town of Havenkill, a distraught woman stumbles into the police station—and lives are changed forever. Aimee En, once a darling of the ’80s pop music scene, claims that a teenage boy stole her car, then ran over another young man who’d rushed to help. As Liam Miller’s life hangs in the balance, the events of that fateful night begin to come into focus. But is everything as it seems? The case quickly consumes social media, transforming Liam, a local high school football star, into a folk hero, and the suspect, a high school outcast named Wade Reed, into a depraved would-be killer. But is Wade really guilty? And if he isn’t, why won’t he talk?
“Cops & Queens”
Meet Archer Barron, a black, gay, cross-dressing young man with a law degree and a strong sense of justice. And Elizabeth, the ‘uptown bitch’, a tall and elegant head-turner, attractive to men and women alike. And here’s Darla, drag queen and singer, who lives to perform and is the third in the trio that inhabit this one body and share a soul. “Is that, like, multiple personalities?” Archer’s new lover Ben enquires. Archer considers: “I don’t think so. Just me and the girls.” Still recovering from recent tragedy, a reluctant Archer goes under-cover in an Oakland food bank at the behest of Jerry Dixon, the highest ranking black officer in the Oakland Police Department. He’s been placed there to try and route out whatever the bent white cops on the force are up to under the guise of volunteering for the poor and needy. When Archer meets Ben, a businessman who’s intrigued and attracted to all Archer’s sides, life starts to seem sweet after a long patch of trouble. But the danger Archer has stumbled into sucks everyone into its orbit and could get him and everyone he cares about killed.
“The Kennedy Moment”
Dr Michael Lowell—a mild–mannered American, unshakeably decent and at the top of his profession—accepts an invitation to a weekend reunion of Oxford college friends. He is looking forward to meeting some of them—including front-line Canadian medic Hélène Hevré and the Australian advertising genius Toby Jenks. But the big attraction is the serene young woman from Karachi who rejected him twenty years ago because he was ‘just a little bit too dull’. As the weekend gets under way and old loves and tensions arise, an audacious suggestion is made. It begins as a joke. But it is a joke that none of them can forget.
“The Appraisal”
When wealthy octogenarian Géza Márton hires art expert Helena Marsh to buy back his family’s Titian painting, Helena flies to Budapest to close what she expects will be a reasonably simple sale. But nothing is ever simple in this beautiful, flawed city where corruption abounds. Helena discovers that there are multiple bidders for the painting, including some dangerous Slavs. Soon there are also dead bodies, and a complicated history that leads her to men Márton knew in Vorkuta, one of Stalin’s notorious gulags. As she works to unravel the truth of the painting’s ownership and dodges her tail, the dogged ex-detective Attila Fehér, Helena is forced to call on all her considerable skills to stay alive and out of jail. Smart, fast-paced, and wildly entertaining, The Appraisal is a terrific thriller set against Budapest’s corruption and lost promise.
“On the Java Ridge”
On the Java Ridge, skipper Isi Natoli and a group of Australian surf tourists are anchored off the Indonesian island of Dana. In the Canberra office of Cassius Calvert, Minister for Border Integrity, a federal election looms and a hardline new policy on asylum-seekers is being rolled out. Not far from Dana, the Takalar is having engine trouble. Among the passengers on board fleeing from persecution are nine-year-old Roya, her mother and Roya’s unborn sister. The storm now closing in on the Takalar and the Java Ridge will mean catastrophe for them all.
“East of Hounslow”
Javid – call him Jay – is a dope dealer living in West London. He goes to mosque on Friday, and he’s just bought his pride and joy – a BMW. He lives with his mum, and life seems sweet. But his world is about to turn upside-down. Because MI5 have been watching him, and they think he’s just the man they need for a delicate mission. One thing’s for sure: now he’s a long way East of Hounslow, Jay’s life will never be the same again.
