Sisters in Crime and Allen & Unwin present Dark Deeds & Dramatic Reads

This special event showcases the remarkable talents of three Melbourne women crime writers – Sarah Bailey, Mali Cornish, and Riley James.

Sarah will talk to fellow crime author, Tanya Scott, about her latest thriller, Click (Allen & Unwin), the second to feature journalist Oli Groves, the founder of a fledgling digital news site. Melbourne is gripped by fear after a backpacker’s body is found with a cryptic note and two more women vanish without trace. She teams up with rookie detective Penelope Kibbs, who is desperate to stop the violence before more women are lost.

Sarah’s internationally award-winning Gemma Woodstock series includes The Dark Lake, published in 2017 and winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Debut, followed by Into the Night (2018), Where the Dead (2019), and Body of Lies (2024). Sarah also published the bestselling The Housemate and Audible original Final Act in 2021. The Dark Lake is currently in development for TV, with Phoebe Tonkin set to play Gemma.

Mali Cornish and Riley James will read briefly from their forthcoming novels.

Mali’s novel, The Missing Mother, out in April with the imprint Atlantic Books Australia, is a razor-sharp psychological suspense thriller. When Elspeth returns from New York to her hometown of Geelong, it’s not for a holiday – it’s because her mother has vanished. Elspeth teams up with a local crime reporter to search for the truth.

Mali was born in Geelong. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne. Her debut novel, Judgement Day (2023, as Mali Waugh), was shortlisted for the Danger Awards Best Debut 2024.

The Wreck, out with Allen & Unwin in September, is another icy twist from Riley James. Her much-praised debut novel, The Chilling (2024), was set in Antarctica. The Wreck also heads in that direction. It has a 1977 mystery at its core – a young pilot vanished over Bass Strait after a chilling radio transmission that a large aircraft seemed to be flying above him. Twenty years later, a rumour surfaces that the plane wreck has been sighted on a remote island in the notorious ‘Bermuda Triangle of the South’. A group of researchers sets sail to uncover the truth, including a UFO enthusiast.

Riley James is the pen name of Jacqueline Broad. She was born and raised in north-west Tasmania and trained briefly as a journalist before completing a PhD and becoming an academic. 

Host Tanya Scott is the author of Still Water (Allen & Unwin, 2025) and works as a doctor and educator based on the Surf Coast of Victoria. Her writing is inspired by her work with patients in mental health care, although her love of twisty mysteries and pacy thrillers has made her an accidental crime writer.

Men, or ‘brothers-in-law’, welcome.

Further info: publicity@allenandunwin.com