Carmel Shute
Sisters in Crime’s roving reporter Lucy Sussex is attending the crime festival Bloody Scotland in September. As a taster, a wee dram, she interviewed Tartan noir author Denise Mina who has produced twenty award-winning crime novels, plus plays, comics, and graphic novels since 1996.
“Australian women’s crime writing has well and truly come of age,” says Ruth Wykes, the Judges’ Coordinator for Sisters in Crime’s 25th Davitt Awards for best women’s crime and mystery books, which were announced on Friday night [5/9] in Melbourne’s Angliss Restaurant. “The Davitt Awards have transformed the literary landscape over the past three decades. …
Echo Publishing is generously donating twenty copies of Patricia Wolf’s fourth gripping instalment in her bestselling DS Walker series. Walker is on assignment for the Australian Federal Police, and it couldn’t be more personal. This is his last chance to take down Stefan Markovich – leader of the Vandals outlaw motorcycle gang – the man who has managed to evade justice ever since Walker uncovered his drug operation in Australia’s remote interior.
Sisters in Crime roving reporter Lucy Sussex is attending the crime festival Bloody Scotland. As a taster, here is an interview with Natalie Jayne Clark, author of The Malt Whisky Murders (Polygon, 2025), shortlisted for Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut. It’s a darkly comic sapphic tale, as much about neurodivergence as it is about women in the male whisky industry. And also a good noir fun read. And Natalie recommends her favourite tipples.
For Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to award-winning author Kayte Nunn, who lives in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales. Kayte is the author of seven previous novels, including two contemporary love stories and four works of historical fiction.
Luckily for us, Kayte has turned to crime – firstly with The Only Child, a contemporary-historical crime mystery, and The Palazzo, which is just out with Hachette Australia.
Penguin Books Australia is generously donating twenty copies of Margaret Hickey’s latest rural thriller, An Ill Wind, where a local land owner is found hanging from a huge white blade of a wind turbine.
For Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to award-winning Melbourne author, Maryrose Cuskelly. She writes both fiction and non-fiction. Her books include Wedderburn: A true tale of blood and dust; Original Skin: Exploring the marvels of the human hide, and the novels, The Cane, and The Campers.
Carmel Shute, the co-founder of Sisters in Crime in 1991, spoke to Graduate House at the University of Melbourne on 4 June. She was pleased that that the audience included a few Sisters in Crime members – Katrina Watson, Di Lightfoot, and K L Joy.
Text Publishing is generously donating five copies of four of its best-sellers for the June Crime Stack – Traced by Catherine Jinks, Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke, No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle, and The Name of the Sister by Gail Jones. Join now to be in the running for a free copy.
Award winning Nilima Rao shares her ‘how to’ writing tips with Sisters’ Jacq Ellem. How much research does she do, given her stories are set in Fiji? What did she discover about her writing that she wasn’t prepared for?