Carmel Shute
For the April Crime Stack, HQ Fiction has kindly offered 20 copies of The Accident, by award-winning Geelong writer, Fiona Lowe. The Crime Stack is a benefit for Sisters in Crime members. Every month there are 20 books to win in a random draw of members. Join now and be in the running for a complimentary paperback copy of The Accident, a ripper read.
The scene of the crime is all important for Lee Christine. Her three novels in her Snowy Mountains crime trilogy, Charlotte Pass, Crackenback, and Dead Horse Gap are set in and around the small towns and ski resorts of New South Wales, an area she was very familiar with. So, when it was time to pick up her pen or her next novel, Glenrock, she felt it was important to give her readers a strong sense of place once again – this time in the region around Newcastle that has changed enormously since the closure of BHP twenty-five years ago.
For the April Author Spotlight, Natalie Conyer, spoke to Lisa Medved about her debut novel. The Engraver’s Secret. Lisa, an Australian author, lives in the Haque but will be visiting Australia and speaking at Sisters in Crime’s Melbourne event, Reimaging the Sleuth, on Friday 19 April, 8pm. Natalie says that you’d hardly know that The Engraver’s Secret is Lisa Medved’s debut novel: it’s a complex mix of art and crime, a novel about families, and an exciting what-if mystery.
For the March Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Ovidia Yu, one of Singapore’s best-known and most acclaimed writers. Ovidia has had over thirty plays produced and is the author of the Aunty Lee Singaporean Murder Mysteries series and the Crown Colony Crime series, which has been optioned for TV by Poisson Rouge Pictures.
For the March Author Spotlight, Sydney author Natalie Conyer spoke to fellow Sydneyite B.M. Allsopp about Death Off Camera, the fifth book in her popular Fiji Islands Mysteries series, starring policeman and rugby legend Joe Horseman. Here the death of a contestant in a Survivor-like reality series is the start of a thorny investigation for Horseman and his team. Impressive for its realistic portrayal both of life in Fiji and reality TV, Death Off Camera is a satisfying, engrossing treat for crime fiction lovers.
Caroline de Costa first discovered FNQ – Far North Queensland – in 1994 when she came to do a locum in Cairns Hospital. The town had more of a frontier atmosphere then. She was soon hooked by the land, by the work, and by the people. It’s no surprise that when she decided to try her hand at crime fiction, she chose to set it in country she loves.
For the March Crime Stack, Text Publishing has kindly offered 20 copies of To the River, the second thriller by Adelaide writer, Vikki Wakefield. The Crime Stack is a benefit for Sisters in Crime members. Every month there are 20 books to win in a random draw of members.
Join now and be in the running for a complimentary paperback copy of To the River, a ripper read.
Sisters in Crime and the St Kilda community are mourning the death of Brenda Richards at the age of 85. She was a member of Sisters in Crime for over 30 years and wrote two crime novels. Brenda was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2011. primarily for her role in founding the Council of Single Mothers and their Children. A few years later she was made an Ambassador for Women by the Labor Party, as well as the Number 1 female ticket holder for the local St. Kilda City Football Club. In 2021, Brenda received an OAM “for service to the community through social welfare organisations”.
For the February Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Tasmanian author Jo Dixon who has two crime novels under her belt – The House of Now and Then and, now, A Shadow at the Door, both with HarperCollins Australia. Like many writers, Jo has had a varied career. She has been a dental assistant, an event co-ordinator, a travel agent, and has run an online shop-never really believing her passion for writing could lead to anything.
Sisters in Crime Australia’s 24th Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women from 2023 are now open.
The competition is open to books by all women, whether cisgender, transgender or intersex, who are citizens/residents of Australia. Self-published books are eligible. The Davitts cost publishers $25 a title to enter. Many thanks to Swinburne University of Technology for its support.