Where women writers talk about their crime craft.
For the June Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Yrsa Sigurdardottir, the best-selling author who has helped put Icelandic crime writing on the world map. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir has authored a successful award-winning crime series of books based around the central character of Thora Gudmundsdottir, who is a lawyer and single mother of two children. She has also written, to critical acclaim, several stand-alone thrillers and horror novels.
For the May Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to WA regional author, Fleur McDonald who has more than 20 novels to her credit and has sold more than 850,000 copies. All of Fleur’s novels are set in regional Australia and she’s often called the “Voice of the Outback”. She was writing rural noir before it was a concept. Fleur’s storylines draw inspiration from having lived and worked on farms for much of her life and she now owns 4050ha farm east of Esperance.
Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Melbourne author Kylie Orr for the April Murder Monday. Kylie has two much-praised novels to her credit – Someone Else’s Child, and now The Eleventh Floor which has a fabulous tagline, “The view is a killer…”.
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 December Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Hannah Richell, dual citizen of the UK and Australia, and author of four international bestselling novels – Secrets of the Tides (2012), The Shadow Year (2014), The Peacock Summer (2019) and The River Home (2020). Hannah’s latest novel is The Search Party (out very soon with Simon & Schuster).
For the November Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem talks to Patricia Wolf, author of the international bestselling debut novel, Outback. Her second DS Walker novel, Paradise, came out in May, and a third one is in the offing.
Patricia grew up in Queensland, Australia. She likes whisky and strong coffee, busy cities, surf beaches and wild places which doesn’t quite square with now living in Berlin.
This month’s the guest is best-selling South Australian author, Mercedes Mercier. Mercedes has two novels featuring criminal psychologist, Dr Laura Fleming. The wonderfully titled White Noise and Black Lies are both set in Westmead Prison where Laura is faced with confronting cases.
This month’s the guest is award-winning UK author, Elly Griffiths, who has three different series and various standalone mysteries under her belt. Dr Ruth Galloway, her archaeologist sleuth, appeared fully-formed as she walked the Norfolk marshes.
Nicki Thornton, the award-winning children’s writer from Oxfordshire, England, is our guest author for the August Murder Monday. She spoke about her crime craft to Jacq Ellem, bibliophile, copywriter, occasional broadcaster, award-winning podcaster, and a member of the new Tasmanian chapter. Nicki’s latest crime novel is the wonderfully-titled The Poisoned Pie Mystery.
Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem gives the Murder Monday treatment to American cosy crime writer Raquel V. Reyes, author of the Caribbean Kitchen Mystery Series featuring Latina sleuth, Miriam Quiñones-Smith. Her Cuban-American heritage, Miami, and ‘Spanglish’ feature prominently in her work.