Where women writers talk about their crime craft.
Pregnant cops – and cops with very young babies – don’t feature a lot (in fact hardly ever) in crime fiction. NSW award-winning author, Dinuka McKenzie, has been redressing the balance with her two novels, The Torrent, and Taken.
April’s guest is Vikki Petraitis, true crime queen turned international podcast sensation and award-winning crime fiction author. Vikki has a long association with crime, starting with The Phillip Island Murder in 1994. Since then, she has written another 17 true crime books, but last year, she crossed a genre line with her PhD novel, The Unbelieved, which won the inaugural Allen & Unwin Crime Fiction Award and was published in August to much acclaim.
For the latest Murder Monday, Jacq Ellem spoke to author Tansy Rayner Roberts who crimes crime under her pen name Livia Day – they’re cozy, witty, and wickedly funny, Tasmanian murder mysteries. Her five crime novels include A Trifle Dead, Drowned Vanilla, Keep Calm and Kill the Chef, Dyed & Buried, and her most recent title, Drop Dead in Red which features scones, murder, and baby goats.
Sisters in Crime is thrilled to announce the resumption of Murder Mondays after a five-month break. Our new presenter is Jacq Ellem, bibliophile, copywriter, occasional broadcaster, award-winning podcaster, and a member of the new Tasmanian chapter. This time round, our guest author is Nicki Greenberg who won Sisters in Crime’s 22nd Davitt Award for Best Children’s Novel for The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel (Affirm Press).
Jacqueline Bublitz won an amazing two Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Awards on 27 August for Before You Knew My Name – Best Debut Book and the Readers’ Choice award. All 169 books in contention competed for this award as decided by the 500+ members of Sisters in Crime. Before You Knew My Name has the unusual distinction of being narrated by a dead woman. She spoke to Karina Kilmore, debut crime writer, journalist, and interviewer for Sisters in Crime Australia, about her novel approach and how she crafted her book.
Melbourne author, Megan Goldin, has developed an international reputation for her gripping psychological thrillers. All are set in the United States. Here latest thriller. her fourth – Stay Awake – is just out with Michael Joseph. A magazine writer wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. She soon finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing …
Anna Snoekstra’s books have been published in over 20 countries and 16 languages and her first audio drama, This Isn’t Happening, is out with Audible later this year. Her short stories have won Australian Shadows Awards, Ditmar Awards and Aurealis Awards. Anna talked about her career and crime craft with Carmel Shute, Sisters in Crime’s secretary, for July’s Murder Monday.
Sue Williams has an unusual background for a crime writer. She has a PhD in marine biology and has worked as a science writer and chartered accountant. Her four novels featuring Cass Tuplin are set in the tiny town of Rusty Bore in the Mallee. Cass’s café might sell fish and chips but it’s a hell of a long way from the sea … Her latest book is Death at the Belvedere (just out with Text Publishing).
Brisbane author, Kylie Kaden, started off writing romantic suspense but has increasingly turned to the dark side with two domestic noir thrillers, The Day the Lies Began, which came out in August 2019, and now One of Us, out with Pantera Press this month. She talked about the transition with author Karina Kilmore for Sisters in Crime’s May Murder Monday.
The latest Murder Monday features Aoife Clifford who now has three crime novels under her belt but cut her teeth on short stories. Aoife’s very first crime short story won Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2007. She then became a serial offender, taking out another six category awards in the next six years.
