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).
This series has stayed with me. The reason is Amanda Pharrell. The series is based on the book Crimson Lake by Sydney Sisters in Crime member, Candice Fox. Fox created a character in Amanda who is difficult to like and more difficult to understand. Nicole Chamoun plays her to perfection. She is compelling from her first appearance.
I’ve learned to keep going and get the words down, even when I feel under the pump, knowing I can always come back and edit later. And I’ve learned that research can be a rabbit hole! I spent days reading about witness protection in the UK, first-hand accounts of it, legislation, and how it works. It was fascinating though.
For the June Crime Stack, Affirm Press has kindly offered 20 copies of The Shadow House, a haunting psychological thriller from Anne Downes. When single mother Alex flees her abusive relationship and moves with her teenage son and baby girl to a rural ecovillage, she thinks she’s made the best decision of her life. But her arrival at Pine Ridge disturbs barely submerged secrets and this time there may be nowhere else to run.
One of the silver linings of two terrible years of lockdowns has been Zoom which has allowed Sisters in Crime to feature authors from all over Australia and parts beyond. It has enabled us to reach a national and indeed global audience, and to hold AGMs such as this where all members can participate, irrespective of geographical location. Temporarily, at least, we have overcome the tyranny of distance.
For the May Crime Stack, Scribe Publications has kindly offered 20 copies of All That I Remember About Dean Cola, the third novel by Victorian Sisters in Crime member, Tania Chandler.
The original inspiration for The Scarlet Cross came from my sister, who is an avid crime reader and a former psychiatric nurse. She was the one who suggested a hospital as the setting for a crime novel and I heartily agreed: the caregivers in a hospital are often at the coal face of crime, especially in the emergency department.
I’ve researched just about every plausible way to murder someone– and how to get away with it. At least, that’s what I tell my husband from time to time. Generally, when he’s annoying me.
Sisters in Crime celebrated its 30th birthday at the magnificent new Victorian Pride Centre in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda on Saturday (23 April). The building resounded with the voices of nearly a hundred Sisters in Crime and Brothers-in-Law belting out the chorus of “Sisters are writin’ it for themselves”.
Being back on Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, for Sisters in Crime’s 30th birthday party on 23 April, was a step back in time for the host, Sue Turnbull, Sisters in Crime’s Ambassador-at-Large. The story of her first event at Leo’s Spaghetti Bar induced much laughter.