If you’re any kind of creative person sitting at your desk in your metaphorical attic, then your days are tinted by whatever colour you give to failure. . . like all creative people daring and failing to spin gold from straw I strive to find ways to tame that wolf of failure, and to go forward, as Richard Flanagan says – in terror, smiling!
Suzanne Frankham, author of Shadow Over Edmund Street (Journeys to Words Publishing), told Maggie Baron that the collision of the past and present pushes her story into the thriller genre and towards its ultimate climax. The story is set in Ponsonby, a Victorian-era neighbourhood, close to the city centre, and the harbour in Auckland, where Suzanne grew up.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible.
Lewis also knows but can’t reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret.
Five days later, Esther’s buried body is discovered.
Need a good book for the festive season? You can’t go past Scarlet Stiletto: The Fourteenth Cut, a collection of winning stories from this year’s competition, edited by Phyllis King.
For the December Crime Stack, Simon and Schuster has kindly offered 20 copies of The Next Girl by Perth author Pip Drysdale. To be in the running you need to be a member of Sisters in Crime. Why not join now?
Jacq Ellem, a member of the newly minted Tasmanian Chapter, will be hosting Murders Mondays in the New Year. Jacq is a bibliophile, copywriter, occasional broadcaster and award-winning podcaster, which sounds really wanky but is her only claim to fame.
This Estonian series has the classic crime tropes, think Agatha Christie meets Death in Paradise, with the added element of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads. The Talking Heads technique requires compelling writing and acting. This series has both, according to Sisters in Crime TV reviewer, Siobhan Mullany.
What are the joys and challenges of writing YA mysteries? Robyn Walton spoke to and long-time member, Joanna Baker, about her latest YA novel, Evermore (Soren Press, 2022) for Sisters in Crime’s December Author Spotlight. Joanna spends her time between north-west Victoria and Hobart where she grew up.
A capacity crowd gathered on Saturday night (3 December) to celebrate Sisters in Crime’s 29th Scarlet Stiletto Awards at South Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel. Nicole Chamoun, star of Troppo, based on the book, Crimson Lake, by long-term member, Candice Fox, presented the awards, after first discussing her life in crime with award-winning author and podcaster, Vikki Petraitis.
The paradisiac free-diving haven that embraces Jo Ainsley without judgement is not all it seems. It harbours some sinister secrets – and so does Gabe. Jo searches for answers, but is she prepared for what she uncovers? She must decide where her loyalties lie and if she is really ready to confront the darkness of her past…