Journalist Sleuths

Who better than newshounds to uncover mysteries and track down murderers? Three Melbourne authors, Louise Milligan, Laraine Stephens, and Madeleine Cleary, talk about how and why journalists make such superlative investigators with former journalist and crime author, Dr Liz Porter.

In Shellybanks (Allen & Unwin), Louise Milligan’s sequel to Pheasants Nest, journalist Kate Delaney is in Greece recovering from her rape and abduction but returns to Dublin to comfort her beloved aunt Dolores—only to discover Dolores has her own buried trauma. As a teenager, Dolores was drawn into a disturbing religious movement that stole her youth, her freedom, and so much more. With Kate’s help, she is determined to confront the powerful network that made her suffer years of silence and shame. On the sands of Shellybanks, where tides can quickly turn treacherous, Kate once nearly drowned, and it plays a key role in Dolores’ revelations.

Louise is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist for ABC TV’s Four Corners. Her first novel, Pheasants Nest, was published in 2024 to wide acclaim. She is also the author of two bestselling non-fiction books: Cardinal, The Rise and Fall of George Pell, and Witness, An Investigation into the Brutal Cost of Seeking Justice. Her books have been awarded multiple prizes, including the Walkley Book Award, the Davitt Awards Best Non-Fiction Crime Book, the Melbourne Prize for Literature People’s Choice Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award’s People’s Choice prize, the Sir Owen Dixon Chambers Law Reporter of the Year Award, a Press Freedom Medal, and a shortlisting for the Stella Prize. Born in Ireland to an Irish mother and Scottish father, Louise moved to Australia as a child. More info here.

In The White Feather Murders, the fifth in Laraine Stephens’ series, the Argus’s senior crime reporter, Reggie da Costa, feels compelled to investigate the deaths of three people named and shamed in the Poison Pen column in The Truth newspaper in 1927. Each clutched a white feather. What is the connection between the anonymous Poison Pen and the people he ridicules: the president of the Melbourne Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a nurse, a politician, a doctor, and a priest? What is the significance of the white feather? Can Reggie unmask the Poison Pen and bring a murderer to justice?

After thirty-five years as a teacher-librarian, Laraine threw off her pink twinset, tartan skirt, string of pearls, sensible shoes, and 400 denier tights to find out what life was like on the other side of the bookshelves. Donning a tracksuit and moccasins, she was primed to write crime fiction!  Laraine has a seven-book contract with Level Best Books (USA) for the Reggie da Costa Mysteries. More info here.

Madeleine Cleary’s debut novel, The Butterfly Women (2025, Affirm Press), exposes Melbourne’s underbelly in the prosperous 1860s. Behind its shiny new facade, the real Melbourne could be found in the notorious red-light district of Little Lon, full of brothels where rich and poor alike can revel all night. The most glamorous among them is Papillon. For poor Irishwoman Johanna Callaghan, a job at Papillon could be her ticket to success, but in a time when women’s lives are cheap, it also brings great danger. Meanwhile, for respectable women like journalist Harriett Gardiner, Papillon is strictly off-limits, but when a murderer begins stalking the streets of Little Lon, she becomes determined to visit it and find the truth. As both women are drawn into the hunt for the killer, a long-hidden side of old Melbourne is revealed.

The Butterfly Women, inspired by Madeleine’s discovery of a personal connection to the thieves and prostitutes of colonial Melbourne, was shortlisted for 2025 Dymocks Book of the Year and the 2026 Indie Book Awards. Her writing has been shortlisted for The Australian Fiction Prize and featured in The Australian Weekend Magazine. Madeleine is the co-host of The Book Deal Podcast, a popular podcast where she interviews writers about their pathway to publication. Before she became a published author, Madeleine was a bookseller and served as an Australian diplomat in China.

Host Liz Porter is a former award-winning legal affairs journalist now known for her books about ‘the real CSI’ —the way forensic science is used to solve crime.  Her recently completed PhD on the work of Victoria Police forensic lab scientists won La Trobe University’s Nancy Millis medal. Her forensic-themed books are: Crime Scene Asia: when forensic evidence becomes the silent witness; Written on the Skin: An Australian forensic casebook (joint winner of the 2007 Ned Kelly award for the best true crime book), and Cold Case Files, winner of Australian Sisters in Crime’s 2012 Davitt award for best true crime book. She is the author of one novel, Unnatural Order.

Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome.

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