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Hijinks and Low-Lows

March 24, 2023 @ 6:30 pm 10:00 pm

Crime doesn’t always have to be bloody and gory, as new books by Elizabeth Coleman, Kerryn Mayne, and Ilsa Evans prove. Crime can make us laugh as well as gasp. It can sweep up illicit affairs, secret diaries, family mysteries, sibling rivalry, visions of danger, embezzlement, and catfishing in its felonious embrace – not to mention an acutely intelligent miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple.

The three Victorian authors will bare their souls and crime craft to Moraig Kisler, Sisters in Crime’s President and Review Editor.

At the beginning and close of the event, Anne M. Carson will read from her new book, The Detective’s Chair: Prose Poems about Fictional Detectives (Liquid Amber).

Elizabeth Coleman’s debut crime novel, A Routine Infidelity (Pantera Press) introduces commitment phobe thirty-five-year-old Edwina (Ted) Bristol who runs EBI, a private investigation agency. Her latest case is to conduct routine surveillance on a couple suspected of having an illicit affair. She also discovers her sister Bob has fallen prey to an internet catfishing scam. With some help from her acutely intelligent miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple, they set out to find the scammer, who has already fleeced Bob of $500 . . .

Elizabeth is a screenwriter and playwright (Secret Bridesmaids’ Business), turned novelist. She’s written for countless television dramas, including every season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries.

Kerryn Mayne’s debut novel, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder (Bantam, imprint of Penguin Books) concerns a thirty-seven-year-old school teacher who is also commitment-phobic. Lenny spends her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemate, watching reruns of Friends and rearranging her thirty-six copies of The Hobbit. Lenny has set herself the goal of ‘getting a life’ but, when she ignores a letter from the Adult Parole Board, her life starts to unravel . . . 

Kerryn is an author, former wedding photographer, current police officer, and terrible (but enthusiastic) tennis player. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn owns only 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now).

Family Baggage (Harper Collins Publishers) is the 15th novel by Ilsa Evans. It focusses on three grief-stricken middle-aged sisters who give themselves a week to pack up their childhood home and divide their mother’s belongings. The discovery of a decades’ old diary divides the women further: not only do they learn what their mother really thought of them, they learn that she had a life entirely of her own . . .

Ilsa’s books across a range of genres, from light fiction and short stories to memoir, murder mysteries, and YA fantasy. Two of her books have been shortlisted for the prestigious Davitt Awards, while her novel about domestic violence, Broken, was an Australian best-seller and selected as the Australian Women’s Weekly Book of the Month. Ilsa also teaches creative writing students, writes social commentary, and has been published in several newspapers and online journals. In 2011, she received the Eliminating Violence Against Women (EVA) Award for online journalism.

Moraig Kisler is a freelance writer, reviewer, and editor who champions Australian genre fiction, particularly crime fiction. Moraig holds a Diploma and an Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing from RMIT. Sometimes she writes in the vague hope of one day finishing her police procedural novel, The Salt Works.

Anne M Carson’s, The Detective’s Chair: Prose Poems about Fictional Detectives, is her fourth poetry collection. Anne is a poet, essayist, and visual artist whose poetry has been published internationally, and widely in Australia, receiving numerous awards including winning and shortlisting in the Martha Richardson Prize, and shortlisting in the 2022 Newcastle Poetry Prize. She is a PhD candidate in creative writing at RMIT.

Venue: The Rising Sun Hotel (upstairs – no lift), cnr Raglan Street and Eastern Road, South Melbourne. Free on-street parking after 6 pm.

Tickets: Entry and dinner combined charge: $60 non-members; $55 concession; $52 Sisters in Crime and Writers Victoria members, $40 under 19. Please book by 12 pm Thursday 23 March. Tickets not sold prior to the event will be available at the door for $62/$58/$55/$50. Dinner upstairs from 6.30-7.30 pm.

Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome.

Bookings are here.

Sun Bookshop stall: members receive a 10% discount

Additional information: Carmel Shute 0412 569 356 admin@sistersincrime.org.au; www.sistersincrime.org.au