The Gone

Between 38,000 and 50,000 people are reported as missing in Australia each year – roughly one every 15 to 18 minutes. While over 86 per cent of missing individuals are located within a week, about 2,500 to 2,700 people remain missing for more than three months. Some don’t want to be found, but some are the victims of crime.

Exploring the many dimensions of ‘the gone’ are three authors – Sarah Bailey, Sherryl Clark, and Mali Cornish. The host is fellow crime writer Katherine Kovacic.

In Sarah Bailey’s latest novel, Click (Allen & Unwin), Melbourne is gripped by fear after a backpacker’s body is found with a cryptic note, and two more women vanish without trace. When photographs begin to arrive in the inboxes of the media and police, it’s clear the killer isn’t hiding – they are performing.

Journalist Oli Groves, founder of a fledgling digital news site, knows the story could make or break her. Rookie detective Penelope Kibbs, still trying to prove herself, is desperate to stop the violence before more women are lost. But they soon realise the danger runs deeper than one killer – and closer than they want to believe . . .  More info here.

Sarah has a background in advertising and communications. She is also the founder of social media brand and podcast, He Read, She Read®. Sarah’s internationally award-winning Gemma Woodstock series includes The Dark Lake, winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction and the Davitt Award for Best Debut, followed by Into the Night, Where the Dead Go, and Body of Lies. Sarah has also published the bestselling The Housemate and Audible original Final Act in 2021. Click is the second book featuring journalist Oli Groves.

Sherryl Clark is crossing the ditch to talk about her new book, For All the Dead Girls (HQ Books). Tough and gutsy PI Lou Alcott returns with a terrifyingly gritty new case that takes her deep into the dark web. While juggling a missing person case with unexpected ties close to home and saving an innocent woman and her child from a dangerous domestic situation, Lou ends up in the line of fire of a dark-web hate group, SYB. Their mission is to make all women pay. 

As Lou lurches between a fire-bombed safe house, car chases, and stalkers, her employer, private investigation firm PMI, is in a race against time to uncover the roots of the group and work out just how far their tentacles stretch…

Sherryl has been writing and publishing crime fiction since the Artemis anthologies came out in the nineties. Her first crime novel, Trust Me, I’m Dead, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger, and three books in the series about Judi Westerholme have been published by Verve Books UK. The first Lou Alcottbook, Woman, Missing (HQ Books) was released in 2024, but she first appeared in a short story written for the Scarlet Stiletto Awards. More info here.

Mali Cornish’s second crime novel, The Missing Mother (Atlantic Books), features Elspeth who returns from New York to her hometown of Geelong because her estranged mother has vanished. Elspeth teams up with a local crime reporter to search for the truth, leading to the discovery of her mother’s unfinished memoir. It includes letters that expose long-buried betrayals and shocking secrets. As the investigation tightens, so does the net around Elspeth. Is she an investigator, a grieving daughter, or someone more dangerous . . . ?

Mali was born in Geelong. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne. Her debut novel, Judgement Day (2023, as Mali Waugh), was shortlisted for the Danger Awards Best Debut 2024. Her writing has been featured in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. More inkfo here,

Host Katherine Kovacic is the award-winning author of many short stories and books, including the Alex Clayton art mysteries, true crime The Schoolgirl Strangler, and the TV-to-page adaptation of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Just Murdered. Her crime thriller, Seven Sisters/ Kill Yours, Kill Mine, was shortlisted for an Australian Crime Writers Award for Best Crime Fiction and has been optioned in several international territories, including Türkiye and China. Her latest novel is No Good Deed (Poisoned Pen Press). More info here.

Host Katherine Kovacic is the award-winning author of many short stories and books, including the Alex Clayton art mysteries, true crime The Schoolgirl Strangler, and the TV-to-page adaptation of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Just Murdered. Her crime thriller, Seven Sisters/ Kill Yours, Kill Mine, was shortlisted for an Australian Crime Writers Award for Best Crime Fiction and has been optioned in several international territories, including Türkiye and China. Her latest novel is No Good Deed (Poisoned Pen Press). More info here.

Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome.

Sun Bookshop stall: Sisters in Crime members receive a 10% discount

More info: Carmel Shute, Programming coordinator, 0412 569 356; admin@sistersincrime.org.au.