Sisters in Crime Australia invites fans, friends, and fellow writers to celebrate the life and legacy of Kerry Greenwood, founding member, beloved friend, and author, who died in March at the age of 70. What is more fitting than to celebrate at Melbourne’s legendary Hotel Windsor for High Tea, where Phryne Fisher was, at times, a resident and often a visitor: Sunday 28 September, 2.00-4.00 pm.
As well as a luscious High Tea, guests will hear from two specialist panels who will speak about the two sides of the Phryne Fisher story: the books and the screen.
Note: $115 (early bird tix – book by Friday 12 September). Other tix $130 (book by Wednesday 24 September).
Book here
Book panel:
Sue Hines spent most of her working life as the publishing director at Allen & Unwin. She had started out at McPhee Gribble, and it was there, on a fateful day in the late 1980s, that she stumbled upon a fictional account of a smart, high-spirited, indefatigable highway woman with an eye for fashion and a touch of Robin Hood about her. The story was set in England in the 18th century, a distinctly unfashionable setting for Australian books at that time of literary nationalism. Her suggestion to a young Kerry Greenwood changed the course of Australian women’s mystery fiction.
Lindy Cameron, author, founding member of Sisters in Crime and its current Vice-President, published Kerry’s ancient Egyptian novel Out of the Black Land, her Greek Delphic Women Trilogy, Medea, Cassandra and Electra, and Herotica, a collection of homo-erotic short stories through her company Clan Destine Press. They were also great friends and co-wrote two short stories together.
Katherine Kovacic, creator of the Alex Clayton art dealer murder mystery series, wrote the screen-to-page adaptation of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, Just Murdered (2021). The television spin-off of the Miss Fisher series received the highest possible honour: the Kerry Greenwood seal of approval. Katherine’s next book, No Good Deed, will be published in March 2026.
Screen panel:
Marion Boyce is an internationally renowned costume designer working across film, television, and public exhibitions. Her signature lies in turning garments into narrative devices – infusing character arcs with texture, colour, and period authenticity. She has won numerous awards, here and abroad, including two Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Costume Design in Television for Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Series 2 and 3. Marion has also designed several touring exhibitions, including Miss Fisher Series 2 and 3. The long-running exhibitions at the Rippon Lea Estate attracted visitors from all over Australia and abroad.
Elizabeth Coleman is an author, playwright, and screenwriter who has written on every season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. Her favourite experience was writing the Phryne Christmas special, Murder Under the Mistletoe – largely because she spent several fun hours with Kerry devising murders to match The Twelve Days of Christmas. There was only time for five murders in the episode, so Elizabeth still has seven murders up her sleeve!
Robert (Robbie) Perkins OAM is an artist and production designer for film and TV who created the sumptuous ‘look’ of both the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries series (2012-2015) and the film Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020). The intriguing stories of a beautiful female detective appealed to his romantic side, while the opportunity to immerse himself designing for the fabulous world of the twenties was a dream come true, due to the magical words of our beloved Kerry.
Both panels will be hosted by long-time Sisters friend and ambassador, Senior Professor Sue Turnbull.
There will be wonderful raffle prizes on offer, including the 22 novels in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries series (kindly donated by Allen & Unwin); the Delphic Women Trilogy & Out of the Blackland, and four anthologies featuring chapters by Kerry Greenwood (all kindly donated by Clan Destine Press); and Phryne Fisher memorabilia (earrings, a makeup mirror, lens cloth & tea towel (all kindly donated by Every Cloud Productions).
To be auctioned are a Phyrne hat (kindly donated by Marion Boyce), and a Kerry Detective hat (kindly donated by David Greagg).
Also on offer is the Be Immortalised in Fiction prize –the winner gets their name in the next (and final) Corrina Chapman book, The Ghost Train (kindly donated by David Greagg).
Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ are welcome.
Book hereNote: $115 (early bird tix – book by Friday 12 September). Other tix $130 (book by Wednesday 24 September).
Sun Bookshop stall: Sisters in Crime members receive a 10% discount.