New South Wales
Murders Most Foul Sydney True Crime Weekly Walking Tours. Sydney walking tours are guided by historians and archaeologists who take you off the tourist path, into the back streets, hidden bays and coves, and across the secret gardens, in search of forgotten stories, relics and mysteries. From $35. Book here.
Tuesday 24 June, 7:30 pm: Ben Hobson talks online to Joanna Jenkins re The Bluff. Ben’s Book Club. If you’re a member of your local library, you can access the e-book or audiobook for free via the Libby app, and logging in with your library account card number. Free, but please book here.
Sunday 29 June, 4.:00 pm: Sunday Sessions Book Club featuring Chloe Elisabeth Wilson in conversation with Heather McNab re her book Rytual, a darkly funny deconstruction of the beauty industry and a gripping examination of identity, beauty, and desire. Tickets are $15 full price, and $10 concession, and includes a glass of wine. Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. Book here.
Tuesday, 8 July, 2 pm – 3:30 pm: Author Talk with Margaret Hickey re her latest thriller, An Ill Wind, where a body is found hanging from a wind turbine. Braidwood Library, 144 Wallace St, Braidwood. Free, but please book.
Wednesday, 9 July, 10:30 am-12:00 pm. Author Talk with Margaret Hickey re her latest thriller, An Ill Wind, where a body is found hanging from a wind turbine. Moruya Library, Vulcan Street, Moruya. Free, but please book.
Thursday 10 July, 6:00 pm-7:30 pm: Author Talk with Margaret Hickey re her latest thriller, An Ill Wind, where a body is found hanging from a wind turbine. Shellharbour City Library, 76 Cygnet Avenue, Shellharbour City Centre. Free, but please book.
Thursday 17 July, 6:00 pm for 6:30 pm. Author talk with Katherine Biber re her book, The Last Outlaws: The Crimes of Jimmy & Joe Governor and the Birth of Modern Australia – a gripping work of historical true crime and a richly revealing examination of our nation at its birth. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith meets Killing for Country. Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. $15 or $10 (conc.) Bookings here.
Saturday 9 August: 2025 Kids and YA Festival – Directed by one of Australia’s most popular authors for children, Jacqueline Harvey. Writing NSW, Callan Park, Lilyfield. Info and bookings here.
Saturday 1 – Sunday 2 November: History Unbound – 2025 Historical Novel Festival. Features crime writers Kelly Gardiner, Toni Jordan, Alison Goodman, Sophie Masson, Suzanne Leal, Bleinda Lyons-Lee, Fiona McIntosh, Rebecca Lim, A M Stuart, and Nilima Rao. Parramatta Town Hall. Book here:
Queensland
Tuesday 15 July, 6 pm for 6.30 pm: Launch of We Saw What You Started, Carla Salmon’s debut crime novel. Fires, lies, rivalry, a new boy, first love, and small-town suspicions threaten a coastal town in this YA mystery from an exceptional new author. Avid Reader, 193 Boundary Road, West End. Free, but please book here.
Thursday 17 July, 4.30 pm for 4.45 pm: Launch of We Saw What You Started, Carla Salmon’s debut crime novel. Fires, lies, rivalry, a new boy, first love, and small-town suspicions threaten a coastal town in this YA mystery from an exceptional new author. Carla will be in conversation with Megan Daley at Quick Brown Fox, 5/33 Carberry St, Grange. Free, including a complimentary sparkling, thanks to event sponsor Pirie Tasmania, but please book here.
Wednesday 20 August, 6 pm for 6.30 pm: Launch of We Saw What You Started, Carla Salmon’s debut crime novel. Fires, lies, rivalry, a new boy, first love, and small-town suspicions threaten a coastal town in this YA mystery from an exceptional new author. Carla will be in conversation with Davitt Award-winning author Amy Doak at Berkelouw Paddington, 19 Oxford St, Paddington. Free, including a complimentary sparkling, thanks to event sponsor Pirie Tasmania, but please book here.
BOOKED OUT! Wednesday 30 July, 6 pm-9 pm: Sisters in Crime Literary Dinner, Darling and Co, Paddington. Featuring: Angie Faye Martin (Melaleuca). Carla Salmon (We Saw What You Started) and Nilima Rao (A Shipwreck in Fiji). Moderator: Janet Lee (The Killing of Louisa). Please join us for an evening of crime conversation, drinks, and delicious food, and the chance to meet and mingle with fellow crime readers and writers. The $60 price includes a drink and alternate drop main course. More info and bookings: https://buff.ly/fFBiq4k
South Australia
Tuesday 15 July, 6:30 pm-7:30 pm: Spectate Your First Serpents & Stories. Part of the 2025 Firstival collection. Prepare to be mesmerised by Australia’s premiere Serpent Dancer, Flavella L’Amour, as she brings a powerful story of strength, identity, and transformation to life through graceful movement, stunning costumes, and commanding presence. Then, join author and Sisters in Crime member, Portia Stanton-Noble as she shares the inspiration behind The Cut Off Road — a murder mystery romance set in regional Australia that delves into themes of resilience, self-discovery, and change. Payinthi, Prospect Library, 128 Prospect Road, Prospect. Free, but please book here.
Victoria
Thursday 17 July, 6 pm. Sisters in Crime@Brighton Library. Best-selling author Margaret Hickey will be in conversation with Amanda Hampson (The Tea Ladies series) about her latest book, An Ill Wind. When a massive wind farm is erected on its outskirts, a small Victorian town is ripped apart in the deadliest of ways. High on a hill above the small Victorian town of Carrabeen, 300 wind turbines constantly spin. Except one is now deadly still – a body hanging from its huge white blade. . . Free, but please book here.
Friday 18 July, 6.00 pm: Author talk with Margaret Hickey re her latest thriller, An Ill Wind, where a body is found hanging from a wind turbine. Readings Emporium, Level 1, Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. Free, but please book here.
Friday 18 July, 6.00 pm: Sisters in Crime – Desperate times, desperate measures. Homelessness, financial crises, bad decisions, and family secrets can make for desperate times requiring desperate measures – even murder. Authors Michelle Prak (Barren Cape), Samantha Byres (Dead Ends), and Anna Snoekstra (The Ones We Love) will chew over the issues with fellow author, Ilsa Evans. 6.30 pm for dinner. 8 pm for the show. The Rising Sun Hotel, 2 Raglan St., South Melbourne. Book here.
BOOKED OUT! Friday 25 July, 1 pm-2.30 pm: Sisters in Crime@Melbourne Rare Book Week: The past is https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1406126never past: Mysteries with history. Melbourne crime writers, Lucy Sussex, and A M Stuart, will delve into the swirl of history, murder, and intrigue with Sisters in Crime’s founder, Carmel Shute. What do the experiences of our foremothers have to teach us? Why does digging into the past provide such fertile themes and characters for crime writing? How can the past be convincingly portrayed to modern readers? What light do historical mysteries shed on contemporary concerns as well as those of earlier eras? How can the readership for historical mysteries be expanded? Footscray Mechanics Institute, 209 Nicholson Street, Footscray. Free, but please book here.
Thursday 31 July, 6.00 pm: All welcome to the launch of We Saw What You Started, Carla Salmon’s debut crime novel. Fires, lies, rivalry, a new boy, first love, and small-town suspicions threaten a coastal town in this YA mystery from an exceptional new author. Carla will be in conversation with Kylie Orr and Holly Brunnbauer at Readings Chadstone, 1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone. Free including a complimentary sparkling thanks to event sponsor Pirie Tasmania, but please book here.
Wednesday 6 August, 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm: Join crime fans to celebrate the launch of the fifth in Laraine Stephens’ Reggie da Costa Mysteries series, The White Feather Murders. Set in Melbourne 1927, The Argus’s senior crime reporter, Reggie da Costa feels compelled to investigate a series of murders involving people named and shamed in the Poison Pen column of The Truth newspaper. Nibbles provided. Beaumaris Library, 96 Reserve Rd., Beaumaris. Free but please book here.
Tuesday 12 August, 6.00 pm: Tanya Scott will be in conversation with Jane Harper about her debut novel, Stillwater. After years away from his home town of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house, and a dog. But Luke is a man with a past, when life was anything but peaceful and his skills ran to the dark side . . . Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon St., Carlton. Free, but please book here.
Tuesday 19 August, 6.00 pm: January Gilchrist in conversation with Benjamin Stevenson about her novel, The Final Chapter . . . An opportunity a writer would die for . . . Desley Barron is ready to prove her doubters, and herself, wrong about her flagging writing career. She’s won a spot at an exclusive writing retreat in the Blue Mountains. Only instead of feeling creative, Desley finds her insecurity increases while the ghost stories about the house have her jumping at shadows . . . Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon St., Carlton. Free, but please book here.
Thursday 21 August, 6.00 pm: Sisters in Crime@Brighton Library. ACT Sister in Crime Alison Booth will be in conversation with Victorian Sister in Crime, Muriel Cooper, re her latest book, Death at Booroomba. Set from 1915 to 1919, protagonist Jack O’Rourke must unmask small-town secrets to discover a murderer hiding in plain sight. And at the same time, battle with his own demons from his time at war and prior relationship with his father. Brighton Library,14 Wilson Street, Brighton. Free, but please book here.
Thursday 21 August, 6.00 pm: Sisters in Crime@Sunbury Library: Skeletons in the closet & other deadly family secrets. Join Tania Chandler who will be putting three other crime writers under the spotlight to debate how family secrets can have terrible, sometimes deadly, consequences – Anna Snoekstra, Mandy Beaumont, and Maryrose Cuskelly. Sunbury Library. Booking details to come.
Friday 5 September, 6 for 6.30 pm. 25th Davitt Awards. Venue, host. and guest presenter to be announced! Bookings not open yet.
Friday 19 September, 8 pm: Death Pacificly. Discussion of crime books set in Fiji with Nilima Rao, B M Allsopp, and Ali Lowe in conversation with Leslie Falkiner-Rose. The Rising Sun Hotel, 2 Raglan St., South Melbourne. Bookings not yet open.