Crime writing events around the country
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.
Fourth Wednesday of the month, February-November, 12.30-1.30 pm. BAD Sydney Crime Book Club at the Sydney Mechanics School of the Arts. At each session, the conversation will be led by a member of the BAD board, each an expert in various aspects of crime writing. $10 per session, bookings essential. Places are limited, and booking in advance is essential. See you there! BAD book-clubbers receive discounts from Abbey’s Bookstore in Sydney CBD for each month’s selected title after ticket purchase, plus the opportunity to meet the author at the session where we discuss their book. Every month there will also be a lucky door prize of your next great crime read! February booking here. March booking here.
Sunday 17-24 May: Sydney Writers Festival features numerous women crime writers, including Dervla McTiernan, Angie Faye Martin, Amy Doak, Hayley Scrivenor, Dinuka McKenzie, Kate McClymont, Charlotte McConaghy, Fiona Kelly McGregor, Suzie Miller, Heather Rose, and Chloe Wilson. Bookings here.
Wednesday 27 May, 12:00 pm for a 12:30 pm start. BAD Sydney Crime Book Club discusses Like, Follow, Die by Ashley Kalagian Blunt. Just like her bestseller Dark Mode, Ashley’s third novel dives into the darkest corners of the internet, only this time the gripping story comes to light via the powerful bond between parents and children. Hosted by Felix Shannon. Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney. $10. Book here.
Saturday 20 June, 10 am-4.00 pm: BAD Blackheath. All-day event with Jane Caro, Catherine Jinks, Tara Moss and Ava Barry, and various male speakers. Separately, enjoy an evening of crime trivia presented by Trivial Quizzine at the Gardners Inn Hotel. Book here.
Wednesday, 24 June, 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm. BAD Sydney Crime Book Club discusses Redbelly Crossing by Candice Fox, hosted by Sue Turnbull. Russell and Evan Powder are cops. The brothers haven’t spoken for five years, since a violent confrontation tore their family apart. Now they are both assigned to the murder of a young journalist, Chloe Lutz, in the small town of Redbelly Crossing. Sally Hepworth called this, ‘Addictive. Cancel all your plans!’ Bring a sandwich to eat beforehand, from 12 pm. Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney. $10 per session. Please book here.
Wednesday 24 June, 6 pm for 6.30 pm: Fiona Kelly McGregor in conversation with Guy Davidson about her book, The Trap, her mystery set in Sydney, October 1942. A wartime city dimmed by brownouts, flush with American cash, rotten with corruption. Upstairs at Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. $10-$15 or $40 (show plus book). Book here.
Wednesday 11 July, 12.00 pm for 12.30pm: BAD Sydney Crime Book Club discusses The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, and Sarah Krasnostein. Hosted by Caroline de Peloux Menagé. Bring your lunch. Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney. $10. Book here.
Friday 17 July: From Darlo to the Cross: In the Footsteps of Juanita Nielsen. Save the date for July’s BAD All Year event, when award-winning crime author Natalie Conyer and expert tour guide Elliot Lindsay explore the locations of Natalie’s new crime novel Finding the Bones. Inspired by one of Sydney’s most notorious cold cases, the 1975 disappearance of activist Juanita Nielsen, Natalie’s book is a bold reimagining of what might have happened had Nielsen’s body ever been discovered. Booking details to come.
Queensland
Monday 18 May, 6.00 pm for a 6.30 pm start: Join crime fans for a conversation between Debbie Kilroy and Fernanda Dahlstrom about The Framing, a memoir of love, betrayal, and the justice system. It explores the complexities of trust and betrayal in family relationships, through a searing study of identity and justice. Free for members of Sisters Inside. Avid Reader, 193 Boundary Street, West End. $15.00. Book and ticket deal $40.00. Book here.
Saturday 23 May, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Sisters in Crime Networking Lunch. Siam Samrarn Thai Restaurant, Old Soda Factory, 70 Boundary Street, West End. Please book here.
Friday 29 May, 6.00 pm for a 6.30 pm start: Join crime fans for the Brisbane launch of Chloe Wilson’s The Thornbacks. Chloe will be in conversation with Kris Kneen. It’s Friday night, date night, and two women are getting ready to head out. But it isn’t them who Luka, lawyer, thirty-three, is coming to meet. It’s Poppy, an angelic blonde who has been dead for more than a year. Behind her profile are two morticians, Gertie and Tabitha. Avid Reader, 193 Boundary Street, West End. $15.00. Book and ticket deal $45.00. Book here.
Keep up to date with Queensland activities on Sisters in Crime’s dedicated Facebook page.
South Australia
Monday, 11 May, 2.00 pm- 3.00 pm: Lainie Anderson – a Salisbury Author Series Event. Step into the world of the charmingly cosy Petticoat Police Mystery Series. Adelaide September 1917, at the Art Gallery, a dead body is found under a scandalous painting. Para Hills Community Hub, 22 Wilkinson Road, Para Hills. Free (light refreshments included), but please book to join the waitlist.
Monday, 11 May, 6:30 pm- 08:30 pm: Join WA author and Sisters in Crime member Dervla McTiernan as the release of her latest thriller, Three Reasons for Revenge, is celebrated in conversation with SA author and member, Lainie Anderson. Set in Melbourne, Three Reasons for Revenge sees three beautifully wrapped packages arrive at three very different doors. Each will tear apart the life of its intended victim. Burnside Library, 401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore. $15.Book here.
Keep up to date with South Australian activities on Sisters in Crime’s dedicated Facebook group.
Victoria
See the official Sisters in Crime events here.
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 7.30 pm: Melbourne’s True Crime Tour. ‘Enjoy a leisurely guided walking tour revisiting historic true crime spots that will leave you speechless.’ $35. Book here.
Tuesday 19 May, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm: Caroline De Costa, author event. Caroline was the first woman in Australia to become a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology. She has written many of non-fiction on women’s health as well as crime novels set in Cairns – Double Madness, Missing Pieces, Blood Sisters, and Buried Secrets. Double Madness was short-listed for the Davitt Awards of Sisters in Crime in 2016. Caroline has also won numerous Scarlet Stiletto awards. Her latest novel, The Rosemary, is a gripping story of friendship, loss, and secrets, published in 2025 by Boolarong Press. Emerald Hill Library, 195 Bank Street, South Melbourne. Free, but please book.
Wednesday 20 May, 6:00 pm: Sisters in Crime member Sarah Bailey in conversation with fellow member and author, Vikki Petraitis, re her new novel, Click, a taut crime thriller about a city on edge, a killer playing games, and the two women determined to bring him down. Brighton Library, 14 Wilson Street, Brighton. Free, but please book.
Thursday, 21 May, 6:00 pm – 8.:00 pm: Bookatini’s May Homestyle Bookclub Dinner with special guest Sisters in Crime member, Sarah Bailey. She will be speaking about re her new novel, Click, a taut crime thriller about a city on edge, a killer playing games, and the two women determined to bring him down. Richmond Neighbourhood Centre, 15 Barnet Way, Richmond. Meal + show $99. Book here.
Friday 22 May, 5.30 for 6 pm: 20th Law Week event. A is for Arsenic, D Is for Death Cap. Exploring the many dimensions of poison as the ‘women’s weapon’ will be Chloe Hooper, co-author of The Mushroom Tapes; Linda Glowacki, toxicologist from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine & Angela Savage on Agatha Christie and poisons; and host Vikki Petraitis. Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Victoria University, 295 Queen St., Melbourne. Booked out.
Thursday 28 May, 6.00 pm: Join crime fans in celebrating the launch of Later, Only Love Remains by Leah Swann, a gut-wrenching exploration of grief and redemption set against the wild, windswept backdrop of Australia’s Great Ocean Road, Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton. Free, but please book.
Sunday 31 May, 10.30 am-12.00 pm: Words in Winter (29-31 May) Skating on Thin Ice: The Slippery Slope Between Crime and Humour with John Silvester, Age journalist; Liz Gaynor, retired County Court Judge; Professor Danny Sullivan, forensic psychiatrist; and Janice Simpson, President of Words in Winter. Highland Society, 35 High St, Maryborough. Buy full festival and session passes here.
Thursday 25 June, 6.00 pm: Join crime fans in celebrating the launch of Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery by NZ children’s crime writer, Li Chen. Detective Beans is everyone’s favourite kitten detective. Readings Emporium, Level 1, Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. Free, but please book.
Thursday 11 June, 6.00 pm: Join crime fans to hear crime writers Laura McCluskey and Kate Horan in conversation. Laura McCluskey is a writer, editor, and actor. Her crime thriller novels, The Wolf Tree and The Cursed Road, feature Scottish detectives George Lennox and Richie Stewart. Kate writes twisty, suspenseful stories about people with dark secrets. She is the author of On the Edge and The Inheritance. Readings Hawthorn, 687 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. Free, but please book.
Thursday 18 June, 6.00 pm: Join crime fans for Iain Ryan’s launch ofChristine Gregory’s new simmering crime thriller, The Informant. The town of Hopeville is thrown into chaos when the body of Silas Ziccone, president of the notorious bikie gang the Outcasts,is found next to his abandoned car on a dirt road. Readings Carlton, 309 Lygon Street, Carlton. Free, but please book.
Thursday 25 June, 6.00 pm: Join crime fans in celebrating the launch of Detective Beans and the Map of Mystery by NZ children’s crime writer, Li Chen. Detective Beans is everyone’s favourite kitten detective. Readings Emporium, Level 1, Emporium Melbourne, 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. Free, but please book.
Sunday 26 July, 10.30 am – 11.30 am. Apollo Bay Wordfest, Crime Fiction: The Darkness Within. Ask any librarian or bookseller, and they’ll tell you: crime fiction is getting darker and more and more popular. J.P. Pomare (The Gambler, The Wrong Woman), Christian White (The Long Night, The Ledge), and Louise Milligan (Shellybanks, Pheasants Nest) will explore why we are increasingly drawn to true crime and darker fictional settings. Apollo Bay Mechanics Hall, 21 Great Ocean Rd, Apollo Bay. $15-$25. Book here.
Western Australia
Wednesday 27 May, 7 pm – 9 pm AWST: Into the Wild: Holly Craig in conversation with WA author and convenor, Kate Emery re Find Me, her pulse-pounding new thriller, a tale of secrets, survival, and the shadows of the Tasmanian wilderness. Hosted by Books in the Brewery. The Red Room Leederville, 742 Newcastle St, Leederville. Sold out – join the waitlist here.