My favourite crime-writing device: Lyn Yeowart

Whenever I’m engrossed in a ripping yarn of murder, mystery and mayhem, I love spotting the devices the writer has used to keep me turning the pages. My all-time favourite device is a spine-tingling heterotopia, where the characters are trapped in one place. I’ve long loved heterotopias, but only recently discovered that there’s a word …

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Murder Mondays: Dervla McTiernan

Dervla McTiernan, who won last year’s Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel plus a Neddie for her debut crime novel The Rúin (HarperCollins), is the second guest on the Sisters in Crime new video series, Murder Mondays, where talented women authors are interrogated by Karina Kilmore about the craft of crime. The Irish-born Dervla now …

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Deadline for the 20th Davitt Awards entry extended

The deadline for Sisters in Crime Australia’s 20th Davitt Awards for the best crime and mystery books by Australian women has been extended to Friday 15 May. This year the Davitts are again sponsored by Swinburne University of Technology. New judges’ wrangler, Moraig Kisler, said that the pandemic had created problems across the board, across …

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Murder Takes a Holiday

During the pandemic lockdown, overseas travel is out of the question and we’re lucky to take a walk in the local park even whilst observing social distancing. One of crime fiction’s many virtues is that it allows us to travel to exotic locations from the safety and comfort of the couch or bed. Sisters in …

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Headshot Leisl Leighton

Leisl Leighton: Blazing Fear: The pathology of fire-setting

Leisl Leighton together with Kimberley Starr and Chloe Hooper will talking with Maggie Baron for Sisters in Crime’s Burning Issues event scheduled for Friday 24 April. The live event is cancelled but the ‘in conversation’ is being recorded and will be available for viewing worldwide on YouTube on Sunday 26 April. Here Leisl talks about what …

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Books in the time of coronavirus

There aren’t many upsides to living in the time of coronavirus but catching up on good crime books (by women, of course) is one of them. Sisters in Crime asked its author members what they could recommend. And don’t forget, if you don’t want to buy any of these books from your local bookstore (whilst …

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