Laraine Stephens first novel, The Death Mask Murders, was inspired by her work as a volunteer guide at the Old Melbourne Gaol. In the cells are displayed death masks of executed felons. This gave her the impetus for a story line: What if the psychopath in The Death Mask Murders had developed a fixation with death masks and created them as ‘trophies’ of his victims?
Jo Dixon spoke to Narrelle M Harris about her latest novel, A Disappearing Act – a cracking good read, with some great reveals along the way, Narrelle says. Jo is the Tasmanian author of three crime books, all set in Tasmania.
Families may be related by blood – but they can also involve blood-letting, sometimes with fatal consequences. It’s no coincidence that Christmas Day and Boxing Day see huge spikes in family violence. Three Victorian authors – Tanya Scott, Fiona Lowe, and Kirstyn McDermott – dissect the institution of the family and its criminal complexity in different ways. They will reveal all to fellow author, Lyn Yeowart.
The infamous mushroom murders in Victoria have rekindled interest in poison and crime. The South Australian chapter hosted a popular event on 10 December with Marg Castles from the University of Adelaide interviewing writer and Sisters member Dr Rachel Spencer on the popular fascination with poison narratives.
A ‘confession’ by a friend about being an unmarried mother in the sixties implanted the idea behind Lyn Yeowart’s latest thriller, The Hollow Girl.
For Murder Monday, Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to acclaimed Adelaide author, Lainie Anderson. Her two crime books are The Death of Dora Black and Murder on North Terrace, both published by Hachette Australia, and both featuring the real-life character, Kate Cocks, who, in 1915, became the first policewoman in the British Empire employed on the same salary and with the same powers of arrest as men.
Grabbing a copy of Scarlet Stiletto: The Seventeenth Cut (ed. Phyllis King), the e-book collection of winning stories in the recent 32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards, is the perfect answer to holiday reading. Fourteen ripper reads for only $5.
Winning first prize and the coveted trophy in Sisters in Crime’s 32nd Scarlet Stiletto Awards is a victory, according to Sandra Thom-Jones, was always told that “autistic people can’t write fiction because we’re not imaginative or creative.”
Charlotte McConaghy reveals her motivations in writing her latest eco-thriller, Wild Dark Shore (Penguin, 2025), set on Shearwater, a tiny island close to the Antarctic, that is home to the world’s largest seed bank and under threat by rising tides.
The new Sisters in Crime WA Chapter launched at the Geraldton Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival on 25 October with two events to an enthusiatic audience at Batavia Brewing.