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.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth is a guaranteed good read – well suited for a slow Sunday morning, a beach holiday or a long plane trip. The writing style is fresh, upbeat and engaging. The crisp apple green and baby pink colours on the cover, are a subtle acknowledgement to Mabel’s hospital stay as a child where her room was decorated in green and pink. If nothing else, do judge this book by its cover – it’s worth it.
Since her first true crime book, The Phillip Island Murder, 32 years ago, Vikki Petraitis has notched up 18 true crime books, several podcasts that have reached millions of people, and she now has two novels under her belt. The first, The Unbelieved, is being made into a TV series, Dustfall, to screen on the ABC next year – and Anna Torv stars.
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.
Echo Publishing is generously donating twenty copies of At Café 64, the second novel by Perth author Shaeden Berry, for the Crime Stack over the festive season.
It’s an original plot. Without any warning, Justin Kowalski drives his vehicle across a line of traffic and through the front wall of Cafe 64, killing himself and three other people – and taking the reasons for this shocking act to the grave and sparking the creation of a victims’ support group.
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.”