Elizabeth Flann’s Beware of Dogs won the Banjo Prize for Fiction in 2019. It’s a carefully crafted cross-genre tale open to multiple readings: a contemporary castaway’s ordeal, a crime suspense story, a correlative of a psychological escape endeavour, and an exemplar of urbanised humanity’s need for the natural environment.
A Clue for Clara is a book for all ages and a bright little gem which put the sparkle into the dull days of lockdown. It’s a treasure, lockdown or not. If you don’t enjoy A Clue for Clara, you’re a duck. And as Clara constantly reminds us: ducks are stupid creatures.
A gripping read that sits well in the outback noir genre. Captured is the dust, the searing heat, glimpses of rugged beauty, and stark loneliness of the Australian outback.
The Davitt Awards (long) shortlist is here! nine adult novels, five Young Adult (YA) novels, six children’s novels and five non-fiction books. Twelve books from all categories are competing for the debut award. Altogether, 127 books have been in contention.
Perth author, Polly Phillips, drew on her observations and portrayals of female friendships for her debut novel My Best Friend’s Murder (Simon & Schuster). Gaslighting in female friendship hasn’t been examined with the same nuance that romantic relationships have, she says.
This month’s Murder Monday interview by Sisters in Crime’s national co-convenor, Karina Kilmore is with Sarah Bailey whose debut novel, The Dark Lake, is a best seller in Australia, the USA and Canada and won both the 2018 Davitt Award for Best Crime Debut and the 2018 Ned Kelly award for Best First Crime. (Click on …
Sisters in Crime held its much delayed Annual General Meeting yesterday (30 May) by Zoom. Thanks to the pandemic, it has been a long year since its last AGM – 19 months, in fact – but financial members rallied to the call for a big turnout (a quorum of 10%) to pass the new rules …
Debut author Karina Kilmore drew on her own life and work background to write her debut novel Where the Truth Lies (Simon & Schuster) which centres on a journalist investigating a death on the wharves and the tribal divide between big business, the media and unions. She spoke to Maggie Baron. Q: Hi Karina, firstly …
Writing a crime thriller marks the author as a slightly suspicious person; perhaps even a downright shady one – or so I’ve recently discovered. My debut novel, Other People’s Houses, was released in March and I’ve lost count of the number of friends and family – even strangers – who’ve asked how, and why, I …
After a six-month hiatus, Murder Mondays are back, but with a difference. The one-on-one author interviews which proved so popular during last year’s pandemic won’t be weekly this time round. They’ll be monthly but national co-convenor (and author), Karina Kilmore, will still be the one asking the tough questions. This month, Karina put fellow-Kiwi, Vanda …