A sea of scarlet and pearls: Celebrating 30 years of mystery, murder, and malice with Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Awards
South Melbourne’s Rising Sun Hotel was awash with scarlet and pearls on Saturday night (25 November) as crime writers and fans gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Awards for best short stories. This year, a record 250 short stories competed for a record $12,720 in prize money. Over the…
18th Law Week Panel: Postmortem
Sisters in Crime Australia is again proud to join forces with the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Victoria University, to present its 18th Law Week event.
An expert panel from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) – Dr Melanie Archer (forensic pathologist and forensic entomologist), Associate Professor Linda IIes (Head of Pathology forensic pathologist), Dr Samantha Rowbotham (forensic anthropologist), and Dr Lyndall Smythe (forensic odontologist) – will explore the what, when, who, and where revealed by postmortems with true crime author and novelist, Dr Liz Porter.
Twisted plots with a cracking pace: Breathing new life into Rural Noir
Rural Noir — crime fiction set everywhere from dry and dusty farming communities to sleepy seaside towns — has become a global publishing sensation. Breathing new life into this established, sometimes tired, genre are three Australian authors – Vikki Wakefield (To the River), Fiona Lowe (The Accident), and Christine Gregory (The Community). They’ll be thrashing through the issues with award-winning author, Margaret Hickey.
Murder Monday: Kylie Orr
Sisters in Crime’s Jacq Ellem spoke to Melbourne author Kylie Orr for the April Murder Monday. Kylie has two much-praised novels to her credit – Someone Else’s Child, and now The Eleventh Floor which has a fabulous tagline, “The view is a killer…”.
Fiona Lowe, The Accident
For the April Crime Stack, HQ Fiction has kindly offered 20 copies of The Accident, by award-winning Geelong writer, Fiona Lowe. The Crime Stack is a benefit for Sisters in Crime members. Every month there are 20 books to win in a random draw of members. Join now and be in the running for a complimentary paperback copy of The Accident, a ripper read.
Dual timelines, double the thrills: Lisa Medved
For the April Author Spotlight, Natalie Conyer, spoke to Lisa Medved about her debut novel. The Engraver’s Secret. Lisa, an Australian author, lives in the Haque but will be visiting Australia and speaking at Sisters in Crime’s Melbourne event, Reimaging the Sleuth, on Friday 19 April, 8pm. Natalie says that you’d hardly know that The Engraver’s Secret is Lisa Medved’s debut novel: it’s a complex mix of art and crime, a novel about families, and an exciting what-if mystery.
From the mountains to the sea: Lee Christine
The scene of the crime is all important for Lee Christine. Her three novels in her Snowy Mountains crime trilogy, Charlotte Pass, Crackenback, and Dead Horse Gap are set in and around the small towns and ski resorts of New South Wales, an area she was very familiar with. So, when it was time to pick up her pen or her next novel, Glenrock, she felt it was important to give her readers a strong sense of place once again – this time in the region around Newcastle that has changed enormously since the closure of BHP twenty-five years ago.
Reimagining the sleuth
The sleuth in crime fiction is no longer a cop or PI. Three authors explore some of the new-style investigators now at work.
For Haque-based author, Lisa Medved (The Engraver’s Secret), it’s a contemporary art historian exploring a mystery in the 17th century world of Reubens. For Sulari Gentill from Batlow, NSW (The Mystery Writer), it’s the aspiring author herself who finds something sinister going on in the world of publishing and has to unravel the mystery before she becomes the next victim. For Melbourne-based author, Aoife Clifford, the title says it all: It takes a town. . . to solve a murder. Interrogating the authors is multi-award-winning author, Emma Viskic.
Vale Brenda Richards
Sisters in Crime and the St Kilda community are mourning the death of Brenda Richards at the age of 85. She was a member of Sisters in Crime for over 30 years and wrote two crime novels. Brenda was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2011. primarily for her role in founding the Council of Single Mothers and their Children. A few years later she was made an Ambassador for Women by the Labor Party, as well as the Number 1 female ticket holder for the local St. Kilda City Football Club. In 2021, Brenda received an OAM “for service to the community through social welfare organisations”.
Celebrating 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice
To mark the Scarlet Stiletto Awards big anniversary, Sisters in Crime published The Scarlet Stiletto: 30 Years of Mystery, Murder and Malice, edited by Vice-President Lindy Cameron, courtesy of Clan Destine Press. Sue Turnbull says that this precious volume contains all 30 of the winning stories that are so different in their approach that it is evident that there is no ‘right’ way to write a winning Scarlet Stiletto story. Indeed, what the unpredictability of these stories suggest is that the more unconventional and original your take on the genre might be, the more likely you are to succeed.
New Reviews
Every month Sisters in Crime brings you new reviews from women who write criminally good books.