Pushing the frontiers of crime fiction

On Sunday Dec 3, 2006, I will be part of a panel, ‘Pushing the frontiers of crime fiction at Portarlington’, organised by the Sisters in Crimes Australia. Crime writer and Sisters in Crime convenor Lindy Cameron, leads the panel of crime writers who all set their books overseas.

The venue is the Ol’ Duke, 40 Newcombe Street, Portarlington. The events starts at 2pm and includes readings and book signings. Tickets $10 and must be pre-paid. Contact Lorraine Stokes on 5259 1593.

I will be discussing my debut novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, featuring an Australian expatriate private investigator in Thailand; most of the action is set in Chiang Mai. Also on the panel is Paddy O’Reilly, whose novel The Factory is set in Japan; and P D Martin, whose books Body Count and The Murderers’ Club feature a Victorian profiler working with the FBI in Washington DC.

Paddy O’Reilly and I shared the podium at another Sisters in Crime gig on Fri 1 September, which inspired me to read her novel, The Factory (Australian Scholarly Publications). Not so much a crime novel as a novel with a crime in it – as Paddy herself says – the book is lyrical and evocative, sustaining the suspense to the very last page. I was transfixed and transported reading this book, which given my current levels of sleep deprivation (thanks to my effervescent 10-month-old daughter) testifies to the power of Paddy’s prose. I thoroughly recommend The Factory.