New Aussie Noir

Do you love “rural crime thrillers” or have you never heard of the subgenre? Perhaps you know it as “Aussie Noir”? Are you a fan of some of these excellent Aussie Noir writers – Jane Harper (The Dry), Chris Hammer (Scrublands), Garry Disher (Peace), Sarah Bailey (The Dark Lake), Emma Viskic (Resurrection Bay), L.J.M. Owen (The Great Divide) and B. Michael Radburn (The Crossing)? Well, I am a self-confessed crime-fiction addict, and I love to read Aussie Noir, along with other subgenres of crime!

I also love to write rural crime thrillers. If you are drawn to Aussie Noir, parallel stories led by cops and journalists (or police and amateur sleuths), and gritty rural fiction set in a variety of country locations, my Georgie Harvey and John Franklin series might be up your alley. So for those of you who aren’t familiar with my novels, I would love to introduce them. And for my fans who want to know more about my brand-new title, Black Cloud, read on!

So far, I’ve penned four contemporary rural crime thrillers starring Melbourne journalist Georgie Harvey and Daylesford cop John Franklin. My novels can be enjoyed as standalones as the crime aspects are wrapped up within each one, though many people prefer to read them as part of the gripping series, following the lives of Georgie, Franklin and other cast members (with an eight-month gap in their world between the instalments).

Capturing our culture and our topical issues, and featuring the unique landscape of Australian regions are essential elements of my stories. The settings of my books include popular spa town Daylesford, the picturesque and diverse region of Murrindindi, stunning Mount Dandenong in the hills outside of Melbourne, and the lush farming district around Korweinguboora and Gordon. These settings enrich the stories, imbue them with atmosphere, and even if beautiful, also create unease.

Here’s just a little about each Georgie Harvey and John Franklin rural thriller to date. (No spoilers; please follow the links if you want to know more.)

In Tell Me Why (book 1), Georgie Harvey and John Franklin are working separate investigations, but collide over a woman missing from Hepburn. Georgie’s search reignites the mystery surrounding the missing woman’s husband—his suspected murder—stirring up long-buried secrets and potentially dangerous adversaries. Tell Me Why won the Davitt Award Readers’ Choice and was shortlisted for the Davitt Award Best Debut, and it holds a fond place in my heart as the first novel I wrote.

Dead Again (book 2) sees Georgie and Franklin back in conflict when her assignment in wildfire-ravaged Bullock and a crime spree in Daylesford connect with the terrible truth about the fire. A secret someone might kill to keep.

In Into the Fog (book 3), Georgie and Franklin risk everything in their race to find three young children missing from a police-run camp in the Dandenong Ranges in a wild storm and a long way from home. Somebody saw the children, somebody knows something…

And I’m delighted that my brand-new thriller Black Cloud (book 4) publishes in July 2020. In this emotional roller coaster, Georgie Harvey and John Franklin are pushed to breaking point by a fatal explosion on a farm in Korweinguboora involving two of Franklin’s workmates. The crime scene is compromised by fire, blasts and water, and speculations run rife. Franklin seeks answers; someone to blame. Georgie investigates her toughest story yet. Will one break?

I am planning more Harvey and Franklin thrillers, but I’m currently at work on my first psychological thriller. I also have a passion for writing short crime stories – stay tuned for more about this soon. Meanwhile, my new publisher is releasing fresh editions of Tell Me Why, Dead Again and Into the Fog over the next two months, and will publish my latest book Black Cloud in July.

Thank you for letting me share a little about my work with you. I love to hear from my readers, new and old. Your wonderful messages, emails and reviews give me great pleasure and keep me writing. Hear my book news first, and stay in touch, by joining me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. More on my website, and my Amazon, Goodreads and Next Chapter author pages too.