Crime Writing

1am in Melbourne

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Kerry Greenwood, Josephine Pennicott and Marion Boyce

When I stop flying in the sky I shall write a proper report on the night it’s been thirteen years of me entering the Scarlet Stiletto. Now that I’ve won the two shoes I am no longer eligible. It’s an end of an era for Tale Peddler. But I am incredibly honoured to be one of the five women in Australia who have won two shoes. In 2001 I won for Birthing The Demons and on Friday night I won for Shadows, a short story inspired when my daughter ran off from a park and decided to walk home by herself.
Thank you for visiting me. There’s a lot I’d love to blog about – so much to share – but I’m right into the world of Currawong Manor at the moment. This book is intense to say the least. I don’t want to lose the beat and heart of it too much by spending time away from it.

Sisters in Crime – Melanie Myers, Josephine Pennicott, Liz Filleul and Mandy Wrangles

Deadline is now the end of December. I have my characters and my crumbling world of Currawong Manor for a short time yet.

Colour mood board for Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

I love this book so much that it hurts. I am happy to report my husband also loves it and hopefully other readers will as well. It’s been the hardest book I’ve ever written but it’s bones have emerged in exactly the way I always envisaged it.

With Carmel Shute fellow Sister in Crime

Thanks again to all the Sisters in Crime and to Kerry Greenwood for her kind words to me. I really needed to hear what she had to say to me. I love Kerry and she’s been such a big inspiration to me over the years for her wonderful books set in Australia and for her style. In my opinion, she’s got even more style than her sassy creation, Phryne Fisher.

The always fab Kerry Greenwood

She is a survivor and it’s writers like Kerry who keep me going. The talk and powerpoint presentation by Kerry and costume designer Marion Boyce was fascinating and the outfits drew many gasps from the audience. I could have listened to them both all night.

Mandy Wrangles, Josephne Pennicott and Lindy Cameron.

Well-frocked guests. I had delightful dinner companions.

A Killer Wine

Marion’s research sheets for Phryne Fisher

Phyllis, Mandy, Lindy, Carmel, Liz and all the other Sisters of Crime, I love you all.

You can read the official press release HERE from Sisters in Crime and see the full list of winners. Congratulations again to all fellow Sisters in Crime who picked up awards this year. If you didn’t make the short list then submit next year!
Thanks to HARPERCOLLINS for their continued support of this award. 
xx

A SWAN FLIES

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A very busy time.

image by Carla Coulson

My deadline for Currawong Manor has been extended until the end of December which is wonderful as it gives me more time to spend a last month with my characters before they leave the writing shed.

Carla Coulson

I was very excited to speak to Carla Coulson on Friday night in Paris, whose photography/books and blog I’ve long been a fan of. In a couple of weeks she will be taking some photographs of yours truly in the most AMAZING Sydney location. I’ll be fascinated to see how she works for research purposes for Currawong Manor. Hopefully in the midst of editing, I shall be able to organise something to wear.

image by Carla Coulson

David leaves tomorrow to spend a night in a koala hospital for work.
And on Friday I’m flying to Melbourne as I have shortlisted for the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards with Sisters in Crime for their crime short-story competition. Wish me good fortune, and best wishes to all the other nominated writers. It is an honour to have made the short-list again.

Kerry Greenwood (by Harjono Djoyobisono

Kerry Greenwood is presenting the awards along with Marion Boyce, from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries who is responsible for the totally stunning outfits Essie Davis wore in the ABC series. Marion has an impressive body of work including Salem’s Lot and so I’m really looking forward to her talk on Friday night.
Speaking of sassy authors – how fab to see fellow Selwa Anthony author, lovely Kate Morton achieve such incredible heights with her latest book The Secret Keeper.

Kate photo by Brigit Solhoug

We are all thrilled for her in Little Brick as we’ve watched Kate navigate her writing career way back when she was first submitting her early work. And it proves that there are readers out there who still love a well-told story presented in a beautiful book. I bought The Secret Keeper the other day and had to cull seven paperback books to fit it on my shelves, but it is a glorious presentation. And I’m very excited that Clint Eastwood has bought the film rights to her second book, The Forgotten Garden.

Sandra’s Birdie and Pearl

I may not have Clint Eastwood but the beautiful chickens above belong to lovely Sandra who hosted a book club meeting for Poet’s Cottage. Her chickens are named after my characters Birdie and Pearl. Such an honour to have not only a television commercial and bag made for my Tasmanian mystery but to have chickens named after your characters fills me with joy. I would love to have some chickens!  
The weekend was a blur of editing and fact checking. A highlight was the smell of freshly cut grass in my park on a twilight run whilst an enormous black swan launched himself into flight in front of me.

Full Moon Rising

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We’ve just passed the Spring Equinox in Sydney. You can feel the garden hum when I walk out in the morning to go to the writing shed with all the new colourful floral growth.

I celebrated the Equinox with my women’s spiritual group. As much as I dread the coming summer, even I have to admit this is a lovely time of year with such a celebratory feeling and a whiff of hope in the warmer air. Look at the amazing full moon that I photographed over my garden this week.

The full moon brought me good fortune as I am happy to say I’ve made the shortlist again for the annual Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards to be held in Melbourne in November.

I’m thrilled to have shortlisted as every year the bar gets higher for me to compete. The competition is intense. I have been fortunate enough to previously win many categories including two Kerry Greenwood  Malice Domestic awards and also the coveted shoe itself for first prize in the Scarlet Stilettos. I am hoping one year I will join the few authors who have won a pair of shoes (once you win a pair you are no longer eligible to compete).

This year my good writing friend Liz Filluel is also on the shortlist and so fingers crossed for both of us. I was told by my tarot reader earlier in the year there would be a trip to Melbourne and so this looks as if she was accurate again. I keep meaning to update the blog I did earlier on my reading with her as I’ve had several people interested in exactly what she said but I’ve been so busy with writing. Watch this space.

I’m pushing very long hours on Currawong Manor at the moment as my deadline is October and there’s still a few plot strands to be woven together. I’m really enjoying my time at Currawong Manor and not looking forward to when I have to bid my characters adieu again. There’s been lots of 4am starts and lovely mother friends taking my daughter into their homes during the holidays so I can put the hours in which I’m eternally grateful for.

It would be lovely to take a family holiday and relax. l keep having fantasies of balmy tropical islands or long cruises where I don’t have to do anything except read, write and watch the water go by. Such as this image which I’m drooling over.

I enjoyed Jennifer Byrne’s interview with JK Rowling recently on ABC promoting Rowling’s new book, The Casual Vacancy. I thought Rowling seemed very down to earth for the surreal world she now occupies.

Daisy has just discovered Harry Potter and is totally smitten with Rowling’s creation. She can’t go anywhere without her invisibility cloak and wand.

Along with many last week, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the rape and murder of Jill Meagher, a beautiful young girl who harboured a dream to be a writer but was taken far too early to fulfil her ambitions in a cruel and savage manner. And this death needn’t have occurred – our prison system obviously needs an overhaul.

All women of this country are never safe when they walk the streets alone. We know that there could be lurking predators at any hour, waiting their chance. But when you have a system that releases multiple offenders – the judge had said the man had no hope of rehabilitation – then what hope have we got when the monsters are allowed to walk free?

Out of respect for Jill’s family I won’t say any more but the very least we can do for this young woman’s memory is work to GET THE LAWS CHANGED.

Here’s one of my power spots to share with you near the Spring Equinox. I love to visit here and soak up the energy. No, it’s not my back garden but I feel that I have a connection to this enchanted place. I’ve been blessed with many story and book ideas in this magical garden.

Wishing you joy, beauty and balance in your life and creativity this coming week.

image of garden source HERE

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

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A great year to celebrate for women crime and mystery writers in Australia. This is an extract from a recent media release from Melbourne Sister in Crime, Carmel Shute.

Gabrielle Lord and a very blonde Josephine Pennicott

‘Award-winning Swedish crime writer Ǻsa Larsson presented the 12th Davitt Awards at a gala dinner of over 100 crime buffs at the Celtic Club in Melbourne where she also talked to Professor Sue Turnbull about her ‘life in crime’. Turnbull coined the term ‘Arctic Noir’ to describe Larsson’s novels which are set in the icy wilderness of northern Sweden.

Turnbull, also a national co-convenor of Sisters in Crime and the Sydney Morning Herald’s crime columnist) said that Sisters in Crime had been delighted (and amazed), to see women scooping the pools at this year’s Ned Kelly Awards (29 August).

“Four of the 6 awards on offer went to women including the Life Time Achievement Award which went to Gabrielle Lord. To cap it off, all presenters were women so it was far from the blokey affair of previous years,” she said.

Gabrielle Lord

“The sisters are doing it for themselves right across the crime board. This year, we’ve had the pleasure of the TV series, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries,based on the 1920s flapper detective series by Kerry Greenwood, a founding member of Sisters in Crime.

Kerry greenwood and Wizard Dafydd image by Pat Scala

Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries

“You open the Australian Women’s Weekly and you read a feature on Warragul member and author, Honey Brown. You open the Saturday Weekend magazine of the Herald Sun) and you read features about Sydney members Kathryn Fox and Josephine Pennicott – or Honey Brown. You walk into the airport and there is a giant illuminated poster promoting the latest novel by Cairns memberHelene Young.”’

And a few photos of my week and inspirations to share some of the Sydney sunshine.

shoes that crackle with summer anticipation and gypsy love

Thank you for visiting me. Stay creative. xx

TALKING HEADS

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On a freezing winter’s night in Sydney I spoke at Newtown Library last night for an event for the library and Better Read than Dead bookshop.

Josephine Pennicott nervouc just before speaking

I’m always nervous before public-speaking. Like a lot of authors I prefer my characters and words to represent me. This time around I used hypnotic CDs by Marisa Peer in preparation weeks beforehand.

Flowers given at the end of the talk

They must have worked because despite feeling the adrenaline kick–in before I started, everyone present said how relaxed I was.

The talk went very well and it was lovely to see the room packed out. I signed quite a few books afterwards and then headed to the Bank Hotel with a few friends to celebrate Poet’s Cottage over a Thai meal.

with good friends at the Bank hotel

Here we enjoyed lively conversation of books, real-estate, ghosts, tarot and magic. The Bank Hotel is always special to me because I met my husband there.

Josephine Pennicott with Mary and Michelle. Very relieved it is over.

I was very touched by my friends’ support of my book. So many people came to hear my hour-long talk about my personal journey and my road to Pencubitt.

Last Friday evening, I went to see Anna Funder talk to a crowd  at a very full Seymour Centre.

Anna was eloquent, intelligent and elegant  as she described her experiences writing All That I Am. I found it fascinatingto hear her life journey and to put the jig-saw pieces together which led to her writing All That I am. And Anna herself was very gracious when she signed the book.

As I waited in the signing queue I overhead this from two men: ‘What did you think of that?’

‘Oh it was alright. But I prefer her book to hearing her talk about it.’

Do you enjoy hearing writers talk about their work? Leave me a comment and let me know which writers have held you spellbound.  Do you feel the writer should be a mystery and allow their creations to represent them? Is the enjoyment of a book lost if you find out too much about the author?‘

Perhaps Daphne du Maurier was correct when she said, ‘Writers should be read but neither seen nor heard.’

Queens, Talking Books and Women in Black

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Hello,

We’ve now entered winter in Australia which is my favourite season.

And we’re cycling into a long weekend for the Queen’s Birthday. I have taken the image below from the wonderful Rachel Van Asch’s blog HERE,

which I was browsing around today falling in love with all sorts of treasures that she makes. I’m a bit in love also with her skull and flower cushions and her Clara Bow cushion below.

I’ve been frantically busy editing for Currawong Manor and forgot to mention that these beautiful audio books compliments of Bolinda publishing arrived in the post a few weeks ago.

It’s a very surreal experience to hear Poet’s Cottage being read. The actress is the very fab Jennifer Vuletic and I’m so thrilled to have the lovely audio. Bolinda really do such a quality product and it’s even more special to me as my middle sister has retinitis pigmentosa and is battling blindness. My sister loved Poet’s Cottage which was a relief as she’s very plain-speaking (her favourite character was Thomasina, which was no surprise ). My youngest sister’s favourite character was Birdie. The week the book came out, my sister had her eyes scraped for cataracts and so was able to read the paper version. I was thrilled I was able to create a shadow play that she believed and a story she could fall into, as nobody knows you like your sister, but she allowed me to lead her down the streets of the sea-fishing village of Pencubitt and into Poet’s Cottage. She called it ‘my Tasmanian House of the Spirits’ which was so lovely as she’s a HUGE Isabel Allende fan and now my Poet’s Cottage is actually resting in her house against The House of the Spirits. Hopefully Isabel’s book will merge magical cells into Poet’s Cottage to help its sales!

My sister even rushed out and bought the perfume Shalimar after reading it and wanted to decorate her house in a 1930s style. I was very moved she loved the book to that extent.

I also went to see The Woman in Black this week on a very grim and rainy night. I was meant to be going with Artschool Annie but she pulled out at the last minute due to the weather and I was in the unfortunate position of being about to see a VERY scary movie on my own. Luckily, I ran into another friend who was with her husband on their date night and they let me tag along!

The movie was good, visually very beautiful but lacked the true creepiness of either the book by Susan Hill or the two stage versions I’ve seen in the West End and in Sydney. I can still remember years later the audience screaming in the West End at ‘that’ scene in the nursery.

Still it was an enjoyable movie for a rainy night in Sydney.

Wishing you a magical, wonderful, creative weekend and Happy Birthday to Queen Elizabeth. Thank you for visiting me. xx

Dark Shadows

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Hello,

On Tuesday, 31st July 6-7pm at Newtown Library I shall be talking with the lovely Gayle Donaldson. The event is called Talking Heads and is a combined Better Read Than Dead bookshop and Newtown Library event.

If you would like to come along please reserve a seat HERE.

Some topics I imagine we’ll be covering: mysteries, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, fantasy writing, crime writing, publishing, Tasmania, sea-fishing villages, families, bohemians, secrets, Johnny Depp. If you’re interested in any of these – or you feel like a free chat and a warm place to sit – don’t make yourself a stranger.

There are limited seats so please reserve as early as you can. Would love to meet you!

Here’s my reply to a question the Hoopla asked me regarding a heated discussion at the Sydney Writers Festival on literary awards going to books that readers can’t or don’t read due to inaccessible content. This came about as a comment from a panel Stella Rimington hosted where literary critics became worked up when she said literary awards should be given to books which are readable.

I’m paraphrasing the debate as I didn’t go to the Sydney Writer’s Festival because I was too busy writing. But I did add my piece to the Hoopla which you can find HERE.

Last night Art School Annie dragged me away from my edit to see Dark Shadows. Wow!! This move was so much better than I expected. Let’s not mention the last 15 minutes which really sort of sucked huge-time. But the rest of it was Tim Burton in fine form. The scene with Johnny and the hippies is sooo good and worth the price of the movie. I love that combination of horror and comedy and it really brought to mind the Manson family with the innocence of the late 60s, early 70s era when you could break bread with a vampire in the woods and not realise that of course he’s going to kill you. And I’m so in love with Michelle Pfeiffer (who gets better with age) in her 70s gear and jewellery. Michelle said in an interview that her sister-in-law made the jewellery for the movie.

I’ve never really come out of the 70s. It’s one of my favourite eras and so this movie was heaven for me. Tim Burton, 70s fashion, hippies, vampires, sea-fishing villages, Helena Bonham Carter, Alice Cooper and of course, Johnny Depp.

A perfect movie. Here’s a track from Dark Shadows to glide up all feeling groovy into the weekend. Thank you for visiting me. xx

Mo Hayder and Edgar

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I was delighted that Mo Hayder won the very cool and cute looking EDGAR award by the Mystery Writers of America in New York recently for her bestselling book, GONE.

Regular readers will know I am a big fan of Mo’s and love both her police procedural novels which feature the enigmatic, sexy Jack Caffery and also her standalone books which are really marvellous (although very dark and disturbing).

I loved it when I met Mo in Sydney years ago at a writing workshop. She kindly cast my daughter as a character in one of her books, SKIN. (Well, her name, anyway, and added Daisy to the acknowledgments.)

Mo Hayder and Josephine Pennicott

And so if you love your crime or mysteries very dark, beautifully written and with twists that will haunt and play with your mind for years… Mo is the go.

You can read all about Mo and join her forum on her website HERE.

mo and edgar image via HERE