Margaret Bevege’s PhD thesis was published as Behind Barbed Wire by UQP in 1993. She had articles in Women, Class and History and Worth Her Salt , which she co-edited. Turning to fiction. she won the 2001 Malice Domestic prize, reprinted in Scarlet Stiletto- The First Cut in 2007. Two other stories were printed in the NSW Queen of Crime Anthologies and from one of these she developed the main character of the three-volume Detective Ludowski’s Casebook (2001-03) which enjoyed modest. Credits Conc...
Jun 28, 2024•35 min•Season 4Ep. 46
Vikki Petraitis has written 18 books, including her best-selling book The Frankston Murders about serial killer Paul Denyer. In 2023, she released a podcast of the same name which topped charts around the world and helped change the law to keep Denyer in prison. Vikki’s first fiction, The Unbelieved , won the inaugural Allen & Unwin Crime Fiction Prize and the Readers’ Choice Davitt Award. The sequel is on the way. Vikki’s Casefile Presents podcasts have been downloaded millions of times. He...
Jun 21, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 45
Aoife Clifford is the author of the best-selling literary crime novels, Second Sight, highly commended in the Davitt Awards, All These Perfect Strangers, longlisted for both the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize; and When We Fall which was shortlisted for best crime novel in both the Ned Kelly Awards and the Davitt Awards. She has been shortlisted for the UK Crime Association’s Debut Dagger and has won the Scarlet Stiletto and the S.D. Harvey Award among other pri...
Jun 14, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 44
Sarah Evans is a seasoned writer of crime and her stories are usually inspired by true events. “The Bodyguard” and “Cold Comfort” are no exception. The idea for “The Bodyguard” materialized after Sarah read a magazine piece on a forensic scientist and “Cold Comfort” was based on a curmudgeonly farmer from the back blocks of WA. The Scarlet Stiletto Award has been an integral part of Sarah’s writing journey and her stories and novels have been published in Australia and overseas. Last year her Ev...
Jun 07, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 43
Apart from writing humorous family poetry, Anne had little writing experience. She won awards for two short stories at U3A and joined a creative writing group with Fin Ross who suggested her students enter a Scarlet Stiletto short story competition. She was fortunate to win two categories with her story Out of the Dark in 2011. One of these prizes was a mentorship at Olvar Wood Writers Retreat and these inspired her to write two young adult stories and an illustrated children’s book. Recently An...
May 31, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 42
Vicky Daddo lives in Hazelwood South, Victoria and is President of the Gippsland Writers Network and a Regional Ambassador for Writers Victoria. Her stories have appeared in The Big Issue, Award Winning Australian Writing and other anthologies. She has placed in competitions including the Rachel Funari Prize for Fiction, the Hope Prize, the Scarlet Stilettos and the FAW National Literary Awards. Her unpublished novels have been selected for QWC/Hachette Manuscript Development, and long-listed fo...
May 24, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 41
Since completing this short story, Mel Salomon completed her PhD, and moved to the United States where she now works as a medical writer. She has 2 children, a great husband and a newfound passion for long distance running. In her spare time she still enjoys writing poetry. Credits Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Shute ProductionManager: Tim Coy Graphic Designer: Caz Brown Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia...
May 17, 2024•42 min•Season 4Ep. 40
THIS STORY CONTAINS DETAILS OF CRUELTY TO A CHILD AND MAY BE TRIGGERING. Marguerite Johnson is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. She began creative writing, literary essays, and public opinion pieces in 2010, following a break from academia as a result of cancer. She continues to combine research with other writing practices. She is a contributor to The Conversation and a regular guest on radio and podcasts. In 2017 she was named the Australian B...
May 10, 2024•15 min•Season 4Ep. 39
When Sarah won the Scarlet Stiletto Award for the Best Young Writer in 2011, she was in Year 7 at Caulfield Grammar School. Though she had been passionate about writing since she was young, winning the award boosted her confidence and inspired her to pursue a career in the literary industry. Sarah has since hosted author events, run a successful YA book club, interned for the Melbourne Writers Festival, Writers Victoria, Hardie Grant Egmont and Penguin, and worked as a bookseller. Her story "A L...
May 03, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 38
Mary Evans wrote Stage Fright while she was being homeschooled by her mother, crime writer Sarah Evans, who encouraged Mary to write and submit her works into competitions from an early age. Winning Scarlet Stiletto was a great boost to her confidence and encouraged her to continue scribbling. Mary wrote short stories, poetry and, eventually, songs. She’s now a singer-songwriter and performs her whimsical songs and murder ballads under her professional stage name Mary Myfanwy Credits Concept des...
Apr 26, 2024•10 min•Season 4Ep. 37
2011, the year Kim won the Scarlet Stiletto Judges’ Prize was the year her second novel, The Courier’s New Bicycle , was published. Being a creature of many colours, the novel was shortlisted for two crime fiction awards (Ned Kelly, Davitt) as well as making the Tiptree Honor Book list and winning two speculative fiction awards (Aurealis, Ditmar). Until that year, she really didn’t know if she could pull together a crime-themed short story or novel. The Stilettos gave her a shot in the arm, she ...
Apr 21, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 36
Fiona Drury is a corporate writer and editor and an international exhibition agent for major museums. She is originally from the UK and has lived in Melbourne for over 34 years. An avid reader and writer of crime fiction, Fiona is a long-time member of Sisters in Crime. Credits Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Shute ProductionManager: Tim Coy Graphic Designer: Caz Brown Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia...
Apr 13, 2024•25 min•Season 4Ep. 34
Cock-a-Hoop was inspired by a true story told to sarah Evans at a rural community event celebrating women where she was a speaker. At the time she was home schooling my children and attempting to live a sustainable lifestyle. Between teaching, growing and harvesting produce, she was also writing short stories for competitions and novels for publication. Winning the prize for the Scarlet Stiletto funniest crime story in 2011 was a welcome and much needed enthusiasm boost. She has since had many s...
Apr 05, 2024•14 min•Season 4Ep. 33
Author of Death in the Skies, 2020 winner of Scarlet Stiletto Award & Mystery with History Award.. Jessica has always been able to put a string of words together. Throughout school, she won quite a few small writing competitions and she always knew that regardless of what else she did, she wanted writing to be a part of her future in some way, shape or form. She moved to the UK in search of adventure and travelled the world for several years before Covid clipped her wings. But being back in ...
Mar 30, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 32
Liz Filleul won the Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2004 and in 2011 she came close to doing it again, with her story “Crime Traveller”, taking out both second prize and the Cross-Genre Award. Liz hoped her Scarlet Stiletto success would be a springboard to a career as a novelist. And it did actually lead to having a detective novel, set in the world of vintage children’s fiction collectors, published by a niche publisher in the UK. For over a decade, Liz worked on various novels, periodically taking ...
Mar 25, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 31
Romany won the Scarlet Stiletto Award for short crime fiction and also the Art and Crime Category for 2023. By day Romany helps organisations share their true stories; by night she writes no-quite-so-true stories which have been published in places like The Canberra Times and the Newcastle Short Story Awards. She is also a winner of Furious Fiction. She lives on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. Credits Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Sh...
Dec 22, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 30
Roxxy Bent is a founder of Vitalstatisix Theatre Company. She wrote award winning plays for Vitals and other companies; several of which have been published in anthologies. She has also written for the screen. She has worked as an actor and writer on multiple community projects. Winning two Scarlet Stilettos, for best short crime fiction in 2002 and 2006, inspired Roxxy to complete a Masters in Creative Writing. She has continued with the long-form, earning her a Varuna Scholarship and a Text Pu...
Dec 17, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 29
We all feel cynical sometimes, don't we? Today on Scarlet's Stiletto Bites, we meet a super cynic. She's seen everything, but her cynicism leads her to discover seriously sinister crimes. Louisa by Christina Lee, the Scarlett's Stiletto winner in 1996. Christina Lee won the Scarlet Stiletto twice, much to her surprise, in 1992 and 1994, with an Honourable Mention or Third Place or something in between. Under the Sisters in Crime policy, she was not able to enter the competition after that, and w...
Dec 08, 2023•36 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Back in 2009, when Amanda won the Scarlet Stiletto with her story, “Persia Bloom”, the ex-hairdresser was busy being mum to three young boys and helping to care for her terminally ill father. Winning the award on her first attempt gave Amanda the courage to continue writing, going on to be short-listed in the Stilettos a further three times, participate on the judging panel for two years and co-write a novel with Kylie Fox – another Scarlet Stiletto frequent flyer – which was published by Clan D...
Dec 01, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Janis Spehr lives in northern Victoria. She has published five story collections and a novel with Ginninderra Press. She is currently writing her second novel. THE BLUE DOOR. Her writing journey has taken her away from crime fiction, but she retains fond memories of the Scarlet Stiletto. She won the first prize two years on the trot, in 1999 and 2000. Credits Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Shute Announcer: Leigh Redhead ProductionManager: Tim Coy G...
Nov 24, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 26
“Tallow” by Ellie Marney won the 2010 Scarlet Stiletto Award catapulting her into a publishing contract, a debut novel, and what has turned into a long-term career. Ellie is now a New York Times bestselling and multi-award-winning author of crime thrillers. Her eleven titles include smash hit None Shall Sleep and its Kirkus-starred sequel Some Shall Break, as well as The Killing Code, the Every series, and White Night. She has spent a lifetime researching in mortuaries, interviewing autopsy spec...
Nov 17, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Siobhan Mullany won the Scarlet Stiletto in 1997. She is a current NSW Convenor of Sisters in Crime. She worked as a criminal defence lawyer. Her non-fiction has been published in legal journals and short stories published by Sisters in Crime. She has also reviewed TV crime shows for Sisters in Crime. Credits Concept designer, co-producer and narrator: Susanna Lobez Co-producer: Carmel Shute Announcer: Leigh Redhead Production Manager: Tim Coy Graphic Designer: Caz Brown Music: sampled & ins...
Nov 10, 2023•30 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Roxxy Bent is a founder of Vitalstatisix Theatre Company. She wrote award winning plays for Vitals and other companies; several of which have been published in anthologies. She has also written for the screen. She has worked as an actor and writer on multiple community projects. Winning two Scarlet Stilettos, for best short crime fiction in 2002 and 2006, inspired Roxxy to complete a Masters in Creative Writing. She has continued with the long-form, earning her a Varuna Scholarship and a Text Pu...
Nov 03, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Cate Kennedy has been writing short stories for going on 30 years, ever since entering the first Scarlet Stiletto Awards in 1994 and winning two trophies in a row (after which she was invited to become a judge). Cate rapidly became one of Australia’s most admired and awarded short-story writers. She’s also written and published a novel, a travel memoir, and three collections of poetry. Cate works as a writing teacher and fiction advisor on the faculty of Pacific University’s Creative Writing pro...
Oct 27, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Evelyn Tsitas is writer, artist, and curator. Her published and performed works range across fiction, nonfiction, stage, and journalism. Evelyn’s short story “Undeceive” won the first prize trophy and Innovation Prize in the 2008 Scarlet Stiletto Awards and while it piqued the interest of publishers it was deemed too innovative – as it was in verse! By that stage, however, Evelyn was on a path to academic research, thanks to her short story “Xenos” which won the Scarlet Stiletto Innovation prize...
Oct 20, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Journalist and award-winning short story writer Blanche Clark hails from Melbourne/Naarm. After seven years as the Herald Sun's Books Editor, she became an uber-mature, part-time creative writing student at Swinburne University. When she is not working, studying, writing or reading, Blanche traverses Melbourne hunting for the best coffee and pastries, and making time-wasting reels featuring food, animals and the built environment. Credits Concept designer, co-producer and narrator: Susanna Lobez...
Oct 13, 2023•31 min•Season 2Ep. 20
In 2018 Philomena’s dear friend and co-founder of Sisters in Crime, Mary-Ann Metcalf, died unexpectedly. After the funeral, Philomena was prompted to enter the Scarlet Stilettos for the first time – and won! She entered again the following year and came runner-up. Naturally, a life of crime writing beckoned. To better study the craft, in 2020 Philomena joined the Davitt Judges panel as its Coordinator. The role continued to expose her to a vast and diverse range of great Australian crime and mys...
Oct 06, 2023•33 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Rowena is a cross-genre writer with a preference for writing crime. She has been publishing short stories, creative non-fiction and articles since 1994 in various magazines including Southerly and Island . In 2017 she won six awards for her short stories and creative non-fiction, of which the most thrilling was the Scarlet Stiletto Award. Winning the Stiletto, and gazing on the shoe every day – it lives in her loungeroom – gave her the courage to write a novel. Since then, she’s continued to wri...
Sep 29, 2023•20 min•Season 2Ep. 18
In 2003, when Jacqui won the Scarlet Stiletto Award, she was an emerging writer working at Victoria Police and scratching away at short stories. In 2016, when she won the special Silver Stiletto at Sisters in Crime convention, SheKilda 3, she was an emerging writer who had two draft manuscripts and a number of published short stories under her belt. The shoes have boosted her confidence and remind her that she can do it. She is still an emerging writer. She was a judge for Sisters in Crime’s Dav...
Sep 22, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 17
TJ Hamilton is a retired police officer, a criminologist, a published author, a one-time crime reporter, and now TV screenwriter. With a deep understanding of the crime genre, TJ is one of Australia's most sought-after technical consultants and story producers for scripted dramas, having worked across various productions in both Australia and the U.S.Winning the shoe in 2015 was a huge turning point in her career. Shortly after, she moved back to Sydney from Hervey Bay with her family and worked...
Sep 15, 2023•41 min•Season 2Ep. 16
