Scarlet Stiletto Bites

Fri, 10 May 2024 08:00:16 GMT

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 Book Review inaugural Gender Fellow winner for her essay on Picnic at Hanging Rock. Some of her creative writing, inspired by Greek mythology, appear in the journal, Arion. She currently lives on the Greek island of Lesvos.

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

IF THIS STORY HAS RAISED ANY ISSUES FOR YOU AS A LISTENER - YOU MAY WISH TO CONTACT LIFELINE on 13 11 14.

Revenge is Never the Answer by Sarah Robinson-Hatch

Fri, 03 May 2024 08:00:27 GMT

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 Little Overboard" was included in the anthology "This Fresh Hell", published by Clandestine Press last year. Sarah is currently working on a YA sci-fi novel set in Melbourne.

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

Stage Fright by Mary Evans

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 08:00:19 GMT

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 designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Trouble in Nine Acts by Kim Westwood

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 04:43:31 GMT

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 says. she still has the commemorative bottle of wine, vintage 2010, called ‘The Killer’

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

The Detail by Fiona Drury

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 05:47:17 GMT

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

Cock a Hoop by Sarah Evans

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 02:07:53 GMT

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 short stories and novels published both in Australia and overseas. Last year her crime series was optioned for TV. More info here:https://sarah-evans-author.com/

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

Death in the Skies by Jessica Southern-Reid

Sat, 30 Mar 2024 23:36:19 GMT

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 Australia gave Jessica the chance to have her first flying lesson, which led to “Death in the Skies”, the Scarlet Stiletto winning entry.

Had anybody told Jessica that she would write a crimes story, let alone win a crime-writing competition, she would have laughed in their faces. But being stuck at home in a world of lockdown will do strange things to a person. The Scarlet Stiletto win has given her the confidence to pursue a career in writing.

Since the win, she has expanded this short story into a full length novel and is in the final editing stages.

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

Crime Traveller by Liz Filleul

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 01:16:14 GMT

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 time out to write short stories. She continued her success in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, as runner up in 2007 and 2016, ad well as 2011, and the Mystery with History Prize in 2016. Eventually, it dawned on her that maybe her forte was writing short crime stories, Liz put one of her YA novels on submission and decided to focus on short stories for a while.

It was the best writing decision she has ever made! In the past few years , she has had 40 short stories and three serials published in UK magazine, The People’s Friend, and she has also been published in the USA magazine Woman’s World. One of her crime stories in that American magazine, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, set in 1830’s Van Diemen’s Land and featuring a convict constable, was a finalist ion the 2023 Derringer Awards, run by the Short Mystery Fiction Society in the USA

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

Skin and Bone by Romany Rzechowicz

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 01:38:02 GMT

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 Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Pecking Order by Roxxy Bent

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:24:33 GMT

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 Publishing Fellowship for her novel, The Pear Tree.

Credits

Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Louisa by Christina Lee

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 05:20:42 GMT

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 was invited to be a judge. Christina has been on the judging panel every year since then, a wonderful experience, she says. She now coordinates the final judging session.Christina has been writing a long time. Decades ago, she co-authored two crime novels, set in a Melbourne tertiary institution (Unable by Reason of Death, 1989; Not In Single Spies, 1992; Penguin Australia). Both sold and reviewed well. The first was an ABC book reading (1990) and optioned for screen. After that, an all-encompassing thirty-year academic career seriously got in the way of writing for about thirty years, but Christina is an Emeritus Professor now and is back, looking for a publisher for her new crime novel.

Credits

Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Persia Bloom by Amanda Wrangles

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:14:51 GMT

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 Destine Press in 2010, along with a number of other short stories in various anthologies over the years. She also wrote for online magazines, worked as a book reviewer and participated in Sisters in Crime 20th anniversary convention SheKilda, as both a panellist and conducting a workshop on 'How to win the Scarlet Stiletto'.

These days, Amanda works full-time in a primary school, encouraging creative young minds and taking on artwork commissions, while also studying to become a counsellor. However, her hairdressing alter-ego, Persia Bloom, is still knocking around, nagging for her chance to be a fully-fledged novel sometime soon.

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Vermin by Janis Spehr

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 07:25:43 GMT

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

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Tallow by Eleanor Marney

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 06:05:01 GMT

“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 specialists and law enforcement officers, and asking former spies how to make explosives from household items, and now she lives quite sedately north of Melbourne, Australia, with her family. You can find out more about Ellie at www.elliemarney.com

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Floating in a Live Circuit by Siobhan Mullany

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 02:59:15 GMT

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Mrs Wilcox's Milk Saucepan by Roxxy Bent

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 01:03:00 GMT

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 Publishing Fellowship for her novel, The Pear Tree.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Habit by Cate Kennedy

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 08:00:40 GMT

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 program in Oregon, finally completed her PhD in 2021 and is now trying to clear the decks to finish writing another book.

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Undeceive by Evelyn Tsitas

Fri, 20 Oct 2023 05:38:05 GMT

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 in 2007 and became the basis for Evelyn’s PhD research into speculative fiction and hybridity.

“Xenos” featured a female protagonist on the wrong side of the law who may or may not be quite human, and was written while Evelyn was at a Bioethics conference listening to a presentation about the transplantation of animal parts into humans. Evelyn went on to curate three large-scale thematic exhibitions anchored in her scholarship: Future U (2022), Pleasure (2019) and My Monster: The Human Animal Hybrid (2018) at RMIT Gallery. She currently works at Heide Museum of Modern Art, and is also writing a non-fiction book based on her research, as well as a speculative art-crime novel inspired by her short story Stealing Back the Relics, about regenerated body parts and ancient reliquaries, published in And Then... The Great Big Book of Awesome Adventure Tales! Vol 1 (Clan Destine Press). Evelyn says that there is no doubt that winning the coveted red shoe opened doors within the crime writing sisterhood, and gave her the confidence to stamp herself with the ‘crime writing’ brand – even though her work will always be oddly hybrid and speculative, image-based and narrative.

Credits

Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

At Length I Would Be Avenged by Blanche Clark

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:18:59 GMT

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

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

Production Manager: Tim CoyGraphic Designer: Caz Brown

Music: sampled & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Darkness in the Port by Philomena Horsely

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 06:00:47 GMT

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 mystery writing for people of all ages. In early 2023 she began submitting her draft novel -The Death Cycle – to publishers. Its main character, Finn, is based in the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, a place Philomena had visited during her PhD research on autopsies ten years earlier. In May an excerpt from her book was short-listed for the Geelong Writers Prize…

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Locked Out, Locked In, Locked Up by Rowena Harding-Smith

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 20:58:29 GMT

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 write and sell short stories but she’s also written two (unpublished) thrillers and has embarked on a third, which she now feels confident enough to attempt to sell. Her work has been featured on the ABC Radio National’s Book Show, Earshot and most recently on Radio ABC Melbourne.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Diving for Pearls by Jacqui Horwood

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 08:19:45 GMT

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 Davitt Awards for best crime books for 10 years.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Hard Knox by TJ Hamilton

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 07:36:27 GMT

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 as a print journalist for 3 years while she studied screenwriting at AFTRS. Meeting Danielle Cormack on the awards night proved to be a fruitful pathway into writers’ rooms when she introduced TJ to other screenwriters.In the eight years since, she has worked in various script departments across a wide variety of Australian dramas, including a couple of years stint at Home and Away during the Covid pandemic. This year, Hollywood came knocking, and she is beyond thrilled to be on the development team in Los Angeles for a new TV show with one of Australia’s most successful industry exports.None of this would’ve been possible if she had not taken the plunge and sent in her short story for the Scarlet Stiletto, for which she is eternally grateful.

Credits

Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Amy's Sandal by Judith Bridge

Fri, 08 Sep 2023 08:36:14 GMT

When Judith won the trophy in2014, she had sold a few stories to That’s Life and been published in a few obscurejournals with three readers. Flying to Melbourne and attending the event made her feel recognised as a writer. When she returned to Perth, there was a work thang summing up the year so far and the University Librarian said “and now we have an award-winning writer”, which was terribly exciting, she says. Since then, she has been published in a lot of anthologies and her flash fiction has been read live, recorded, translated and made into tiny films. Her creative urge at the moment is best satisfied recording songs with her duo The Additives.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Bunyip's Last Wish by Candice Graham

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 07:00:44 GMT

In 2013, Candice Graham was studying her Masters in Clinical Neuropsychology when she won the Scarlett Stiletto Award. Just one year prior, she won the Catherine Leppert Best Environmental Theme Award with her first ever Scarlet Stiletto entry. Candice reportedly remembers thinking at that time (surrounded by such talented ladies) that first prize was probably out of her reach. Above all else, Candice believes the Scarlet Stiletto Awards teach us what we’re capable of – both in writing and murderous intent! Candice set out to create something memorable and unique with her winning entry, “The Bunyip’s Last Wish”. She hopes that everyone enjoys this story, which was itself a joy to create. Since then, Candice has spent many rewarding years working as a psychologist, primarily with children and young adults. Candice and her husband share two wonderful young children of their own. Candice reports that their lives have pivoted in unexpected directions over the past year, impacted by storm damage, moving house, and winning some battles to become financially stable. Sadly, Candice has stepped back from her work as a psychologist due to severe pain from endometriosis. She believes the time feels right, however, to start writing the multitude of novels brimming in her mind…

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Shadows (2012) by Josephine Pennicott

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 07:56:58 GMT

Eleven years elapsed between Josephine Pennicott’s first Scarlet Stiletto shoe for “Birthing the Demons” in 2001 and her second shoe for “Shadows” in 2012. This taught her a lot about tenacity and belief in self. Winning the Scarlet Stiletto helped Josephine gain attention from a major publishing company, which led to her securing a literary agent. Since then, she has had five books published both in Australia and internationally. Her mystery novel Poet’s Cottagewas a Spiegel bestseller in Germany.

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

The Teardrop Tattoos (2011) by Angela Savage

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 05:53:39 GMT

Angela Savage is an award-winning writer, former CEO of Writers Victoria, and current CEO of Public Libraries Victoria. Her debut novel, Behind the Night Bazaar, featured Jayne Keeney, the Thai-based P I in her story which won third prize in 1998. The book won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Unpublished Manuscript, and all three of her Jayne Keeney PI novels were shortlisted for Ned Kelly Awards. Angela’s short stories have been published in Australia and the UK and she won the 2011 Scarlet Stiletto Award with “The teardrop tattoos”. Angela holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Monash University, giving her the Bond villain-like name of Doctor Savage. Her latest novel is Mother of Pearl.

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia 2023

Tuesday’s Jocks by Fin J Ross, 2022 Winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 03:17:07 GMT

Sometimes an investigation on a hot case unearths a revelation about a cold case. In today’s story, a rookie Constable must sort through her suspicions to find the prime suspect…

Fin J Ross has become a repeat offender, winning several Scarlet Stiletto category prizes in the past ten years. She finally kidnapped the coveted Scarlet Stiletto trophy at the 2022 awards with her entry, “Tuesday Jocks”. She has two published novels, and several short stories published in various anthologies, along with five novels languishing in limbo on her laptop. She has co-written three true crime anthologies with her sister, Sisters in Crime convenor and former president, Lindy Cameron. Aside from last year’s winning entry, she’s barely written a word for 18 months, since discovering an addiction to mosaics, which she now teaches in her Paynesville studio.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Dead Woman in the Water by Janis Spehr, 2000 Winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 01:52:15 GMT

Bad dreams often come from bad deeds, but who’s bad deeds….

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 first prize two years on a trot, 1999 and 2000.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Brought to Book by Liz Filleul, 2004 Winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:00:23 GMT

Everyone seems to be buying, selling, even collecting online – but scammers are lurking in cyberspace and even hard copy vintage books are targeted, as you’ll see in today’ s story.

When Liz Filleul won the Scarlet Stiletto Award in 2004, she had recently rediscovered the children’s books she’d loved growing up in England – books like the Famous Five, the Chalet School, the Lone Piners, and Antonia Forest’s Marlows series. This inspired her winning entry, “Brought to Book”.

At the time, Liz hoped her Scarlet Stiletto success would be a springboard to a career as a novelist. And it actually did lead to having a detective novel set in the world of vintage children’s fiction collectors published by a niche publisher in the UK. But the success she’d dreamed of – having a mainstream novel published – didn’t happen, and still hasn’t.

For over a decade, Liz worked on various novels, periodically taking time out to write short stories. She continued to do well in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, with the runners-up prize in 2007, 2011 and 2016, and the Cross-Genre Prize in 2011 and the Mystery with History Prize in 2016. Eventually, it dawned on her that maybe her forte was writing short stories. Liz put one of her YA novels on submission and decided to focus on short stories for a while.

It was the best writing decision she has ever made. In the past three years, she has had 40 short stories and three serials published in UK magazine The People’s Friend, and she has also been published in the USA magazine Woman’s World. One of her crime stories in The People’s Friend, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, set in 1830s Van Diemen’s Land and featuring a convict constable, was a finalist in the 2023 Derringer Awards, run by the Short Mystery Fiction Society in the USA.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Everything $2 On This Rack by Cate Kennedy, 1994 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 07:19:19 GMT

Some crimes are solved by intuition or gut instinct. Others by serendipity. In today’s story an OpShop provided clues...

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 program in Oregon, finally completed her PhD in 2021 and is now trying to clear the decks to finish writing another book.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Monster Hunters by Hayley Young, 2022 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award and Great Film Idea Award

Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:00:35 GMT

The outback of Australia can hold many mysteries and secrets. And its vastness can cover a criminal’s tracks and a family’s hidden past...

Hayley Young lives in Canberra with her family and enjoys writing across multiple genres. In 2021, she was at work (sneaking a snack) when she returned a missed call to learn she had won the 28th Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Award and Scriptworks Award for a Great Film Idea. Winning inspired further dedication to her love of writing, and in 2022 her success was followed by second place as well as Best Thriller in the 29th Scarlet Stiletto Awards. She was also the winner of the inaugural ACWA Louie Award 2022, and Audio Arcadia and MNC Writers’ Centre short story competitions in 2021. She has been published in multiple Australian and international works, including four anthologies by Stringybark Publishing, and two shortlisted entries in the Hammond House International Literary Competition (UK). She is currently working on three novels.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Slasher's Return by Jacqui Horwood, 2003 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 14:00:27 GMT

Sometimes is gets very hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. And often the good guys can get burnout, like Lizzie in today’s story.

In 2003, Jacqui Horwood was an emerging writer working at Victoria Police and scratching away at short stories. In 2016 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 Davitt Awards for best crime books for 10 years.

CreditsConcept designer, co-producer and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

Production Manager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Music: sampled & inspired by Prokofiev

Birthing the Demons by Josephine Pennicott, 2001 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:00:23 GMT

Crime can come close to us in more ways than one. Would you rather have a loved one who is a victim? Or a perpetrator?

The Mother in today’s story, has both.

Eleven years elapsed between Josephine Pennicott’s first Scarlet Stiletto shoe for “Birthing the Demons” in 2001 and her second shoe for “Shadows” in 2012. This taught her a lot about tenacity and belief in self. Winning the Scarlet Stiletto helped Josephine gain attention from a major publishing company, which led to her securing a literary agent. Since then, she has had five books published both in Australia and internationally. Her mystery novel Poet’s Cottage was a Spiegel bestseller in Germany.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Kill-Dead-Garten by Aoife Clifford, 2007 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 07:55:10 GMT

Murders happen in the strangest places and for the strangest reasons… as today’s story illustrates.

When Aoife Clifford won the Scarlet Stiletto in 2007, she was at home with two small children, suffering terrible morning sickness with what was soon to be her third. Now her eldest has left home and her third crime novel is about to come out in hardback in the UK and she is writing her fourth. The Scarlet Stiletto opened publishing doors but just as importantly introduced her to a community of crime writing friends to enjoy the crazy ride with.

Aoife Clifford was born in London of Irish parents and now lives in Melbourne. She is the author of best-selling literary crime novels, Second Sight (Highly Commended at the Davitt Awards), and All These Perfect Strangers, (long listed for both the ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year and the Voss Literary Prize). Aoife is a S.D. Harvey award winner, has been shortlisted for the UK Crime Association’s Debut Dagger among other prizes. Her award-winning short stories have been published in Australia, UK and US. Her latest novel is When We Fall (Ultimo Press)

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Stone Cold by Ruth Wykes, 2016 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 14:00:48 GMT

Sometimes it is hard to look past the “usual suspects” when a crime is investigated. Perhaps it even takes a smidge of “women’s intuition...

Ruth Wykes is an author and editor who lives and works on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Ruth has co-authored two true crime books: Women Who Kill with Lindy Cameron and Invisible Women with Kylie Fox (both Clan Destine Press).

Ruth is currently writing her debut crime novel and belongs to a small but passionate writers’ group who meet regularly to write and share experiences. She enjoys writing fiction and in 2016 won the coveted Scarlet Stiletto short story competition. She has extensive experience in editing and proofreading and has written book reviews for a number of publications.

In recent years Ruth has discovered a love of judging and is currently on the panel of judges for Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Awards for best crime books by women. In her free time Ruth enjoys gardening, her friends, AFL football, and attempting the occasional home renovation project.

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 & inspired by Prokofiev

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Dust Devils by Julie Waight, 2005 winner Scarlet Stiletto Award

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:00:59 GMT

Do we really wonder WHY women kill? We watched the TV series of that name… well a lot of us did. Long before Coercive Control was even a thing, women were responding to it, with dreams of their own domestic revenge.In today's Scarlet Stiletto Bite - the character Cyndi, an ordinary suburban woman does a bit more than dream…

Back in 2005, a friend suggested to Julie Waight that she enter the Sisters in Crime Short Story Competition. She plucked out one of her many short stories, (Dust Devils) edited, did a rewrite to comply with the competition criteria and entered. She says she was astonished when she won.

Julie: "I wish I could say that was the beginning of my published writing career. It wasn’t. I’m old-school, I like the smell of a new book and to feel the paper as I turn a page. I’m not on face book, twitter, or Instagram (whatever that is) and not a computer savvy person. There was a close call when a publishing company in the UK wanted to publish my novel Kindred, but the company folded before that happened (something to do with Brexit?)– this opportunity only arose when an interested work student did all the research and sent my novel online – something I can’t seem to do myself.

Obviously, I require an agent! (Anyone interested?) I’ve written four novels and over thirty short stories. Thank you to Sisters in Crime, who allowed me to see my work in published form!"

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 and inspired by Prokofiev

Thursday Night at the Opera by Christina Lee

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 14:00:29 GMT

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. Thursday Night at the Opera by Christina Lee, the Scarlett's Stiletto winner in 1998, and warning: there are a few dark themes in this story.About the Author, Christina LeeChristina 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 was invited to be a judge. Christina has been on the judging panel every year since then, a wonderful experience, she says. She now coordinates the final judging session.Christina has been writing a long time. Decades ago, she co-authored two crime novels, set in a Melbourne tertiary institution (Unable by Reason of Death, 1989; Not In Single Spies, 1992; Penguin Australia). Both sold and reviewed well. The first was an ABC book reading (1990) and optioned for screen. After that, an all-encompassing thirty-year academic career seriously got in the way of writing for about thirty years, but Christina is an Emeritus Professor now and is back, looking for a publisher for her new crime novel.

Credits

Concept designer, co-producer, and narrator: Susanna Lobez

Co-producer: Carmel Shute

Announcer: Leigh Redhead

ProductionManager: Tim Coy

Graphic Designer: Caz Brown

Copyright Sisters in Crime Australia

Coming Soon from Sisters in Crime Australia: Scarlet Stiletto Bites

Fri, 19 May 2023 02:05:30 GMT

Imaginative crime stories with quirky comic moments, deadly characters and a frisson of feminism