I was proud to be part of launching the New South Wales chapter of Sisters in Crime, in an online panel called Deadly, Dangerous, Dazzling – the allure of South African crime fiction. Thriller writer L A Larkin and I had a blast discussing locations, characters and inspiration with our MC, acclaimed writer Malla Nunn.

You can see the panel on Sisters in Crime’s YouTube channel. In L A Larkin’s latest thriller, Prey, journalist Olivia Wolfe must unravel the terrible secret that connects a British Cabinet minister, a Vietnamese billionaire, and a poor South African teacher to a series of gruesome murders.

Wolfe is in a country she doesn’t know and surrounded by enemies. Who can she trust when her life depends on it? My novel, Present Tense, is set in Cape Town. It’s a hard-boiled police procedural about an ordinary cop trying to find his way in a thrilling and dangerous country. Malla Nunn is the author of four internationally published adult crime novels set in 1950s apartheid-era South Africa. Her debut young adult novel, When the Ground is Hard, is set in a Swaziland boarding school where two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre. It won the 2020 LA Times Book Prize for young adult writing. Copies of our novels have been stocked by Gleebooks, in Glebe, Sydney. This wonderful bookstore was going to host this event until Covid-19 hit. They are offering pick up and free delivery to the Inner West of Sydney. If you would like to join the NSW chapter of Sisters In Crime Australia, please contact: Catherine du Peloux Menagé 0412 517 885 nsw@sistersincrime.org.au