By PETER DOUGLAS
DANDENONG Ranges-based crime writer Sandi Wallace’s novel ‘Tell Me Why’ has been receiving rave reviews, winning the recent 2015 Davitt Award Reader’s Choice award.
The novel is Wallace’s debut offering and also the first instalment in her ‘Rural Crime Files’ series, with the sequel ‘Black Saturday’ due to be released in November.
Without giving too much away about the plot, the first novel is based on an unsolved mystery, which highlights the ‘darker side’ of picturesque Daylesford.
Wallace said she became passionate about crime fiction early in her life and dreamed of being a crime writer.
“It’s been a winding path to achieve that dream, with stints as a banker, paralegal, cabinetmaker, office manager, executive assistant, personal trainer and journalist,” she said.
The recent acknowledgement came through the Sisters in Crime Australia group, which is dedicated to celebrating women’s crime writing.
The awards are named in honour of Ellen Davitt, who in 1865 wrote Australia’s first mystery novel, ‘Force and Fraud’.
In accepting her award, Wallace said it had been an incredible journey.
“It’s been a year of fantastic firsts: first book signing, crime writer panel, public book reading, launch party, radio interview, library talk, review, festival,” she said.
“It has been a little daunting at times, but always exciting.
“And I have made special friendships throughout.”
If she hadn’t turned to writing, Wallace said she would have been a police detective.
She grew up in suburban Melbourne, but now lives in the Dandenong Ranges with her husband and her ‘furry’ family.
Wallace says her interest in policing – and love of Australia’s unique landscape, characters and wildlife – is why she writes gritty rural crime stories.
For more details on her work, visit www.sandiwallace.com.
