Derek Pedley

Error message

  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1561 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->load() (line 178 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/includes/entity.inc).
  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->cacheGet() (line 354 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/includes/entity.inc).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1575 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1580 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1561 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1561 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1562 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->load() (line 178 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/includes/entity.inc).
  • Warning: array_flip(): Can only flip STRING and INTEGER values! in DrupalDefaultEntityController->cacheGet() (line 354 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/includes/entity.inc).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1575 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1580 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1575 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).
  • Notice: Undefined index: tid in taxonomy_field_formatter_prepare_view() (line 1580 of /home/sites/austcrimedp6/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module).

AUSTRALIAN OUTLAW - Derek Pedley

Author Information
Book Title: 
Australian Outlaw
Author Name: 
Derek Pedley
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
ISBN: 
B00B7S6E7W
Categorisation
Category: 
True Crime
Publisher Website: 
Australian Outlaw - Amazon
Year of Publication: 
2013

Bank robber. Fugitive. Womaniser. Comedian. Conman. Chameleon.

Book Review: 

Subtitled "The True Story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott", AUSTRALIAN OUTLAW is the authorised biography of Abbott, once a notorious Australian criminal, although, as it turns out from this book, a bit of a mythological figure in some ways.

Abbott actually contributed to the writing of this book (without recompense) and a combination of his own words, and Pedley's observations really bring him, and that myth to life in a rather unique way. It's an odd experience to hear directly from the criminal in this way, especially as his story isn't a particularly flattering one.

I've often wondered how it is that somebody would turn to such an elaborate and complicated life of crime, apart, obviously from the thrill of the danger. From AUSTRALIAN OUTLAW it definitely seems that the risk had it's attractions, but what's more sobering is also that Abbott doesn't come across as an idiot, far from it in fact. It actually looks more like he was simply easily bored. A classic case of a kid for whom school wasn't engaging, who had upheavals in his life at a time when he was easily led away from the straight and narrow into, frankly, what he saw as the easy way to a quick buck. You actually have to admire the way he was able to dance around the authorities, even though you might not admire the man himself. You also have to wonder about the way that myths and legends build so quickly around a figure like "the Postcard Bandit".

AUSTRALIAN OUTLAW was a really fascinating insight into the mind of a career criminal, with Pedley's voice providing a much needed dose of reality along the way.

(Disclaimer:  I generated the epub version of this book for the author, with no obligation to read / review it. Part of what attracted me to read it was the following of the story as I worked through the manuscript format).

DEAD BY FRIDAY - Derek Pedley

Author Information
Book Title: 
Dead by Friday
Author Name: 
Derek Pedley
Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Categorisation
Category: 
True Crime
Location: 
South Australia
Publisher Website: 
Dead by Friday - Amazon
Year of Publication: 
2013

A compelling portrait of murder for hire in the Australian suburbs, it begins when a dangerous sexual predator seduces her husband's sleazy boss.

Their obsessive affair leads to public sex and disturbing fantasies. Two mothers talk murder outside a primary school and suddenly down-payments are being made on contracts to kill.

From the Adelaide suburbs that spawned the Snowtown killers, enter the hitman, a man who eats speed for breakfast and murder contracts for lunch, on a sandwich.

Book Review: 

I'd never heard of the death of Carolyn Matthews until I found out about Derek Pedley's book DEAD BY FRIDAY. In one way, I wish I still hadn't as this has to be, without a doubt, one of the most pointless, selfish, stupid, idiotic, inexplicable and flat out unbelievable crimes from a city that seems to specialise in them. In another, it's been a succinct reminder for a reader of a lot of fictional crime that real life can beat the fictional for weirdness hands down.
 
(DISCLAIMER: I did generate the ebook version of this manuscript for Derek Pedley, with no obligation whatsoever to review the book). One of the bonuses of generating ebooks for authors is that you do get a bit of a sneak preview of books as you're going, although you don't get a chance to take in a lot of details. But there were snippets and bits and pieces of this book that kept catching my eye, and mostly, they tended to indicate that this really was one of the most pointless true crimes I've ever read about. And because of that it was particularly vicious. There was enough there to make me want to sit down and read DEAD BY FRIDAY properly, which I did, and in that reading most of the "players" in the plot to kill Carolyn Matthews don't exactly come across as rocket scientists, but to think that people who are as base, self-interested, nasty and disrespectful of others as this lot, are also capable of coupling together a plot, is breathtaking to be frank.
 
The book does an excellent job of outlining the circumstances that lead up to the murder, as well as the aftermath. It describes the impact that her pointless death had on her immediate family, in particular the three sons that were taken, on purpose, into the room to find their mother's body by a father who words just about defy description of. It outlines the sordid, tedious, icky behaviour of that father - Kevin Matthews, and his lover, Michelle Burgess and how Burgess manipulated so many fools of blokes into doing her bidding. It also provides some possible explanations, by way of a Forensic Psychologist, for the behaviour that Burgess, in particular, exhibited.
 
What it can't definitively explain, and what nobody can ever is why. Why on earth these two people ever believed they could get away with all of this. Why they just couldn't tread the path that most people would and take their sordid little sex affair off into an appropriate location somewhere and leave their families in peace. Surely they didn't really think that at the end of all of this they'd take the insurance money and walk off into the sunset....
 
This is not easy subject matter, which makes DEAD BY FRIDAY quite an achievement, because out of that sordid horribleness, Pedley has written a story which has a serious go at explaining the inexplicable.
 

CR- Dead by Friday, Derek Pedley

Submitted by Karen on

Book Title: 
Dead by Friday
Author Name: 
Derek Pedley

I was lucky enough recently to generate the eBook version of this book for Derek, and whilst you don't get much of a chance to read a lot while you're doing that, there were more than enough glimpses too intrigue.  It's not a case that I know anything at all about, but it definitely looks like something utterly incomprehensible. 

From the Blurb:

Dead By Friday – How lust and greed led to murder in the suburbs

No Fixed Address: The Hunt for Brenden James Abbott

Submitted by Karen on

Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Category: 
True Crime

′91There is no single criminal that concerns police , and should concern the community , as much as Brenden Abbott.′ Detective Sergeant Trevor Jenkins, SA Police.

It began as a single file at the Perth Armed Robbery Squad and grew to involve every operational police officer in Australia. For five-and-a-half years, Brenden James Abbott was a grinning shadow in an Akubra who couldn′t be caught.

ISBN: 
9780732266646
Publisher: 
Harper Collins
Year of Publication: 
1999

Dead by Friday

Submitted by Karen on

Author's Home Country: 
Australia
Category: 
True Crime

A compelling portrait of murder for hire in the Australian suburbs, it begins with a dangerous sexual predator seducing her husband’s sleazy boss. Their obsessive affair leads to public sex and disturbing fantasies. From the suburbs that spawned the Snowtown killers, enter the hitman. For the first time, the truth about the lovers who wanted their partners dead, but didn’t count on shrewd detectives, a brave husband and a shattered family – all determined to bring three killers to justice.

Derek Pedley

Submitted by Karen on

Author Information
Pedley, Derek

About the Author

I am a journalist with more than 21 years' experience at The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide and The West Australian newspaper in Perth. I work at Advertiser NewsMedia, part of the newsdesk team responsible for The Advertiser, Sunday Mail and AdelaideNow news website. I have a background in crime reporting and true crime writing. I also review true crime books for The Advertiser.

Ned Kelly Short List for 2007

Submitted by Karen on

Book Title: 
Chain of Evidence
The Night Ferry
The Unknown Terrorist
The Cleaner
Undertow
Spider Trap
The Betrayal of Bindy MacKenzie
Diamond Dove
Better Dead than Never
Behind the Night Bazaar
Justice For The Dead
Overboard
Intractable
Author Name: 
Adrian Hyland
Angela Savage
Barry Maitland
Bernie Matthews
Debi Marshall
Derek Pedley
Duncan McNab
Garry Disher
Gwyn Topham
Jaclyn Moriarty
Karen Kissane
Laurent Boulanger
Liz Porter
Malcolm Dodd
Michael Robotham
Paul Cleave
Paula Doneman
Peter Corris
Richard Flanagan
Beverley Knight

The Ned Kelly's will be presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival (we'll be there again this year) on the evening of Wednesday 29th July, 2007.

Best Crime Novel

Chain of Evidence by Garry Disher (Text Publishing)

The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham (Little, Brown)

Subscribe to RSS - Derek Pedley