True Crime

Twenty-five years ago, serial killer Paul Denyer terrorised the Melbourne bayside suburb of Frankston.

It began on 11 June 1993 when Elizabeth Stevens was murdered on her way home from the library. Then, on 8 July, Debbie Fream left her new baby boy with a friend while she dashed out for milk. She was abducted and killed.

True crime writer Vikki Petraitis was researching her second book, after writing The Phillip Island Murder (Kerr Publishing, 1994), when she unexpectedly found herself in the middle of the hunt for a serial killer.

Catching up on some of the true crime books stacked about the place.

From the Blurb:

Career criminal John Killick was involved in the most audacious prison break in Australian history when he escaped from Sydney’s Silverwater prison after his partner in crime Lucy Dudko commandeered a scenic helicopter flight at gunpoint.

Australia’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ spent 45 days on the run before being caught… Killick was sentenced to 23 years jail; Dudko to ten. After his release, the pair meet up again but are they the same people? Is the magic still there?

Finished this late last night because I wanted to read it and because next up (after a bookclub read) it's Katherine Koviac's book The Portrait of Molly Dean.

From the Blurb:

An unsolved murder takes one of Australia’s foremost writers of non-fiction into the 1930s Bohemian demi-monde, exploring the fate of a talented young woman trying to make her way in that artistic, sexualised, ‘liberated’ world.

Launch by Maggie Baron (former forensic scientist): 6 for 6.30pm Wednesday 20 June

Readings St Kilda, 112 Acland Street., St Kilda

Free event, but please RSVP by Tuesday 19 June to carmel@shute-the-messenger.com

Was extremely fortunate to read this over the weekend. Beautifully written story about not just the trial but the legal mind behind so much that we take for granted (and should be grateful for) in this country.

From the Blurb:

One of the most shocking murder trials in Australia's legal history, and the tribulations of the man who conducted it

Another from the greatly overdue pile.

From the Blurb:

A chance encounter in a fish-’n’-chip shop set Brendan Murray on the trail of a mystery. Had a gay man been secretly murdered on HMAS Australia during the Second World War?

The veteran he spoke to was certain. ‘I knew about it,’ he said. ‘We all did.’

But was the story true? If so, who was the dead man? And why was it so hard to find out?

Second from the weekend's reading pile - this time about detector dog Elsie, written by her handler Steve Kelleher.

From the Blurb:

The final from this weekend's reading pile.

From the Blurb:

Meet BADNE$$. He's the enigmatic, impulsive, exasperating, destructive, big-hearted Aussie outlaw who stole millions of dollars in daring bank robberies and became a folk hero as big as Ned Kelly when he masterminded two spectacular prison breaks in the space of six weeks.

From over the weekend's reading pile - one about the Calabrian Mafia in Australia and the largest haul of ecstasy in the world.

From the Blurb:

Bestselling writer and organised-crime expert Keith Moor takes us behind the headlines of the world's biggest seizure of ecstasy to expose a sophisticated mafia network in Australia.

Another from the weekend's reading - particularly interesting as this is something I'd not known a lot about beforehand.

From the Blurb:

A gritty and compelling account of an elite police group, the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad (MEOCS).

One from a long weekend pretty much spent reading.

From the Blurb:

The powerful true story of the first police officer to lift the lid on police corruption in Queensland and what then happened to him.

'Wherever there is power and money, there is always the risk of corruption. But everyone has a choice: to become involved or to take a stand against it.'

Colin Dillon is an extraordinary man. He was the first Indigenous policeman in Australia. But that is actually a very small part of his story.

From the recent reading list.

From the Blurb:

'A - Assume nothing. B - Believe nothing. C - Check everything.' Ron Iddles

In an incredible twenty-five year career as a homicide detective, Ron Iddles' conviction rate was 99%. Yet that only partly explains why Iddles is known to cops and crims alike as 'The Great Man'.

This is quite the doorstopper so I may be gone for sometime.

From the Blurb:

Ellen Kelly was born during the troubles in Ireland. When she arrived in Melbourne in 1841 aged nine, British convict ships were still dumping their unhappy cargo in what was then known as the colony of New South Wales. When she died at the age of 91 in 1923, having outlived seven of her 12 children, motor cars plied the highway near her bush home north of Melbourne, and Australia was a modern sovereign nation.

This is a long book so I've been reading it alongside others for a while now.

From the Blurb:

This non-fiction book explores the true story of H Division, the punishment division within Pentridge Prison, Melbourne, that operated from 1958-1994, which was responsible for cultivating criminals who committed horrific crimes upon their release. 

From the weekend's reading selections.

From the Blurb:

A change of format / style from all the crime fiction I've been reading lately - and a local true crime book about the goings on in the Health Services Union.

From the Blurb:

Kathy Jackson was hailed as a heroine for blowing the whistle on the million-dollar fraud of Michael Williamson, the corrupt boss of the Health Services Union. While remaining steadfast in this very public ordeal, she endured bitter personal attacks from enemies in the Labor Party and the union movement.

But what if Jackson was just as corrupt as Williamson? Or worse?

From the weekend's reading list.

From the Blurb:

On 2 December 2010, the body of a 24-year-old woman was found at the bottom of the rubbish chute in the luxury Balencea tower apartments in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, twelve floors below the apartment she had shared with her boyfriend, Antony Hampel.

Slipping this one in as a bit of a change of pace from fiction.

From the Blurb:

In this tell-all book, discover how the justice system works and why, at times, the innocent are convicted and the guilty set free.

Bill Hosking looks back at his career as a criminal barrister in a candid account of his time at the bar. He tells the true story behind some of his most famous cases, including the Hilton bombings, ‘Toecutter’ Jimmy Driscoll’s attempt to avoid prison time, and the Anita Cobby trial.

Part 2 of the long weekend's reading.

From the Blurb:

From 1977 to the end of 1986, Duncan McNab was a member of the NSW Police Force. Most of his service was in criminal investigation. The many unsolved deaths and disappearances of young gay men are the crimes that continue to haunt him.

I have been intrigued about this book since first mentioned.

From the Blurb:

The gripping and graphic true story of Sydney's underbelly.

The verdict is guilty.

Profoundly personal retelling of a family torn apart by a suicide and then a triple murder.

From the Blurb:

This powerful, unforgettable and uplifting story is one part wrenching family memoir, and one part inspirational journey towards healing and forgiveness – but most of all, it’s an unputdownable journey through one family’s tragedy and how they refused to let it define them.

From the increasing true crime stacks.

From the Blurb:

When Don Osborne went to Pentridge in 1970, he found a nineteenth-century penal establishment in full working order. It held about 1200 inmates, most of them cooped up in tiny stone cells that sweltered in summer and froze in winter. Some had no sewerage or electric light.

Having had a stellar run of reading recently I've been doing a fair amount of starting, and then not being able to go on with books this week. Nothing to do with the books.

From the Blurb:

These are the true and uncensored accounts of Australia’s hardest inmates, from Australia’s hardest inmates.

By now everyone knows that the winners of the 2016 Ned Kelly Awards were Best: Dave Warner for Before it Breaks, Best First: Emma Viskic for Resurrection Bay, Best True: Gideon Haigh for Certain Admissions and SD Harvey Short Story: Roni O'Brien for Flesh

A personal story, written by victim's friend, 40 years after the killing of a young woman in Rockhampton, Queensland.

From the Blurb:

Author Shirley Eldridge and Mima Joan McKim-Hill were friends and colleagues working for the Capricornia Regional Electricity Board in Rockhampton in 1967 when Mima

disappeared while on the job. She had been abducted, raped and murdered and her body abandoned.

I was "patiently" waiting for my partner to finish this one after we were lucky enough to see the author talk about the book at an event in Dunnolly. And then a heap of other books snuck in front. I've still got some that should be being read right now, but I really wanted to read this so it's my "treat of the month".

From the Blurb:

Very difficult subject matter.

From the Blurb:

The disappearance of Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe was one of the most heartbreaking and confounding child abduction and murder cases of the century, spanning almost a decade prior to the eventual arrest of known pedophile Brett Peter Cowan, one of the original persons of interest.

The story of the police sting that resulted in his confession reads like crime fiction, featuring an elaborately staged fake crime gang run by a ‘Mr Big’ that lured Cowan in with the promise of a hefty payout.

Been hearing lots and lots of whispers about how good this interesting approach to true crime is. 

From the Blurb:

In 2004, the body of a young Perth woman was found on the grounds of a primary school. Her name was Rebecca Ryle. The killing would mystify investigators, lawyers, and psychologists - and profoundly rearrange the life of the victim's family.

Wanted a change of pace and something from the true stacks.

From the Blurb:

Ever since the First Fleet dropped anchor, Australia's ports have been a breeding ground for many of Australia's most notorious criminals, and a magnet for local and overseas crime syndicates.

Read this over the weekend - one of those stories that sort of sit in the back of your mind, but the details were sketchy.

From the Blurb:

Another from the 2015 Neddies Submission List - this time the True Crime section.

From the Blurb:

How did a father with no criminal history come to be on trial for the brutal murder of his wife? All marriages have their secrets. Things started to unravel for Gerard Baden-Clay the night his wife Allison vanished. Within days everything private would become public.

"The true story of Australia's first female serial killer" as it says on the cover, is absolutely fascinating.

From the Blurb:

'Never before in the hundred year history of Australia has a female prisoner become so notorious as Louisa Collins.' - Evening News.

This year I've promised myself a red hot go at reading the entire submissions list for all 3 of the Ned Kelly Categories. Preferably before the 2016 Submissions List is released although there are days when I think I might have bitten off more than I can possibly chew. Still - getting there :)

Starting out with the True Crime list because I CLEARLY have some work to do here:

A book I've been trying to juggle to the top of the list for a while - this is historical true crime, written in the style of a great yarn.

From the Blurb:

The latest work from acclaimed historical author Robert Cox, A Compulsion to Kill is a dramatic chronological account of 19th-century Tasmanian serial murderers. Never before revealed in such depth, the story is the culmination of extensive research and adept craftsmanship as it probes the essence of both the crimes and the killers themselves.

Interesting look at the level and timeframe of corruption in Australia's police forces.

From the Blurb:

Bent law officers exist in every era, sabotaging the work of their colleagues and putting the community at risk.

James Morton and Susanna Lobez have illustrated, in several Gangland books, that Australia almost certainly has out-ganged other countries. Now their spotlight is turned on corruption within the police services and identifying which state wins the bent cop handicap.

Should have got a lot of things done over the weekend. Couldn't put this down instead.

From the Blurb:

Dirty Cops. Lying Politicians. Vampire Gigolos . . . An Unbelievable True Story.

True Crime book analysing the trial and conviction of a young man for rape, based on one piece of evidence only - a DNA sample.

From the Blurb:

On 21st July 2008, 21-year-old Somali, Farah Jama was sentenced to six years behind bars for the rape of a middle-aged woman as she lay unconscious in a Melbourne nightclub.

Throughout the trial Jama had maintained his innocence against the accusations he committed such a predatory, heinous crime.

But the Prosecution had one ‘rock solid’ piece of evidence that nailed the accused-his DNA.

Flagged as the case that gripped a nation, it's not one that I'd heard of on this side of the ditch, before starting this book. Seems like a very sad series of events all round.

From the Blurb:

Scott Guy was a good man, a great dad, a salt-of-the-earth farmer who was gunned down at his front gate for no conceivable reason.

Been wanting to read this book for an age now - and needed a break from fiction

From the Blurb:

When filming his TV series Race Relations, John Safran spent an uneasy couple of days with one of Mississippi's most notorious white supremacists. A year later, he heard that the man had been murdered – and what was more, the killer was black.