Contemporary Crime Fiction in Australia: an interview with Candice Fox

Catalina Ribas-Segura

doi:10.22356/wic.v6i2.52

Abstract

Australian author Candice Fox has become a relevant name in the genre of crime fiction in Australia since the publication of her first novel, Hades, in 2013. In six years, she has authored two trilogies: the Archer-Bennet series (2013-2015) (Hades, Eden and Fall) and the Ted and Amanda series (2016-2018) (Crimson Lake, Redemption Point and Gone by Midnight) and co-authored a novella and five novels with bestselling American author James Patterson: the Harriet Blue saga (2016-2019)(the novella Black and Blue and the novels Never Never, Fifty Fifty, Liar Liar and Hush Hush) and The Inn (to be published on 6 August 2019).This interview took place via Skype while Candice Fox and I were at our respective homes in Australia and Spain, on 18-19 October 2016.

Highlights

Candice Fox is prolific but her works are widely recognised
Her collaboration with James Patterson has been fruitful as their first novel together, Never Never, reached the number 1 position in the hardcover and combined print and e-book categories in the New York Times best sellers in the first week after its publication and the novel was a bestseller in Australia and the United Kingdom
I loved the trilogy and, as part of the activities to bring research closer to the wide public, the members of the research project presented the novels we studied and our works in different bookshops in Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona (Spain)

Summary

Introduction

Candice Fox is prolific but her works are widely recognised. Her first novel, Hades, won the most prestigious Australian literary award for crime writing, given by the Crime Writers Association of Australia: the 2014 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Novel; her second novel, Eden, received the 2015 Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel; and Fall, Crimson Lake and Redemption Point were shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. We talked about her experiences as a professional writer, she gave me insights into the genre of crime fiction and, she had published Crimson Lake and the novella Black and Blue, with James Patterson, we explored her first trilogy: Hades (2013), Eden (2014) and Fall (2015).

Results

Conclusion