Clan Destine

Feel free to call me Moss, everyone does – even my mother (and she came up with Merrilee).

Long long ago in a land called Canberra… I started my writing life as a poet, until someone suggested I write a sketch for a revue night at ANU. I wrote a short dialogue by hand (yes, with pen and paper) one evening and handed it to the producer, thinking that would be the end of that. But a couple of weeks later three professional actors performed my script Baked Beans and a theatre full of people roared with laughter while I sat in the audience bursting at the seams.

I was hooked – and I’ve been chasing that moment ever since. Every now and again I almost achieve it: at the opening night of a play when someone laughs; or when I tear open a parcel to find a new book hot off the press; or glimpse someone reading one of my books; or read a good review – particularly if it’s written by one of my readers…

I’ve written lots of plays since then, and they’ve toured theatres and community venues all over Australia: If Looks Could Kill, Empty Suitcases, Over the Hill, The Slippery Slope and Night Breakfast. 

I live in Melbourne now and I don’t just write scripts; I also write novels. I love a good read. I’m a narrative junkie - addicted to story. I have to know what happens next and I have to experience the whole ride. (No skipping to the end; no skim reading.) I blame writers like Enid Blyton (The Famous Five), Noel Streatfield (Ballet Shoes) and L M  Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables) who kept me in bed reading on the weekends as a child, and later inspired me to write an adventure series for young adults: Hot Pursuit, and a novel for younger readers: Thriller & Me.

Right now I’m writing a comic detective novel for adults: Fedora Dances. It’s a sequel to my book Fedora Walks, featuring Julie Bernard, lesbian detective extraordinaire, a touch of time travel, a blue heeler called Jodifosta, and Julie’s ghostly client, Fedora.

I taught writing at Victoria University for 14 years, but now I’m a student myself - just finished a Masters in Playwriting at QUT - now studying for a PhD in Theatre Performance at Monash University.

If you're fans of the supernatural, if you're a fan of theatricals, if you're a lover of lesbian fiction (crime or not), or if you simply want something funny to fill in a few pleasant hours, then FEDORA WALKS is a great little book.   AustCrimeFiction  (Full review here)

A super quick supernatural mystery, Fedora Walks is an enjoyable little novel pumped with steamy, sometimes lustful, asides. CrimeDownUnder (Full review here)