Michael Robotham will most likely never win the Staunch Book Prize, if the controversial literary award which acknowledges thrillers that avoid featuring violence against women is ever reinstated.
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British author and screenwriter Bridget Lawless launched the award in 2018 specifically to recognise thrillers "in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered".
It was controversial from the start, with many authors, including Val McDermid and Sophie Hannah, speaking out against it. McDermid argued that "not to write about [violence against women] is to pretend it's not happening." Australian author Jock Serong won the inaugural prize in 2018 for his novel On the Java Ridge, but it hasn't been awarded since 2020.
"I must admit my books often involve women and teenage girls in jeopardy," says Robotham, whose 17 novels have seen women raped, murdered, mutilated, stalked and locked away.
He's a father of three daughters "and my wife would be perfectly happy if I became the first crime writer in history to write a novel without a crime in it".
"But it's the nature of the beast," he says.
"P.D. James once said something about it must be murder and only murder will do. Her rationale was that murder is the only crime which you can't take back, can't make recompense for, murder is so finite."
To his credit, a lot of the violence in his books happens off screen, so to speak. He writes more about people's reactions to it when they discover a body or talk to a victim, for example.
"But in many ways it will be more powerful if you keep it off screen than if you actually describe it happening as the reader has to imagine the initial act, and because readers have such wonderful imaginations, the power of imaginations is so much greater than the power of my descriptive abilities."
Lying Beside You, the third in the Cyrus Haven series, is full of moments like this. Two women have gone missing, another has been sexually assaulted. The only witness is Evie Cormac, the troubled teenager who was introduced in the first book of the series Good Girl, Bad Girl in 2019. Evie has a special power, she knows when you're lying, but she too is coming to terms with the horrific details of her past.
"Evie is the most fascinating character I've ever written," says Robotham.
"She completely intrigues me, she makes me laugh. It sounds odd to talk about laughing at your own lines, but Evie just comes up with lines that make me laugh out loud.
"I don't know how many books I can do with her because there'll be a point in time where her dysfunction and her self-destructive nature might begin to irritate readers.
"They might forgive her because of what she's been through but eventually she'll reach an age where she can't be quite so destructive and anti-social.
"But at the moment, I'm really enjoying exploring what it must be like to go through life with the burden that she faces. I mean, to always be able to tell when someone is lying. It's just such a curse."
Would he like to be able to do that, tell when someone is lying?
"God, no ... People lie to each other all the time with the best of intentions, all those wonderful little lies we tell, your hair looks great, no, your bum doesn't look big in that, yes, we like your new boyfriend.
"It would be a terrible thing to be burdened with."
Robotham loves the dynamic between Cyrus and Evie. Cyrus has his own troubled past, his older brother murdered the rest of their family when they were young boys and in this novel his brother Elias is being released from the secure psychiatric hospital.
"Evie has every reason in the world to never trust a man again but in Cyrus she realises she may have found someone that's even more damaged than she is and that perhaps, they can save each other."
READ MORE AUTHOR PROFILES:
Robotham was born in Casino, in northern NSW, and grew up in Gundagai and later Coffs Harbour. When he left school he was one of 6000 applicants for one of 16 cadetships with Fairfax newspapers; he was successful and worked at The Sun and later The Sydney Morning Herald as a court reporter and police roundsman. He later went on to ghost write autobiographies including those of Spice Girl Gerri Halliwell and 60s music legend Lulu.
His first novel The Suspect was published in 2004 and since then his books have won numerous awards.
A few of them have also been adapted for the screen, most recently The Secrets She Keeps, published in 2017, was made into a six-part mini-series for Network 10. Starring Jessica de Gouw (The Crown) and Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey) the story about two pregnant women with dark secrets was met with critical acclaim. Season two is due to commence filming later this year.
Robotham is quite excited by the prospect of a new series based on The Suspect, starring Aidan Turner (The Hobbit, Poldark) as his long-serving protagonist psychologist Joe O'Loughlin. The series is being developed by the production team behind Line of Duty, Bodyguard and Vigil.
"I've seen the first two episodes and it looks absolutely remarkable," he says. "I wish I knew who was going to pick it up in Australia, it's still [in] negotiations, I think."
Robotham is in Canberra on July 5, in conversation with crime author and Canberran Shelley Burr at Harry Hartog, ANU. Burr's debut novel Wake won the UK Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger award for best unpublished crime manuscript in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award in that same year.
Robotham says we're in a golden period for Australian crime writing with so many good authors coming through.
"When I started, there were the sort of absolute grandfather figures of the genre like Peter Corris and Peter Temple.
"I was just in the next generation and Peter Temple gave me a lot of support early in my career.
"I rail against the idea when people call me a veteran, but I am 17 books in, so maybe I am."
- Lying Beside You, by Michael Robotham. Hachette, $32.99.
- Robotham will be In Conversation with Shelley Burr on his latest book - the third in his bestselling Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac series - on Tuesday July 5 at Harry Hartog, ANU. Free, but registration is essential. Tickets via eventbrite.com.au