CRIME writer Robbi Neal is already plotting another murder in Ballarat.
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The author said her hometown had great character, the odd gruesome-sounding street name and intrigue from decades past worthy of suspenseful tales.
Her latest book With Winter Comes Darkness has been evoking a strong response from readers, who have been writing to her about the "page-turner" they could not put down.
This has been a shift for Neal, whose 2022 release The Secret Life of Connie Starr was more a dream-like immersion, with darkness and joy, into post-war Ballarat.
Her latest offering is inspired by 1970s Ballarat, with her protagonist a journalist at The Courier.
On the same day character Alice's world collapses, a man is found brutally murdered on the farm property of a respected mathematics teacher, who has blood on his clothes but cannot remember what happened.
Alice's editor assigns her the story in an act of "tough love" to help her overcome her personal hurdles. She makes a bargain with the alleged murderer in a move that could save or destroy them both.
Neal has been a creative writer for The Courier's now-defunct weekend magazine and had a stint on the newsroom's sub-editors desk, laying out pages and editing copy.
She said it had been fun to dip a little bit back into that world.
"I was wanting to give [Alice] a job in which a woman would've been in that situation, forcing her to meet with a guy in jail," Neal said.
"He's a maths teacher and that can make for great headlines in the paper.
"...The other attraction about writing about a time before social media and mobile phones is that means you can cut a lot of noise out of the book and focus on the purity of the story."
This is not the first time Neal has looked to The Courier for inspiration. Researching history through this masthead allowed Neal to discovered quirky facts and stories she could weave into Connie Starr.
With Winter Comes Darkness has plenty of recognisable places and spaces about 1970s Ballarat but, while fiction, it does also touch on the city's confronting dark history of institutional child sexual abuse.
Neal said the response from readers had been overwhelming and humbling. She said it was scary to put her work out in the public.
Collins Booksellers will host Neal in conversation for a free event on Thursday, May 30, 2024.
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