Former vet tackles writing crime thrillers

Author set to launch new book which shines a light on violence against women

Mount Gambier Library is thrilled to host an evening with multi award-winning author of both nonfiction and fiction books, Katherine Kovacic in discussing her latest psychological thriller ‘Seven Sisters’ on Tuesday, June 6, at 7pm.

The Melbourne based author was originally a veterinarian, when she took what was supposed to be a short break from science and ended up with a PhD in art history and is now an art historian who works with museums, galleries, and historic houses.

“A change in career had me rediscovering my love for words and language,” Ms Kovacic said. Her firsthand experience had her pen the highly successful awardwinning Alex Clayton art mystery series before writing her true crime book ‘The Schoolgirl Strangler’ on the shocking 1930s Melbourne crime.

In keeping with the crime genre, her latest offering, Seven Sisters, is an intriguing revenge thriller. Seven Sisters is based on a group of women who meet at a therapy session for trauma counselling where each of the women have lost a sister due to domestic violence.

“In each of these cases the perpetrator wasn’t held to account; they had either gotten away with murder or with a sentence that was so light it was insulting” Ms Kovacic said. “And so understandable those women are not only grieving, but they are also very angry. Together they come up with a plan to redress the balance by taking out the original perpetrators, exchanging the hits so that the women who is connected to the crime has an alibi and the women who carries out the hit has absolutely nothing to do with anything.”

Whist Seven Sisters is indeed fiction, for Ms Kovacic the seed for the story was to highlight violence against women.

“Domestic violence isn’t something that we talk about nor want to,” she said. “And the law is not working enough for women. We see time and time again in the media where women are scared for their life, they are being threatened, they are suffering domestic violence, and only after murder does the perpetrator go to gaol. It’s murder in slow motion. Domestic Violence is a hidden epidemic in Australia where one woman a week is murdered by their current or former partner.”

Seven Sisters has received fivestar reviews and is described as an in intense, morally ambiguous psychological thriller that will have you questioning your idea of justice and how far you would go to help others. This is a free event with supper provided and books available for sale and signing on the night. Contact Mount Gambier Library (08)8721 2540 or book your seat online via the Library’s website.