Recently, I had the pleasure of chairing a crime fiction panel on which Walus was a member, at the well-attended 'Midwinter Murderfest' event at Takapuna Library (see photo, right).
Walus, who was born in Poland, spent her teenage years in South Africa, travelled extensively, and now has spent the past several years living in New Zealand. Just like her diverse geographic ‘homes’, Walus also has many literary homes; she writes in several genres, including crime, romance, short stories, poetry, and more. She is a Doctor of Mathematics, a wife, and a mother, as well as a writer.
Her most recent crime novel is MURDER @ PLAY, a prequel to her debut MURDER @ WORK, which was shortlisted for the South African Writers’ Circle Novel Award. Although she now lives in New Zealand, Walus’s murder mysteries have thusfar been set in her teenage home of South Africa, particularly dealing with the period around the end of Apartheid in the 1990s. MURDER @ PLAY, along with its predecessor MURDER @ WORK, is set in the “tumultuous and exotic South Africa of the past” and stars amateur detective Christine Chamberlain, who has been described as “Stephanie Plum with a brain”.
Here is the back cover blurb for MURDER @ PLAY:
“Every marriage needs a touch of mystery, or does it?
In the new free South Africa of 1994, men are still boss, women carry handguns for self-protection, and some mistakes can change your life forever.
When a body is found during their weekend away with friends, Christine Chamberlain must use her brilliant mathematical mind to prove her husband’s innocence... whether he’s innocent or not.
When it comes to your loved ones, is it possible to know too much?"Walus also contributed a mystery story to the British Crime Writers’ Association anthology GUILTY CONSCIENCES (edited by Martin Edwards) in 2011. She will have a new crime thriller coming out soon.
You can listen to the 15mins long radio interview with Walus here.
Craig - Very interesting bio! Thanks for sharing. And thanks for that link to the interview.
ReplyDeleteCraig, you should have said, "I had the pleasure of *charming* a crime fiction panel on which Walus was a member". You were fantastic! Thank you for charming... er... chairing... and charming... and chairing.... :-)
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