Lindy Cameron
Lindy Cameron long ago had the fantasy of growing up to be a famous scientist and still harbours a desire to be an astronaut, a warrior chick or an Apache Longbow helicopter pilot. These hint that she, perhaps, hasn’t grown up much at all.
Before plunging into the world of make-believe, Lindy worked as a journalist and a book editor. She also wrote some primary school history texts, and a card game book for kids.
Her first novel, which came out second, was Blood Guilt – first in the Kit O’Malley lesbian PI series.
In the strange way of ‘how the publishing world works’ her first published novel was her second-written mystery adventure, Golden Relic. It was originally commissioned by the Museum of Victoria (Australia) for ICOM ’98, the prestigious International Council of Museums Conference, held for the first time ever in the southern hemisphere in Melbourne. It was to be serialised on the then seriously fledgling internet; and, under its original title, Stolen Property, it was released a chapter a month over the 10 months leading up to the conference in 1998.
This could mean Lindy was the first writer to earn money from the internet (she certainly beat Stephen King to the punch by two years). HarperCollins Australia was so taken by the whole notion they published Golden Relic before the already-scheduled Blood Guilt.
Lindy’s third and fourth novels were the sequels to Blood Guilt: Bleeding Hearts and Thicker Than Water.
Bleeding Hearts won the Readers’ Vote in Australia’s two major crime writing awards: the Ned Kelly Awards in 2001 and the Davitt Awards in 2002. Thicker Than Water won the Davitt Readers’ Vote in 2004.
Her espionage adventure-thriller Redback features the very cool Bryn Gideon and her team of retrieval agents, was first published by MIRA in 2008 and has been republished by Clan Destine Press.
In amongst the fiction, Lindy also ventured into true crime – writing that is. With her sister Fin J. Ross, she co-wrote Killer in the Family (not their own!), Murder in the Family (again!) and Toxic; and, with co-author Ruth Wykes, Murderous Women (again, no one she knows).
Her first attempt at short story writing turned into a sf novella; but she’s since managed to control her word count to write some actual short stories, including two in collaboration with her very dear friend, the late Kerry Greenwood.
Lindy is a founding member – since 1991 - and current Vice President of Sisters in Crime Australia. This 35-year involvement with one of the best literary ‘genre’ organisations in the country has been one of the great joys of her life.
In 2010 Lindy entered the realm of the completely adventurous by starting her own publishing company, this one right here: Clan Destine Press, where her aim is to publish the best Aussie and Kiwi genre fiction she can find.
Her writing is currently taking a left turn, or backward leap, into historical fiction. Her WIP is a Trojan War novel – featuring Amazons, because of course it does.
Praise for Lindy Cameron
"I loved [Cameron's Redback] so much that I lent
it to my Dad. He loved it as much as I did."
– Kerry Greenwood
