Podcast

26 January 2026

PODCAST: Crime Special with Christian White & Tim Ayliffe

PODCAST: Crime Special with Christian White & Tim Ayliffe

Join Cheryl Akle as she sits down with Christian White (The Long Night) and Tim Ayliffe (Dark Desert Road) for an insightful conversation about the Australian literary landscape. Together, the three explore the surge in Aussie crime and thriller books, the realities and roadblocks of getting published, and what it really takes to build a career as an Australian author.

About the Authors

Christian White is an Australian author and screenwriter whose credits include feature film Relic, Netflix series Clickbait and numerous other projects in the pipeline. His debut novel The Nowhere Child was one of Australia’s bestselling debut novels ever, with rights sold in 17 international territories and a major screen deal. Christian’s second book, The Wife and the Widow (2019),and third, Wild Place (2021), were instant bestsellers. The Ledge is his fourth novel.

Tim Ayliffe is an award-winning author whose thriller novels have been informed by his 25-year global career as a journalist. He writes about crime, espionage, extremism and the global power games at play in the 21st century. He has been the Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News and also Executive Producer of News Breakfast. He is the author of the John Bailey series including The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy – which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Danger Awards -and The Wrong Man. Tim’s thrillers are also in development for TV. He lives in Sydney.

Reviews

Bold, Vivid and Heart-Racingly Intense: Read an Extract from The Long Night by Christian White

Review | Extract

3 November 2025

Bold, Vivid and Heart-Racingly Intense: Read an Extract from The Long Night by Christian White

    Related Articles

    PODCAST: Christian White on How His Daughter Changed His Writing

    Podcast

    5 January 2026

    PODCAST: Christian White on How His Daughter Changed His Writing

      Publisher details

      Dark Desert Road
      Author
      Tim Ayliffe
      Publisher
      Echo Publishing
      Genre
      Fiction
      Released
      06 January, 2026
      ISBN
      9781786587213

      Buy now

      Synopsis

      Kit McCarthy hasn't seen her identical twin sister, Billie, in more than a decade.

      The sisters don't see eye to eye, which is understandable, considering Kit's a police officer and Billie followed their violent father into a life of crime.

      Kit is no angel. Burnt out by years working in child protection, she has been accused of using excessive force in the arrest of a violent drunk. Kit has just been ordered to take time off work when she gets a frantic message from Billie, telling her she has a young son and that somebody is trying to kill her.

      And then Billie disappears.

      Determined to find her estranged sister, Kit's only lead comes after visiting their father in prison. Malcolm McCarthy claims Billie married a former United States Marine and has been living with a group of sovereign citizens in the desert country of the New South Wales Riverina.

      Kit's journey to find Billie takes her through shuttered towns destroyed by drought, where everybody owns guns, nobody talks to cops, and people get lost for a reason.

      Out here a war is brewing between a ruthless bikie gang and a separatist community that is re-engaging with society in the most violent way.

      Kit will risk everything to find her sister and the nephew she never knew she had.

      But does Billie really want to be saved?

      Publisher details

      The Long Night
      Author
      Christian White
      Publisher
      Simon and Schuster
      Genre
      Fiction
      Released
      28 October, 2025
      ISBN
      9781923046795

      Buy now

      Synopsis

      Em has lived a quiet life with her complicated mother and is now looking for love and a potential escape from her small hometown. When a masked man kidnaps her in the dark of night, though, she is drawn into a terrifying world.

      Jodie has been trying to forget a troubling time in her life, pouring her trauma into her work and out of her mind. Until one night her daughter is kidnapped and Jodie is dragged back into the violence.

      As Em and Jodie race into the darkness, the agony of the past rushes up to meet them. It will take all their devotion and courage to escape this night alive.

      Christian White
      About the author

      Christian White

      Christian White is an Australian author and screenwriter whose projects include feature film Relic. The Nowhere Child is his first book and one of Australia’s bestselling debut novels ever. An early draft of this novel won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Since publication The Nowhere Child has been shortlisted for major awards including the Australian Book Industry Awards’ General Fiction Book of the Year and Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, and the Indie Book Awards’ Debut Fiction Book of the Year. Rights to The Nowhere Child have been sold in 17 international territories, and has been acquired for a major screen deal. Clickbait, a television series Christian co-created with Tony Ayres (The Slap) is currently in production for Netflix. Christian’s keenly awaited second book, The Wife and the Widow, was published by Affirm Press in 2019 and became an instant bestseller. Christian lives in Melbourne with his wife, filmmaker Summer DeRoche, and their adopted greyhound, Issy.

      Books by Christian White

      The Nowhere Child
      Christian White

      The Nowhere Child

      Retail partners

      The Wife and the Widow
      Christian White

      The Wife and the Widow

      Retail partners

      Wild Place
      Christian White

      Wild Place

      Retail partners

      The Ledge
      Christian White

      The Ledge

      Retail partners

      The Long Night
      Christian White

      The Long Night

      Retail partners

      Tim Ayliffe
      About the author

      Tim Ayliffe

      Tim Ayliffe has been a journalist for almost 20 years and is the Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News. He has also worked as TV News Editor for ABC News and the Executive Producer of ABC News Breakfast. Before joining the ABC in 2006, Tim worked in London for Sky News as a digital and television journalist. The Greater Good is the first book in a three-book series featuring John Bailey. When he's not writing or chasing news stories Tim rides bikes and surfs. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Justine Dougherty, and their two children, Penelope and Arthur.

      Books by Tim Ayliffe

      The Greater Good
      Tim Ayliffe

      The Greater Good

      Retail partners

      State of Fear
      Tim Ayliffe

      State of Fear

      Retail partners

      The Enemy Within
      Tim Ayliffe

      The Enemy Within

      Retail partners

      Killer Traitor Spy
      Tim Ayliffe

      Killer Traitor Spy

      Retail partners

      Dark Desert Road
      Tim Ayliffe

      Dark Desert Road

      Retail partners

      COMMENTS

      Leave a Reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      1. James Overton says:
        18 March 2026 at 9:40 am

        Great episode! Christian White and Tim Ayliffe are masters at building tension on the page. It’s interesting how ‘tension’ is such a central theme in crime fiction, but we often forget the physical tension that comes with the writing process itself. Spending hours hunched over a keyboard to finish a manuscript can really wreak havoc on your posture. At FP-Australia, we focus on helping people—including many creators and writers—release that chronic physical stress by optimizing their natural movement patterns. A healthy body definitely helps keep the creative mind sharp for those plot twists!

        Reply
      2. PhoEdit says:
        22 March 2026 at 1:46 am

        Thank you, Better Reading, for this fascinating podcast episode on the crime and thriller genre with Christian White and Tim Ayliffe. It was insightful to hear about the surge in Aussie crime literature and the authors’ perspectives on the genre. I always appreciate when podcasts dive into the literary landscape, and this conversation definitely piqued my interest in both authors’ works. Keep up the great work!https://phoedit.com/

        Reply