PODCAST: Joan Sauers on Film and Mysteries

PODCAST: Joan Sauers on Film and Mysteries

Joan Sauers talks to Cheryl Akle about her love of mystery series, the writing skills she learned from her father, Hollywood, and the differences between writing novels and screenplays. Her latest book, Murder at Thornwood Park, is out now.

About the author

Born in New York, Joan Sauers is a screenwriter, producer and author who worked in London, Los Angeles and New York before settling in Australia. She has lectured in screenwriting in Sydney, London, Paris, Berlin and Casablanca, and has had seventeen books published in Australia, the United States, India and Japan. Joan has written for television series including Heartbreak High, Wakefield and Ladies in Black, and currently has a YA romance in development with Princess Pictures. She lives in the Southern Highlands in a small cottage across the garden from her daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons.

Publisher details

Murder At Thornwood Park
Author
Joan Sauers
Publisher
Allen & Unwin
Genre
Fiction
Released
02 June, 2026
ISBN
9781761472503

Synopsis

For lovers of smart and witty cosy crime. Set within an intriguing village community of friends, neighbours (and enemies), all living at the edge of the atmospheric forests of the mysterious Southern Highlands, historian turned detective, Rose McHugh, channels her expert skills to solve an historical series of murders.Who doesn't want to curl up with this fabulous lead character and a great supporting cast in a setting made for some murder and crime solving?When historian Rose McHugh is left a mysterious bequest after the death of the reclusive heiress of Thornwood Park, she's excited to visit the estate.But when Rose realises she may have found evidence of women going missing, she delves deeper. During World War II, the nearby Robertson Hotel housed trainees of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force, who often attended lavish parties thrown by Thornwood's wealthy owners.Unearthing a decades-old mystery is a challenge ... particularly when it may lead to the unmasking of a serial killer. And it appears that someone in the misty Southern Highlands will do anything to keep the killer's identity hidden
Joan Sauers
About the author

Joan Sauers

Born in New York, Joan Sauers is a screenwriter, producer and author who worked in London, Los Angeles and New York before settling in Australia. She has lectured in screenwriting in Sydney, London, Paris, Berlin and Casablanca. She has had fourteen books published in Australia, the US, India and Japan. She has been script editor on films including The Babadook and TV shows, Rake and The Principal, and has written many screenplays. Most recently, Joan was a writer on the ABC series Wakefield, which also aired on Showtime in the US. She is currently writing the TV series Ladies in Black, and a sci-fi romance created by her daughter, as well as her next Southern Highlands mystery. Joan divides her time between Sydney and the Southern Highlands, and has one daughter and two grandsons.

Books by Joan Sauers

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  3. Ava says:

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