From rural mysteries to remarkable true histories

Join bestselling authors James Dunbar / Jimmy Thomson and Sue Williams for a fascinating afternoon exploring crime, family history and military stories.

Crime writer James Dunbar (pen name) will discuss his rural crime novels Twisted River, Mole Creek and the new sequel Blood Moon, and the challenges of writing Australian crime fiction.

Jimmy Thomson (aka above crime writer James Dunbar) will talk about his recent co-written military history, The First Anzacs, which uncovers the overlooked role of army engineers at Gallipoli, and reflect on his long-standing fascination with military history.

Award-winning author Sue Williams will share the story behind her latest book, The Duke’s Secret, inspired by her search to prove a family connection to the Duke of Wellington. She’ll also discuss her popular historical novels exploring Australia’s colonial past.

$5.00 + booking fee

Afternoon tea on arrival.

Bookings required.

Jimmy Thomson (aka James Dunbar) is a journalist, television scriptwriter, travel writer, university lecturer and website editor. He has co-written three books about Australian sappers (with Colonel Sandy MacGregor): Tunnel Rats, A Sappers' War and Tunnel Rats versus the Taliban. He is also the author of two crime novels and two true-crime memoirs published as Jimmy Thomson.

As James Dunbar Blood Moon is his third venture into the serious crime thriller and espionage genre, and is a direct sequel to his first, Mole Creek. His other crime novel with Echo, Twisted River, a psychological thriller, was published in 2025.

Sue Williams is a best-selling author and an award-winning journalist and travel writer. She’s been writing all her life and is passionate about telling people’s stories in the most compelling way she can, bringing their worlds, and their words, vividly home to readers.

Sue is a masterful writer of historical fiction, praised for both her meticulous research and her empathic treatment of characters, particularly women, brought back from the shadowy reaches of the past into the spotlight. Her bestselling historical novels, Elizabeth & Elizabeth, about Elizabeth Macquarie and Elizabeth Macarthur; That Bligh Girl, featuring Mary Bligh and her father, the notorious mutiny survivor and governor William Bligh; and The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress, about Philip Gidley King and his tangled love affairs.

Sue lives in Sydney with her partner, the above mentioned Jimmy Thomson and their cat, who remains steadfastly unimpressed by anything they do.

Books will be available to purchase on the day.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Contact the host of History & Mystery Talk with James Dunbar & Sue Williams

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