I couldn't have written these books as a younger writer.
Journalists turned crime-thriller authors, Michael Brissenden and Tim Ayliffe, both tried to write novels as younger men - and both failed. But were they failures? Or were they the necessary stepping stones into becoming a successful author? With 8 published novels between them, Michael and Tim discuss how their personal and professional lives have informed their fiction and made them the storytellers they are today.

Michael Brissenden, journalist and author, was a political journalist and foreign correspondent with the ABC for 35 years. He was the Political Editor for The 7.30 Report and from 2017 to 2021 he was a reporter with the ABC’s investigative television documentary program, Four Corners. Michael’s work as a journalist has seen him cover many of the biggest international stories from the past two decades.
Michael’s most recent novel, Smoke, is an intense and smart crime thriller. After a brutal wildfire tears through the town of Jasper in the Californian sierras, a body is discovered in a shed. It looks like an open-and-shut case of accidental death - until further investigation reveals that the victim was locked in from the outside. Detective Alex Markov is convinced that the man, a family friend, was murdered opportunistically under the cover of the fire. As the smoke clears, Alex reveals a town corrupt to its core - but exposing that corruption could destroy her and the people she loves. Will she ignore the crookedness and deceit, or face the consequences of pursuing an inconvenient truth?

Tim Ayliffe is a journalist and crime novelist, author of the John Bailey series of political thriller novels. Tim writes about espionage, extremism, politics and the global power games at play in the 21st Century. His thriller novels have been informed by his 25-year career as a journalist in Australia and around the world. He has been the Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News and also Executive Producer of News Breakfast.
Tim’s latest publication, The Wrong Man, is the fifth in the John Bailey series. When Sydney socialite Tottie Evans is found dead at a house in Palm Beach, Detective Holly Sutton is called in to investigate. She immediately suspects the boyfriend, a millionaire property developer and ex-mercenary soldier, who refuses to cooperate with police. Across the city, old-school reporter John Bailey gets a call about a break-in. It leads to the unearthing of an old case file on a murder at the men-only Sydney Club. Suddenly, John Bailey and Holly Sutton have the same mission. The only problem: a serial killer is already serving a life sentence for the Sydney Club murder.

Tim and Michael will be available for book signings at the Yass Book Store stand in the Library from 10.30am-11am.

Tim Ayliffe and Michael Brissenden books

Tim Ayliffe & Michael Brissenden In-Conversation

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