Scrublands has been voted into ABC Radio National’s Top 100 books of all time!! More than 280,000 votes were cast – with the broadcast over the weekend of the 17th & 18th October becoming a huge celebration of Australian literature. Huge congratulations to the presenters and producers at the ABC for such a brilliant job. And for all the authors, past and present, who made the list. Scrublands came in… Read More »Scrublands in ABC RN’s Top 100
I’m honoured, grateful and chuffed to learn that Legacy has been shortlisted for best fiction in the ACT Literary Awards. The Awards are run by Marion – formerly known as ther ACT Writers Centre. These are my home town awards, so it’s most gratifying to have the book acknowledged like this. My thanks to the judges and congratulations to all those authors with books shortlisted in this and other categories.
Big news! I’m shifting to a new Australian/New Zeland publishine house: Summit Books, an imprint global publisher Simon & Schuster. This reunites me with my marvellous publisher, Jane Palfreyman. Jane oversaw my first seven crime novels at Allen & Unwin before shifting to launch Summit in Australia/New Zealand a couple of years ago. It’s a three book deal, with first FULL CIRCLE scheduled to by released this October. The photo… Read More »New Australian publisher
My book The Coast is back in bookstores, with a new edition released by Melbourne University Press. The book was originally published in 2012. Now MUP is re-issuing it with a new foreword. Available in all good bookstores. The Coast is the second of my two non-fiction books, following on from The River (2010 – reissued 2025). It recounts my travels down the east coast of Australia, back when the impact of… Read More »The Coast – new edition
I’m very happy about this – Legacy has been longlisted for the Indie Book Awards among some very fine novels indeed. I’m conscious of some of the excellent books that could so easily be on this list instead of Legacy – so I’m feeling quite humbled. What makes it extra special is these awards are voted by independent bookstore owners – the cornerstone of Australian literary life. Long may they… Read More »Legacy longlisted for the Indies
iThe first of the Ivan and Nell books is being adapted for TV. The six-part series is currently in production and will screen on the ABC in Australia and the BBC in the UK during 2026. Other outlets are to be announced shortly. Michael Dorman (Territory, For All Mankind) plays Ivan, while Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets, He had It Coming) takes on Nell. I was able to visit the set on… Read More »Treasure & Dirt coming to TV!
Yep – Martin is back for his first investigation since Trust, five years ago. His new adventure is called ‘Legacy’, and will hit Australian and New Zealand bookstores on September 30th. Audio and ebooks will be released on the same date – and all three formats are now available for pre-order. In Legacy, Martin finds the tables have been turned – instead of the hunter, he finds himself the hunted.… Read More »Martin Scarsden is back!!
The Valley finds itself in some very distinguished company indeed: shortlisted for the BookPeople Award for fiction. And I’m blown away. Just to be listed alongside the likes of Tim Winton, Robbie Arnott, Michelle de Kretser,Garry Disher and Shankari Chandran is quite humbling. The awards are voted on by Australia’s booksellers – so a huge thanks to all of them. Not just for the votes, but all the work you… Read More »Shortlisted: BookPeople Awards
The television adaptation of Silver has hit the screens on Stan in Australia and New Zealand, debuting at number one. It’s branded as Scrublands: Silver and is based on the second Martin/Scarsden Mandalay Blonde book. Luke Arnold and Bella Heathcote reprise their roles as Martin and Mandy – and I feel this series they really make the most of the two character’s fraught relationship and theiremotional journeys. There are some… Read More »Scrublands: Silver premieres
The Valley has been shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Award for best General Fiction. Huzzah! The ABIAs are clever – there are two fiction categories: one for literary fiction, the other for general fiction. General fiction means popular or genre fiction like crime, romance, fantasy, science fiction etc. It really says something about the strength of crime fiction in this country that five out of the six shortlisted titles… Read More »ABIA Awards Shortlist