On Murder: True Crime Writing In Australia Books in Order

Under the banner On Murder: True Crime Writing in Australia, Kerry Greenwood edited two companion volumes that gather a wide range of real life crime writing. Rather than producing a single narrative about one case, she acts as curator, bringing together historical documents, journalism, memoir, and reflective essays that span more than a century of Australian criminal history.

The first book, On Murder: True Crime Writing in Australia, focuses on notable cases of homicide and violent crime. Readers encounter infamous murders that gripped the colonies, domestic tragedies that barely made the papers, and episodes where public panic or prejudice shaped both investigation and reporting. Greenwood provides introductions and linking commentary that sketch the social context in which each piece was written, from attitudes to class and gender to the way newspapers balanced sensation with moralising.

On Murder 2 continues and broadens the project. It includes case studies, courtroom accounts, and reflections that explore how crime stories are constructed and consumed. Some pieces are almost novelistic in their detail; others are brisk, factual reports. Together they show how the same event can be framed as cautionary tale, lurid entertainment, or quiet plea for reform depending on who holds the pen.

Throughout both volumes there is an interest in voices that might otherwise be forgotten: working class defendants, victims whose lives were quickly reduced to headlines, police and lawyers whose private doubts rarely appeared in official records. Greenwood's legal background shows in her choice of material and in her concern with procedure, evidence, and the gap between what really happened and what can be proved.

The tone of the collections is not prurient. Horrifying details are present, because the source material is frank, but Greenwood's own interventions tend to push readers toward thinking about why certain crimes are remembered and others are not, and what that says about the society telling the stories. She is alert to the way racism, misogyny, and fear of social change have shaped both criminal justice and crime writing in Australia.

Taken together, the On Murder books act as an introduction to the country's true crime tradition and a kind of shadow history of its anxieties. They are well suited to readers who like their true crime rooted in documents and who are curious about how the genre developed, rather than those looking for a single case told in thriller form.