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Leigh Redhead Leigh Redhead i(A84243 works by)
Born: Established: 1971 Adelaide, South Australia, ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 The Drover Leigh Redhead , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Crime Scenes : Stories 2016; (p. 141-164)
1 Hitch Leigh Redhead , 2016 single work short story
— Appears in: Review of Australian Fiction , vol. 17 no. 1 2016;
1 There Was Nothing, There Was Nowhere to Go : Writing Australian Rural Noir Leigh Redhead , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , October no. 37 2016; 'When I embarked on my doctorate in creative writing, I wanted to write about the decline of an alternative community in the 1980s, similar to the one in which I had grown up. A noir novel seemed the perfect vehicle for the dark themes I planned to explore, and promised to be very different from the private eye series I usually wrote. Typically, noir is located in urban environments and many studies of noir fiction and film maintain that an urban setting is integral to the genre, speaking as it does to the anxiety and alienation of modern life, feelings of anonymity and of being the outsider, and the corruption and criminality of the city. Much contemporary noir fiction still takes place in metropolitan areas; however, there is, increasingly, a sub-genre situated in rural locations, as illustrated by the rise of ‘Country’ or ‘Hillbilly Noir’ in the USA. Australian crime fiction has long made use of the bush and outback as a location – usually as a site of conquest where the hero ultimately triumphs over the antagonist; however, noir narratives are different, invariably ending in destruction and defeat. This article will investigate Australian Rural Noir through a comparative textual analysis of Kenneth Cooke’s Wake in Fright, Chris Womersley’s The Low Road and Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites. It will consider the ways in which Australian rural noir uses landscape to subvert the pastoral paradigm and will examine the tensions between the exterior landscape and the interior life of the protagonists, reflecting on the particularly Australian cultural anxieties implicit in these texts. I also discuss my own research-led practice, the challenges involved in being an insider researcher and, finally, consider whether this nexus between the critical and creative helps or hinders the creative writing process.' (Publication abstract)
1 A Stripping Feminist Private Eye Leigh Redhead , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: If I Tell You...I'll Have to Kill You 2013;
1 Shafted Leigh Redhead , 2012 single work short story crime
— Appears in: The First Shift 2012; (p. 180-194)
1 Grassed Leigh Redhead , 2012 single work short story crime
— Appears in: Hard Labour 2012; (p. 16-35)
1 5 y separately published work icon Thrill City Leigh Redhead , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2010 Z1693510 2010 single work novel crime

'Simone Kirsch, ex-stripper, sleuth and bad girl, is back in business - and before she has time to crack a bottle of cheap champagne to celebrate the opening of her very own detective agency, she's up to her neck in lethal fun and games.

'It all starts off quite innocently, when a best-selling crime novelist, Nick Austin, wants to follow her around for a few days as background research for his next novel. But the day after he, his ex-wife and her new lover all appear on the same panel at a writers festival, his ex-wife is found brutally murdered and Nick disappears, leaving Simone with more trouble than she can handle.

'While she can take murderous bikies, desperate publishers, poetry slams and a crystal meth-addicted psycho killer with literary ambitions in her stride, Simone is also juggling her very pregnant and possibly hormonally unbalanced best friend, Chloe; her ongoing attraction to ex-cop, Alex; and her boyfriend, Sean, who wants her to give up her agency and move to Vietnam.

'All up, life is complicated - not to mention the fact that she's facing the toughest, most dangerous case of her career.' (From the publisher's website.)
1 Show Business Leigh Redhead , 2009 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Your Mother Would Be Proud : True Tales of Mayhem and Misadventure 2009; (p. 386-401)
1 Phil Cooper Leigh Redhead , 2008 single work short story
— Appears in: Herding Kites : A Celebration of Australian Writing 2008; (p. 267-269)
1 Feministes Fatales Leigh Redhead , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin , April vol. 66 no. 1 2007; (p. 205-208) 'Striptease artist turned detective novelist Leigh Redhead charts the rise of a new sub-genre of crime fiction, 'Tart Noir'. (Meanjin)
1 5 y separately published work icon Cherry Pie Leigh Redhead , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2007 Z1360741 2007 single work novel detective The Simone Kirsch Detective Agency - it has a ring to it that Simone loves. And she's willing to bump, grind and shimmy until she has enough money to make it happen. But nothing ever really runs quite to plan for Simone. Andi Fowler, a childhood friend and now journalism student, turns up at the strip joint in need of a detective yet unwilling to tell Simone anything more than she's got something explosively big on someone in hospitality. And the whole frenetically fast, chaotically connected case starts from there. By the next afternoon, Andi's vanished mysteriously. Restaurant corruption, an insane celebrity chef, an untraceable possum head, a conveniently absent boyfriend and a surprising amount of family history aside, Simone still has to deal with her continuing desire for Alex, her favourite policeman, while racing the clock in her desperate search for Andi. - back cover
1 Crime Fiction Leigh Redhead , 2005 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 22 October 2005; (p. 6)
— Review of Rubdown Leigh Redhead , 2005 single work novel
2 7 y separately published work icon Rubdown Leigh Redhead , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2005 Z1204771 2005 single work novel crime detective

Simone Kirsch, P.I. has given up stripping and is trying to be straight. But she can never stay straight for long. Simone is hired by prominent lawyer Emery Wade, to find his wayward daughter Tamara. She's been taking drugs and working in the sex industry and Daddy fears a scandal that will affect not just his reputation, but that of her AFL-hotshot brother and his soap-star fiancee. When Simone finds Tamara dead the coroner says suicide. But Lulu, Tammy's best friend from the parlour, is convinced it's murder. Tangling with a drug dealer, a sleazy brothel owner and a bizarre love quadrangle with three coppers, time is running out for Simone to get to the bottom of it all before someone tries to keep her quiet too. A criminally witty romp on the sexy side of the mean streets.

- Publisher's blurb
1 A Peep at Melbourne Leigh Redhead , 2004-2005 single work autobiography
— Appears in: Mystery Readers Journal , Winter vol. 20 no. 4 2004-2005; (p. 38-39)
1 1 y separately published work icon Simone Kirsch Leigh Redhead , 2004 2004- Z1161992 2004 series - author novel crime detective
2 9 y separately published work icon Peepshow Leigh Redhead , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2004 Z1142804 2004 single work novel detective A sassy, sexy and funny novel introducing Simone Kirsch (aka Vivien Leigh), stripper and PI, who is determined to find the real killer of strip club owner, Frank Parisi. (Source: Publisher's blurb)
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