Who is Australian Detective Rhiannon McVee?

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I first met Detective Rhiannon McVee when I was writing my debut novel, Write About Me, inspired by the 1987 disappearance of my teenage cousin Ursula. She only appears fleetingly in the book and was not a detective at that point, but it was a key moment. When my fictional character, Annabelle Brown, arrives in Kings Cross and stands at the corner where you can see the El Alamein fountain, Kings Cross Police Station and the full length of Darlinghurst Road up to the Coke Sign – this young policewoman named Rhiannon McVee, who had just started at her first real policing job, notices her.

As momentum gathered behind the scenes for the real life search for Ursula, Rhiannon kept turning up in my head so I started a new crime fiction series and her character started to form.

Who is Detective Rhiannon McVee?

She was born in the Australian outback, southwest Queensland; the only child of sheep graziers with a strong sense of adventure. She was always a tomboy and preferred being outdoors with her Dad, Bill. When she decides she wants to pursue a police career she has her sights set on the bright city lights of Sydney and her first job is at Kings Cross. Immediately she is drawn to missing persons cases at a time, the late 1980s, when police attitudes to a lot of missing persons cases are dismissive, careless and sloppy. Rhiannon wants to change that!

But, and there’s always a but, Rhiannon has a doting cowboy waiting for her to return to him in the outback. He’s patient, kind, rugged, good with his hands, hard working and gives her stomach butterflies. Long before Rip entered our lives on the small screen in Yellowstone, there was Mac.

In the five books so far of my Rhiannon Series, it has been such a pleasure to get to know Rhiannon and travel through her ups and downs, good decisions and bad decisions.

In Rhiannon’s Last Look, I finally feel she is starting to really come into her own. Although she hasn’t changed at heart, when she first enters our lives in Find Me she is young, fearless, a little bit spoilt and self-absorbed. At the same time a perfectionist, dedicated, passionate, adventurous and relentless in her pursuit of the truth for her missing cases.

Why Rhiannon?

I invented Detective Rhiannon McVee because she was who I wished was investigating Ursula’s case from the day she disappeared from Kings Cross. My view at the time was, if we’d had a Detective Rhiannon McVee, it wouldn’t have taken 30 years for us to discover what happened to our Ursula.

In Australia, on average, 150 people are reported missing every day. Of those 90% are found safe and well within a week and 3% are long-term missing people (missing for three months or more). How many people is 3%? More than 2500. Wow. That’s a lot of families who are going through ambiguous loss and wishing they could do something, anything, to bring their loved one home. For those of you living in much more highly-populated countries than Australia, these numbers are a lot higher.

I’ve learnt a lot since I published Write About Me in 2013 and it’s sequel FOUND in 2017, through Rhiannon and my own personal experience.

When someone goes missing, it’s not as simple as having someone like Detective Rhiannonn McVee in charge of the case. This is why I continue to write fiction about ‘missingness’ – it’s an escape from reality and helps me process my own grief, with the hope that it’s helping others too.

Melissa x

Rhiannon’s Last Look: what’s the Australian outback really like?

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When I was 18, fresh out of high school and with a pocket full of dreams, I boarded a tiny yellow plane at Quirindi airport, waved my family goodbye, and disappeared into the vast open place known as the Australian outback.

I grew up in rural Australia but there’s a big difference between the rolling, green hills of the Great Dividing Range and the open skies, flat clay pans and never-ending red dirt roads.

I spent a year in this magical place, but as my life grabbed me and ran me through the years and away from the outback, something kept drawing me back.

In the past decade I’ve spent a big part of my time travelling through the outback, and it’s provided me with the ideal backdrop for mystery, people going missing and the frustrating search to find them.

Abandoned homesteads, falling down shearing sheds, far-flung paddocks so far from anywhere you could disappear and never be found.

Not to mention morning light, afternoon light, blazing sunsets that paint the sky orange, red, gold, pink and purple, lightning cracks followed by booming thunder and drenching rain, full moons in a starry sky, the endless chitter chatter of outback birds, paddocks moving in the shimmering haze as hundreds of kangaroos cross from one side to the other and sleek and deadly brown snakes that stop your heart from beating when they appear from nowhere. Also cowboys, don’t forget cowboys!

Right now the average temperature is around 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) so for those of you who are rugged up and seeing your first flakes of snow, the outback is the complete opposite! This time of year outback Australia also gets drenched by the most impressive summer storms you’ll ever see where the sky opens and pours what feels like a year’s worth of rain onto the dusty, barren paddocks – filling creeks and rivers and giving those who live and make a living in this isolated place a much-needed reprieve.Each of my Rhiannon Series covers features one of the hundreds (if not thousands) of photos my husband and I take in our outback travels  – it is always hard to choose but each one ends up fitting perfectly with the words inside.

I love them all but I think the Rhiannon’s Last Look cover is my favourite.

When I came across this building and saw the chair facing out the door, it filled me with a sense of yearning and loss and how it feels when someone goes missing and doesn’t come home.

However, if they are fortunate enough to have a Detective Rhiannon McVee in their lives, hope that they will be found is never far away.

Melissa x

The special bond between dads and daughters

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November has been a whirlwind and in amongst that whirlwind Rhiannon’s Last Look is out in the wild! It’s so exciting to read reviews, wrap signed books and see photos of my book baby in hairdressing salons and on planes. One reader gave me a blow by blow update as she arranged her busy life as a farmer’s wife during harvest around reading it. This is why I write!

Last weekend I got a very special order for signed copies of all my books from a Dad for his daughter. It is such a Dad thing to do, not just buy one book for their daughter, but buy all the books (all seven of them, Write About Me, Found, Find Me, When You Find Me, You’ll Never Find Me and Search for Sky, Rhiannon’s Last Look!).

Apologies in advance for a book spoiler alert, but when I wrote Find Me in 2014, there was a devastating and heartbreaking ending for Rhiannon when she lost her Dad. The scene wasn’t plotted out or planned, it was just one of those chapters which came to me when I sat down to write.

I sobbed my heart out because at the time I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose my Dad suddenly and with no warning. My Dad, John Waters Hosking, was my biggest fan, always reading my books in one sitting in his special chair by the fire. He carried many boxes of books to events and was there every step as the way as I travelled a crazy road of writing a book a year while desperately pursuing the truth about my cousin and his niece Ursula who went missing aged 17 in 1987.

As a crime writer, there is no shortage of devastation and heartbreak for my characters, but Rhiannon losing her Dad Bill resonated strongly with a large number of my readers and I still get messages today from daughters who have lost their Dads.

Fast forward to 2024 and I lost Dad in the most shocking of circumstances. He was two minutes from home, driving across the railway crossing he crossed every day multiple times, and was hit by a passenger train. I can’t tell you how difficult it has been to pick myself up and move forward and I didn’t think I’d ever be able to finish Rhiannon’s Last Look.

For six whole months I didn’t write a word, and I wondered if I’d ever write another book. I kept trying to tell myself Dad would want me to keep doing what I loved – also that I needed to treasure every moment and not waste a minute of my life. But I just couldn’t lift myself out of the sludge.

The fog lifted gradually, one sentence at a time, then one chapter at a time and ta-da!! I made a book!

A big thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy of Rhiannon’s Last Look – and an extra special shoutout to all the dads and daughters.

Melissa x

One more sleep until Rhiannon’s Last Look is live

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In 2012 I wrote a book and sent it to a literary agent with an expectation she would absolutely love it and send it to a big publisher and give me my big break and set me on my path to being a bestselling author. Instead she posted it back to me with a note “this is not strong enough for the current literary market”.

For those who know me, I don’t like to admit defeat, so I found a way and published it myself the following year. What happened next was a big life lesson, one we all learnt as young children reading the book The Little Red Hen.

The Little Red Hen is an American fable first collected by Mary Mapes Dodge in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1874. The story is meant to teach children the importance of hard work and personal initiative.

In other words, work hard, take the initiative and don’t wait for other people to make your dreams come true!

On the eve of me releasing my 7th novel to the world, I find my own variation of the words of The Little Red Hen ringing in my ears:

Who will help me?
Not I.
Not I.
Not I.
Then I will do it, all by myself!

Actually, that’s not quite true. I have had a lot of help from my family, friends, beta readers and the supremely talented creative people who made my words into a book – Jason from Polgarus Studio and my beautiful cover designer, Lara, from Indie Lime.

Rhiannon’s Last Look will go live on Amazon Kindle tomorrow, 2-11-24. If you have pre-ordered, you will open your Kindle and ta-da – it will be there!

You can order signed print books via my online bookstore.

Melissa x

 

RHIANNON’S LAST LOOK

How many times a day does the thought ‘if only’ run through our minds?

Detective Rhiannon McVee is buried in ‘if onlys’ as she sacrifices her relationship with her cowboy Mac to make it her life’s work to solve Australia’s growing number of missing cold cases. When her young prodigy, Constable Zoe Chesney, disappears in the remote outback, Rhiannon is faced with the biggest ‘if only’ of her career.

If only she could untangle the web of lies, deceit and murder her missing people have weaved before it’s too late.

If only. If only.

Down that red dirt road, Back of Bourke

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I have just been on another trip into the Australian outback, and this time I took a trip down ‘that red dirt road’ which Rhiannon drives on as she heads to work at the Back O’ Bourke. I haven’t spent a lot of time in this part of the world, and it’s a coincidence that after writing my 7th book, life seems to be landing me right in the middle of the places I have been writing about!

I’ve never been down this particular road, but the Brooks and Dunn song lyrics played out in my head:
We’d turn out the headlightsAnd drive by the moonlightTalk about what the future might holdDown that red dirt road
It’s where I drank my first beerIt’s where I found JesusWhere I wrecked my first carI tore it all to pieces

This is when we came across a roadside memorial. When you are on an isolated road and see large buckets of bright flowers and a rock with a plaque, you have to stop.

And what a tragic story it revealed. What could possibly have happened that all these people, aged from 11 to 22, died on such an isolated road in the vast Australian outback on the same date – August 26, 1979?

My writer’s mind went to so many different places. The real story is always worse than any fictional story I could create. I can’t even imagine the ripple effect of this accident on this red dirt road.

Road trauma is something I have experience with. The shock, followed by the long, tangled journey towards acceptance can be debilitating.

1979 seems like a lifetime ago. I was seven years old. I wondered, in such an isolated, lonely place, how would they have called for help? We drove for 100km and did not pass one single vehicle. There are farm properties out here, but they are few and far between. How long before someone discovered what happened? And what about the survivors, and the emergency services? How have they coped? What have their lives been like? Are they okay?

After some Googling, I discovered an Australian Story episode ‘Out of the Dust’, which I was unable to watch but could read the transcript. This gives an incredible insight into how road trauma changes the lives of those left behind forever – it doesn’t just affect families and friends, but whole communities.

In my last Book News, I wrote “At some point I believe we make a conscious choice not to let our trauma define us completely.” And as this Australian Story episode reveals, the sister of one of the young boys who died, Dani Haski, made a very brave and conscious choice to face her trauma. Twenty-five years on, she returned to the accident site and brought together many people who were there on that day, and the families they left behind, to create this memorial which I stood beside.

The way people, in the wake of such tragedy, can walk into the void and change the narrative they’ve lived with for so long is nothing short of miraculous.

We do this not only for ourselves, but to honour the memories of those we have lost and the joy they brought to our lives.

Melissa x

Rhiannon’s Last Look Print Pre-orders Open!

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I have news, coming to you from the Back O’ Bourke where Rhiannon’s Last Look is set!!! So many people have asked about the print book for Rhiannon’s Last Look and I’m thrilled to be able to open the pre-orders of signed copies on my website!
I will keep people updated on the date my print and signed books are expected to land on your doorstep. This will depend on how long the printing process takes. I don’t want to promise a specific date in case there are printing or postage delays, but I’m hoping it will be sometime in November!!

I’ll keep you updated via my Facebook and Instagram accounts and when those precious boxes of books arrive they will be coming straight to you!

KINDLE ebook

The Kindle version will be going live on Amazon worldwide as planned on the official release date of November 2, 2024. The pre-order is still running so if you want to make sure you get it when it’s hot off the press, hit pre-order today.

Pre-order links

  • Pre-order the Kindle version of Rhiannon’s Last Look on Amazon Canada. If you search for Rhiannon’s Last Look on your country’s Amazon page it will be easy to get direct to the pre-order.
  • Pre-order signed copies of the print book of Rhiannon’s Last Look on this website. If you are still catching up on earlier books in the series they are also available in my online bookshop.

Happy days!

Rhiannon’s Last Look, getting closer!

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I don’t have much more to tell you regarding the progress of Rhiannon’s Last Look but it will be ready on 2 November as promised! You can pre-order the Kindle version now, and I am hoping the print pre-orders will be available in the next couple of weeks.

This is Book 5 in the Rhiannon Series is described as ‘a real page turner up until the last page’.

‘It is great, really loved it.’

‘I can’t wait to get it off a shelf somewhere and say, I know this author!’

How many times a day does the thought ‘if only’ run through our minds?

When Detective Rhiannon McVee’s young prodigy Constable Zoe Chesney disappears in the remote Australian outback, she is faced with the biggest ‘if only’ of her career.

If only she could untangle the web of murder, lies and deceit her missing people have weaved before it’s too late.

If only. If only.

What happens when a family member goes missing?

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When someone goes missing, your life is forever changed

I received an email the other day from a German exchange student from my old high school, Antje. She sent me photos of the fun and good times we had, aged 17 going on 18, some of which are too much 80s classic to share!!

This is a photo at Antje’s deb ball, with me on one side and my best friend in the whole world, Rellie, on the other. The camera man behind us? The crime writer in me goes straight to stalker vibes!

Keeping in mind we would only ever get one shot at the photo, nobody could ever check if our eyes were open, or if it was our best angle – in every photo I’m smiling, happy, joyous and having the time of my life.

Yet, how could I be so happy, when just a couple of years earlier my beautiful cousin Ursula had gone missing and still hadn’t come home?

I know the answer, and it’s largely through writing so extensively about missing people in my seven novels I have discovered an even deeper understanding of this.

We all face trauma in our lives, in one form or another. Sometimes our trauma is so traumatic, we wonder how we can go on. For family and friends of a missing person, the continual loop of not knowing, referred to as ‘ambiguous loss’ is one of the worst traumas imaginable.

I still remember the awful, debilitating feeling of when it dawned upon our family that Ursula was ‘missing’. I also remember the awful, heartbreaking day when Ursula’s Mum, my Aunty Cheree, arrived in hysterics to tell us she knew in her heart that Ursula was dead. This was when I was 20, and Ursula had been missing for five years.

But Aunty Cheree also set the tone for the whole family, insisting we always put our best foot forward. She had a wicked sense of humour and told side-splitting stories. I’m not even halfway as entertaining or funny as she was but she did teach me to seek laughter above sadness.

When Ursula went missing I surrounded myself with my friends and did what all teenagers do – kept incredibly busy, laughed until my belly and cheeks hurt, made new friendships like the one with Antje, and held on tight to my closest friends like Rellie.

At some point I believe we make a conscious choice not to let our trauma define us completely.

This is why, when you read one of my crime fiction novels, I won’t let you linger too long on the trauma or devastation of my characters who are affected so terribly, in many different ways, by not knowing what has happened to their missing person.

We all need put our big girl pants on, walk into the void, follow our dreams and seek out happiness wherever we can find it. Not only for ourselves, but to honour the memories of our missing loved ones and the joy they brought to our lives.

Melissa x

BTS of Rhiannon’s Last Look

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Behind the scenes of Rhiannon’s Last Look

Okay, this image is really just to get your attention! However, it does have some context for this behind the scenes look at the inspiration behind my Rhiannon Series and my new book available for Kindle pre-order, Rhiannon’s Last Look.

Yes, I am a crime writer. However, my books also stray into rural romance, steamy romance with a cowboy/cowgirl vibe.

In more recent years a lot of us have become enthralled in the fictional romance of Rip and Beth in the Yellowstone TV series, but my obsession with cowboys goes back a lot longer than that. I grew up in a rural area and went to my first rodeo when I was around five years old.

When I graduated from high school I spent a year in the remote Queensland outback, which was a shock for me because it was the most remote I’d lived! But it left a big impression, and since then I have continued to circle back to those remote areas.

I spend my time living in three of my favourite worlds – beside the ocean surrounded by water, in the outback where I sit behind the wheel of a truck or tractor working with my husband and in the fictional world of my outback characters!

It’s a busy but adventurous life and involves a lot of time on the road. This year I’ve embraced the idea of writing by dictating my stories and yesterday I dictated 15 chapters for my next book while on the long drive home.

Kindle Pre-orders Open

However, before I start on my new book, I’m doing the final edits on Rhiannon’s Last Look to make sure it’s ready on 2 November as promised! You can pre-order the Kindle version now, and I’ll let you know as soon as the print pre-orders are available.

Rhiannon’s Last Look Kindle pre-order is available worldwide and below are some direct links for where I know a lot of my readers are from. But if your country is not on this list get in touch and I’ll send you a direct link.

This is Book 5 in the Rhiannon Series is described as ‘a real page turner up until the last page’.

‘I love a good series and this one does not disappoint.’

‘I feel like I’m back with old friends. Bloody amazing. I didn’t want it to end.’

Here’s the back cover blurb…

How many times a day does the thought ‘if only’ run through our minds?

When Detective Rhiannon McVee’s young prodigy Constable Zoe Chesney disappears in the remote Australian outback, she is faced with the biggest ‘if only’ of her career.

If only she could untangle the web of murder, lies and deceit her missing people have weaved before it’s too late.

If only. If only.

‘I love Rhiannon and her dedication to her profession.’

That’s all for now, I hope this week is a great one for you!

Melissa x

Rhiannon’s Last Look available for Kindle pre-order

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I’m so thrilled to let you know if you pre-order Rhiannon’s Last Look today it will deliver to your Kindle on November 2!!

Australian outback crime and spicy rural romance combined.

The Amazon Kindle pre-order is available worldwide and below are some direct links for where I know a lot of my readers are from. But if your country is not on this list get in touch and I’ll send you a direct link.

This is Book 5 in the Rhiannon Series is described as ‘a real page turner up until the last page’.

‘A riveting story with a few surprises thrown in.’

True blue cowboy Mac is in a long-term relationship with Detective Rhiannon McVee, who has swapped her cowboy boots for police issue oxfords to dedicate herself to finding missing people.

Theirs has been an up and down long-distance relationship and Mac is ready to settle down, but Rhiannon is far from settled.

She is never in one place for long and has teamed up with Pat, an adventurous investigate journalist, to track down the people who can’t, and don’t want to be, found.

Rhiannon and Pat’s attraction is impossible to ignore but could Rhiannon betray Mac and put the future he’s planned for them at risk?

Will she cross the line or stay true to her first love?

‘I’m up to page 19 and gasped out loud!’

I’ll let you know when the print version is available for pre-order. In the meantime, have a lovely weekend and I hope you are spending it with a good book!

Melissa x