How an author and 2 knights make a SafeKnight

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From the archives

I wrote this blog in 2014, soon after I met retired UK Detective Inspector Chris Gould, who was instrumental in helping me put together fresh evidence for my cousin Ursula Barwick’s case and take it to NSW Police, resulting in new Kings Cross detectives being assigned, helping us solve the 30 year mystery of Ursula’s disappearance. Chris also endorsed my debut crime fiction bestseller Write About Me, describing it as ‘enthralling, emotionally and psychologically accurate’ (read full review below).

My reasons for digging this story out of the archives is having listened to two podcast series. I highly recommend them and have included links for you to download!

Posted on January 31, 2014 

Recently I met two knights. Their names are Chris Gould and Chris Hawthorn.

Knight 1 is Chris Gould, chairman and founder of Child-Safe International. Knight 2 is Chris Hawthorn, who founded The SafeKnight Foundation and poured his life savings into developing the SafeKnight mobile phone app. This free app is BBC Click’s Best App of 2012 and was a top five finalist in a World Youth & Student Travel Conference competition in Sydney last September.

I have decided to refer to them as Knight 1 and 2 instead of Chris 1 and 2 because what they are doing all over the world for young people can truly be likened to ‘knights in shining armour’.

Knight 1 Chris Gould contacted me  after reading ‘Write About Me’, my debut crime fiction bestseller about a missing Australian teenager called Annabelle Brown which is inspired by my cousin Ursula Barwick, missing for more than 26 years.

I have met Knight 1 in person and Knight 2 Chris Hawthorn via the virtual world.

It is an honour and a privilege to be collaborating with them  to help prevent young people from going missing and to find missing people via this amazing technology.

Write About Me Review

By Chris Gould

As an ex-professional who has worked on numerous cases of missing people, I found the story enthralling, emotionally and psychologically accurate with a wide range of implicit messages and support for those families and friends who have ever found themselves in such an awful position.

Advances in the development of social media; support in Australia with the introduction of the AFP National Missing Persons Co-ordination Centre, Crimestoppers, Missing Persons Advocacy Network (MPAN), Australian Missing Persons Register and other such organisations, campaigns and technology – there is today, much more help available than in the 1980s.

Child-Safe International and the SafeKnight Foundation are now collaborating with author Melissa Pouliot to endorse her book ‘Write About Me’ and to promote a new FREE mobile download safety app called SafeKnight. A tool not available for those like Ursula Barwick (a case on which “Write About Me’ is based, in the 1980s).

‘Write About Me‘ is an excellent read and I would like to personally give it my endorsement and support. Once started, I couldn’t put the book down. A tribute to the author.

Kind words for Write About Me & Found

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books Write About Me Found

What I love most about being an author is getting feedback from my readers on my two crime fiction series – the Missing Annabelle Brown Series and the Rhiannon Series. It’s not all positive and it does require developing a thick skin, but the kind words far outweigh those that are not so kind! When I’m doubting my ability as a writer or suffering from writer’s block and feel stuck on my work in progress, I go to my reviews to remind me – this is why I write!!

Here is one book review from Write About Me which is book 1 in the Annabelle Brown Missing Series that has absolutely made my day.

I am amazed at how deftly Melissa Pouliot wove her stories around what could (and no doubt does) happen when someone goes missing. Centering around the intricate webs of daily life, a simple decision like whether to turn left or to turn right, a decision any one of us could make on any given day, makes all the difference in someone’s survival.

I am also grateful that this story has opened my eyes to the plight of Missing Persons and that if I ever notice something ‘not quite right’ I know to reach out to a person and/or turn to the various resources in our community without hesitation. My heart goes out to all family and friends of Missing Persons ~ may your loved ones be found!

And another book review for the sequel, Found.

Page turning, gripping and beautifully written. Heartbreaking and heartwarming. FOUND highlights an issue that affects so many, missing, and gives you a very personal insight into what it’s like for those who are left behind. Bring tissues.

Book Boxes made with love

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Every year for as long as I can remember my husband’s parents put together a Christmas hamper for us filled with treasures they’ve collected during the year. Each item in these hampers has been thoughtfully added, and it’s always so much fun looking through because many of these items reflect the trips they’ve taken and the places they’ve visited which they want to share with us.

You can imagine my delight when a business that’s started near where I live on the coast approached me to add my crime novels into their hampers. 4 Blue Stones started as food welcome packs for motels to include in their accommodation packages, and has evolved into pamper hampers, wedding hampers, Valentine’s hampers and now book boxes!

Wendy is the owner behind 4 Blue Stones and she spends a lot of time sourcing local products and thinking how they best go together – she’s paired my books with wine, chocolate, biscuits, hand cream, candles, tea – the options are endless!

I just love how she’s styled Write About Me, my debut bestseller inspired by the cold case mystery of my cousin Ursula who went missing when we were teenagers. What Wendy didn’t realise when she styled it with the gorgeous yellow flower biscuit is that yellow was Ursula’s favourite colour. Synchronicity!

What would you love to receive a book box with one of your favourite books? If you have any suggestions and ideas I’ll pass them on to Wendy!

Soggy spring provides outback crime novel inspiration

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In Australia it’s been raining. A lot. The impact has been devastating for many communities, and I am among those who have been significantly impacted. But if there is one thing I’ve learnt having grown up on the land and living a big part of my life in rural Australia – you can’t control the weather.

However, you can use it for inspiration in your next crime novel.

I am taking my sweet time with the new crime fiction novel which Candice Fox and I planned on a napkin during the Sisters in Crime festival weekend, and it’s a whole new experience for me. Despite being tempted to launch in and write randomly every spare moment I have, I am holding onto the incredible opportunity of being around seven of Australia’s top crime writers for a whole weekend (for those who are new, check out my website for the full story). Even though Sulari Gentill seems to be able to write brilliant books as a ‘pantser’, I’m determined to change my approach and put the time into figuring out what is going to happen and when. It’s already made a big difference to how the story is evolving, and I’m finding plot holes and fixing them before I’m knee deep in them!

Forget dry dusty outback scenes, this crime novel will show a whole other side of the Australian outback in flood.

Although water is life and people in these far-flung Australian landscapes have lived through more droughts than they’d care to remember, there are so many devastating and heartbreaking stories that are not being told in the news from this flood so I will be using these as inspiration in my narrative. Like the family who have not been able to return to their home for several months because the roads are cut off by floodwaters, only to discover when a neighbour flew over in a helicopter that their beautiful homestead which they had been hoping was spared was under water. Then having to wait for goodness knows how long for the water to recede to go in an assess the damage.

Or the families who haven’t left their remote properties in months and are getting groceries and mail via helicopter, and are spending their days waist deep in water trying to save their livestock while dead animals float by. Whole towns are cut off, entire crops have been wiped out, and all the rural businesses who rely on being able to move around and get from here to there have ceased trading.

All the while watching the skies and wishing it would stop bloody raining!

Please don’t despair though, there are flood stories that will warm your heart and give you faith in humanity again – but then again, it is a crime novel so be prepared for a plot twist you didn’t see coming!

New book release Feb 2022: SEARCH FOR SKY

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NEW BOOK COVER REVEAL

The moment you’ve all been waiting for (cue drum roll).
The next book in my Rhiannon Series is Search for Sky.
Release date: 22-2-22.
I took the background photo in September as the sun was setting on The Marra plains in outback NSW, where much of this book is set. The incredible coincidence is that I wrote half of this book in 2017 before I’d even been to The Marra…life really does work in mysterious ways 😉
Thank you again to Lara Walsh for your magical cover design.

Book 4 in the Rhiannon Series.

Pre-order Kindle e-book

In Australia Ayala Philips is still missing.
So is Keely Johnson.
So are thousands of others.
Their cases are getting colder and Rhiannon McVee’s hopes of solving them are fading.
But hope can come from the most surprising of places.
When someone starts leaving clues in the remote Australian outback, leading Rhiannon closer and closer to a suspected serial killer, will the next body she discovers be Ayala, Keely or someone else?
Crime fiction inspired by real life, written by the cousin of one of Australia’s most compelling and heartbreaking missing persons cases.

Fire recovery film on how books make a home

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How books make a house a home is the focus of a film about recovering from the trauma of Reedy Swamp, Vimy Ridge and Tathra fire through new books.

The Book Love for Tathra film, partly funded by a Bega Valley Fire and Resilience Grant, tells the story of how more than 3000 new book donations have created positive and long-lasting impacts in the fire-affected community.

Authors, publishers and individuals from across Australia donated more than $100,000 of new books to Book Love for Tathra after fire burnt more than 70 homes and damaged many more on March 18, 2018.

Local author Melissa Pouliot, who started the collection, presented the books at a community event in February 2019.

The Creary family, who were among the first Tathra residents to move into their new home just before the one-year anniversary, are among those who feature in the film.

“To be able to move into the house and straight away have new books to put on the shelf makes the house feel like a home,” Alexis Creary says.

Esteemed Australian author Jackie French, AM, who donated over 200 books to the collection and instigated significant donations from Australian Women’s Weekly and several major Australian publishers, also features.

“Every single book in this room has been given with the most enormous love and joy and incredible admiration for the community of Tathra, who is determined to survive,” French says. “You actually need joy as much as recovery…and this is joy! And this is more important because hopefully in a year, five years or 10 years, something like this is going to be the much more powerful memory than the hard things. You will look back and you will smile because you will remember the things done with friendship, love and community.”

Bega Valley Mayor Cr Kristy McBain says Book Love is a wonderful example of the humanity and generosity Australians have for each other.

“Seeing these books and seeing people excited to restock a library, no matter how small or large it may have been, is really heartwarming. From my point of view it’s one of the great reasons we live in the Bega Valley Shire is because of these amazing people that come together to help out their friends, their families, their neighbours,” Cr McBain says.

Sapphire Coast-based film maker Brent Occleshaw produced the film. Brent, who is also a volunteer fire fighter and was part of the fire-fighting effort at Tathra, said it was a privilege to bring the Book Love story to life on film.

“As firefighters, we defend life, defend property, and importantly, restore normality. ‘Restore normality’ involves helping this community become strong again and replacing books, the heart of people’s homes, plays a central role in doing that,” Brent says.

Melissa said the generosity from the Book Love donations continued, with leftover books still circulating in the community.

Books have gone to the Tathra Public School library, Tathra P&C Association for fundraising events and Bega Rotary Club. Proceeds from books sold at Rotary’s Winter Book Fair have purchased garden vouchers for a Garden Recovery and Open Gardens weekend in Tathra on the weekend of August 24 and 25. Book Love books will also be available on the Saturday at Tathra Surf Club and organisers will screen the Book Love film.

“Any funds donated for books at the garden event will go back to the community for garden projects, truly making ‘Book Love for Tathra’ a gift that keeps on giving,” Melissa said.

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