OBSERVER: Vale Kerry Greenwood
Sisters in Crime is mourning the death in Melbourne of Kerry Greenwood, founding member and beloved friend and author, at the age of 70.
Kerry died on March 26. Her funeral was held last week in Yarraville with a wake in nearby Seddon.
Her coffin was draped with native flowers and a Bulldogs scarf. Kerry was not a huge fan of football per se but loved the local western suburbs’ football team.
Kerry’s life partner, ‘registered wizard’ David Greagg, announced last week that he had kept Kerry’s death a secret, save for close friends and family.
“Kerry was an extremely private person and had no wish to share her pain with anyone. I told everyone after the wake that they could now post anything they liked, and they have done so,” he wrote on Kerry’s Facebook page.
“So I will stay silent no longer. Yes, she has gone. But she lives on in her books, and in our hearts,”
Hundreds and hundreds of tributes have poured in since then.
Sisters in Crime National Co-Convenor Carmel Shute said: “Kerry became a founding member of Sisters in Crime when we launched the organisation at the Melbourne Feminist Book Fortnight on September 22, 1991. She starred in a debate entitled Feminist Crime Fiction: Confronting the Hard-boiled Head On.”
“At that point, there were hardly any Australian women crime writers and Kerry was a towering figure in the women’s crime world because she already had three Phryne Fisher novels under her belt.
“Since then, her prodigious output has included over 60 novels plus plays and non-fiction works, including 23 Miss Fisher novels and seven in her delicious Corinna Chapman baker sleuth series. Much of this was accomplished whilst working as a legal aid barrister.”
In 2013, Kerry became the inaugural winner of Sisters in Crime’s Lifetime Achievement Award and remains the one accorded such an honour. She also won the Ned Kelly Award for Crime Writing, Lifetime Contribution in 2003. Kerry was awarded an OAM in 2020.
Carmel Shute explained that Kerry gained even more fans – and fans from all over the world – when Every Cloud Productions produced three series of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries during 2012-2015 and then, in 2020, a movie, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, all starring Essie Davis.
“Sisters in Crime booked out a 98-seat theatre at Yarraville’s Sun Theatre for a special screening of the film. The event sold out and no wonder. Fans came from far and wide – from Adelaide to Portland and South Carolina in the USA.
“Many ‘frocked up for Phryne’, appearing in wonderful twenties outfits. We were joined by several members of the Adventuresses’ Club of the Americas, the fan organisation that runs the Miss Fisher Conventions.”
- Cheryl Threadgold and Julie Houghton
Pictured: Kerry Greenwood