OBSERVER: Meet Vikki Petraitis
True crime writer Vikki Petraitis captivated guests at a Joan Saxton Speakers’ luncheon with fascinating stories of her investigative work.
A school teacher earlier in her life, Vikki’s first book The Phillip Island Murder was co-written with journalist Paul Daley and published in 1993.
The book has now come full circle with the new Spotify podcast The Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron by Casefile Presents, where Vikki explores the case in a long-form series.
Since the 1990s, Vikki has written 18 books on a broad range of topics from Lawyer X to The Dog Squad.
Her best-selling book The Frankston Murders, about Frankston serial killer Paul Denyer, was followed by her 2023 podcast with the same name.
It topped charts around the world, putting the case on the international radar in the quest to change the law to keep Denyer in prison. To date, Vikki’s podcasts have been downloaded over eight million times.
Vikki wrote her first fiction as part of her PhD in creative writing, resulting in an award-winning novel, The Unbelieved. In 2025 she released the sequel The Stolen and is currently working on the third book in the series.
Vikki’s work over more than 30 years is credited to contributing to raising awareness of crime and justice issues in Australia. She is also regarded as a trusted advocate for the primary victims of crime and the survivors.
Cheryl Threadgold