Writer, Presenter,
Teacher, Podcaster
Vikki Petraitis
Ever since she was a small child, Vikki dreamed of being a writer. One of her favourite things is when people tell her how her books have changed their life or influenced their career choice. There’s more than one cop, forensic psychologist, podcaster, or investigator whose journey began with opening one of Vikki’s books.
The Frankston Murders
The Frankston Murders podcast series had a big goal - to keep a serial killer in prison. The release of the series was timed for a couple of weeks before serial killer Paul Denyer’s parole application was to go before the Parole Board. In a little over two months, the podcast had two million downloads and topped charts around the world. The parole bid was denied. The next task is to stop Denyer applying ever again. That way, the families of Elizabeth Stevens, Debbie Fream, and Natalie Russell can gain some comfort knowing he can never do to another family what he did to theirs.
Vikki’s first crime fiction novel won the inaugural Allen & Unwin Crime Fiction Prize 2022
In 2017, Vikki started a PhD in Creative Writing at La Trobe University. She wanted to explore in fiction some of the big issues she’d written about in non-fiction. The Unbelieved is the result.
“The Unbelieved is a gleaming puzzle box of plot twists, conspiracy and comeuppance…” — Books + Publishing
“Chilling, timely and gripping, The Unbelieved takes us behind the headlines to a small-town world that is all too real - and introduces us to a brilliant new voice in crime fiction.” — Better Reading
Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid Podcast
Mostly during lockdown, Vikki made her second Casefile True Crime Podcast called Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid. Sarah disappeared from the Kananook Railway Station on 11 July 1990. She got off the train and disappeared into the darkness. Vikki examines the events of that night and interviews the detectives who worked the case
The Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron Podcast
In 2020, Vikki worked with the anonymous host of the hugely popular Casefile True Crime Podcast to make her first podcast series called The Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron for Casefile Presents. Based on the case she wrote about in her first book, The Phillip Island Murder, Vikki goes back to talk to people she first interviewed in the early 1990s and re-examines the case that has baffled people for over three decades.
Vikki on Facebook
November 2020
