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Missing, Presumed Dead

The double murder case that shocked Australia

It was the double murder case that gripped Australia, and former Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi KC is finally able to share all the astonishing details.

Shortlisted for the 2023 Danger Awards

Dorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan were both happy, healthy, affluent, middle-class women from conservative, loving families.

Such women are hardly ever among the ranks of the missing. They were not hitchhikers, or associates of drug dealers, or unhappy with their family relationships, or suffering from mental health issues. Dorothy Davis and Kerry Whelan came from different parts of Sydney, mixed in quite different circles, and led completely different lives. They had never met each other, and if they had, they would have had little in common. But Dorothy and Kerry did have one thing in common – they both knew Bruce Allan Burrell.

The disappearance of these two women without trace led to massive police investigations and resulted in sensational trials that gripped the nation. This book explores the intricacies of those investigations and delves into the twisted, tortuous processes of legal proceedings, while exploring the dark recesses of the mind of Bruce Burrell.

'Gripping writing, from an expert on the inside of some of the state's worst murders and disappearances.' Peter FitzSimons

Kidnapped

The crime that shocked the nation

The true story of Australia’s only known kidnapping of a child for ransom, from Barrister and Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi.

When eight-year-old Graeme Thorne was kidnapped on his way to school in July 1960, Australia was gripped with fear and loathing. What monster would dare take financial advantage of the most treasured bond of love – between parent and child? Just weeks earlier, Graeme’s parents had won a fortune in the Opera House Lottery, and this had attracted the attention of the perpetrator, Stephen Bradley.

Bradley was a most unlikely kidnapper, however his greed for the Thorne’s windfall saw him cast aside any sympathy for his victim or his victim’s family, and drove him to take brazen risks with the life of his young captive.

Kidnapped tells the astounding true story of how this crime was planned and committed, and describes the extraordinary police investigation that was launched to track the criminal down. Mark Tedeschi explores the mind of the intriguing and seriously flawed Stephen Bradley, and also the points of view of the victim, his family – and the police, whose work pioneered the use of many techniques that are now considered commonplace, marking the beginning of modern-day forensic science in Australia.

Using his powerful research and storytelling skills, Mark Tedeschi reveals one of Australia’s greatest true crime dramas, and what can only be described as the trial of the 20th century.

‘Remarkably researched so as to explain one of Australia’s most extraordinary criminal cases.’ Chester Porter KC

Eugenia

A true story of adversity, tragedy, crime and courage

This is the true crime account of the man known as Eugenia Falleni, who in 1920 was charged with the murder of his wife.

Assigned female at birth, Eugenia Falleni lived in Australia for twenty-two years under the name Harry Crawford, and during that time officially married twice. He lived a full married life with his first wife, Annie, for four years before Annie realised that her husband was transgender. They continued to live together for eight months before they went on a bush picnic, when Annie mysteriously died. Her body was not identified for almost three years, and during this time Harry married again, this time to Lizzie. When Harry was finally arrested and charged with Annie's murder, the police attempted to tell Lizzie that her husband was biologically female. She laughed at them – she thought she was pregnant to him.

This is the story of one of the most extraordinary criminal trials in legal history. The book traces Harry’s history: from being raised as a girl in an Italian immigrant family in New Zealand, to his brutal treatment when he first began living as a man, and his twenty-two years in Sydney including his two marriages. Finally, the trial of Eugenia Falleni for Annie's murder is extensively analysed by the author, Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi KC, one of Australia's foremost criminal law barristers.

‘Outstanding new true-crime … A grimly fascinating and extraordinary tale.’The Age

‘In the hands of NSW Senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, Eugenia’s story is gripping.’Australian Women’s Weekly

‘Tedeschi writes with a deep compassion ... and makes us all consider how fear, prejudice and ignorance can affect lives, even today.’Herald Sun

Massacre at Myall Creek

The trial that defined a nation

One of the most shocking murder trials in Australia's legal history, and the tribulations of the prosecutor who conducted it.

In 1838, eleven convicts and former convicts were put on trial for the brutal murder of 28 Aboriginal men, women and children at Myall Creek in northern New South Wales. The trial created an enormous amount of controversy because it was almost unknown for Europeans to be charged with the murder of Aborigines. It would become the most serious trial of mass murder in Australia’s history.

The trial’s prosecutor was the Attorney General of New South Wales, John Hubert Plunkett. It proved to be Plunkett’s greatest test, as it pitted his forensic brilliance and his belief in equality before the law against the combined forces of the free settlers, the squatters, the military, the emancipists, the newspapers, and even the convict population.

From the bestselling author of Kidnapped and Eugenia, Murder at Myall Creek follows the journey of the man who arguably achieved more for modern-day civil rights in Australia than anyone else before or since.

Praise for Massacre at Myall Creek

'A deeply moving account.' Peter FitzSimons

'Fascinating reading.' Weekend Australian

'A considered and elegant work.' Books+Publishing