The Small Picture Podcasts

Enter a world of beauty and danger, of French cabaret and terrible revenge.

Mak Vanderwall - beautiful, street-wise daughter of a cop, graduate in forensic psychology, and now PI - is hired by a widowed mother to track down her missing nineteen-year-old son. Has he come to harm? Or has he run off with a bizarre troupe of shady French cabaret artists sweeping through Australia?

Has the dark beauty of the burlesque, the magic, the mind-bending contortion, beguiled him? Or has he been seduced by the mysterious and amoral older woman who has a terrifying starring role in the troupe′s modern performances of the Grand Guignol ′Theatre of Fear′, famous in Paris in the early 1900s?

And what of the rumours of violence and tragedy that have plagued the troupe for the past decade? Is their horrifying past fact or fiction?

Meanwhile, Mak is increasingly obsessed with the powerful Cavanagh family, one of Australia′s richest and most ruthless families, whom she believes has got away with murder. And it seems their security advisor Mr White, and his hit man, Luther Hand, may not have forgotten about Mak either ...

"Tara Moss is much more than a pretty face. She′s an international best-selling author, ambassador, television host, and reptile-wrangler...she may well become one of the world′s best-sellers."

- World Literature Today

"No-one really believed she could have written four hugely successful detective novels, and each unaided. Is it possible that such a stunner can actually write? Absolutely..." - Vanity Fair magazine

Tara is the author of the international bestselling crime novels - Fetish, Split, Covet and Hit, published in fourteen countries in nine languages, helping to make the young author, "...one of Australia′s most successful female authors in any genre." (quote -Crime Factory), and winning fans around the world, "Her novels are completely entertaining and gripping from beginning to end." (quote- Hugh Jackman). In fact, according to AC Neilsen sales figures, Moss is ′Australia′s #1 crime writer′. In 2006 her novels were launched in the USA to acclaim. "A bold new female voice for American crime-fiction fans." (quote -Publishers Weekly, USA).

Writing has been a lifelong passion for Moss, who began penning gruesome "Stephen King-inspired" stories for her classmates when she was only 10. Moss went on to a successful international career as a model before pursuing professional writing, first earning a Diploma from the Australian College of Journalism in 1997, and in 1998 winning the Scarlet Stiletto Young Writers Award for her story, Psycho Magnet. Moss started writing her successful debut novel, Fetish, when she was just 23. Her crime novels have been nominated for both the Davitt Award and the Ned Kelly; two of Australia′s most prestigious honors. Not a writer to rely solely on imagination, Moss′ in-depth research has seen her earn her Certificate III in Investigation from the Australian Security Academy, tour the FBI Academy at Quantico, spend time in squad cars, the morgue, prisons, the Hare Psychopathy Lab, the Supreme Court and criminology conferences world-wide, take polygraph tests, shoot weapons, conduct surveillance with private investigators, pass the Firearms Training Simulator (FATSII) with the LAPD, pull 4.2 G′s doing loops over the Sydney Opera House flying with the RAAF Roulettes, acquire her CAMS race driver licence and much more.

Moss hosts the crime documentary series "Tara Moss Investigates" on the National Geographic Channel in the UK, across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. She has also hosted Nat Geo Presents, mediated a GNW TV Debate, been an MTV Canada guest host, and participated as a guest and panelist on numerous popular TV programs in Australia and Canada, including ′Fashion TV′, ′Book Television′, Entertainment Tonight′ and ′The Panel′. Moss has also conducted hundreds of talks at writer′s festivals, literary events, schools, universities and corporate events.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Moss is a proud dual Australian/Canadian citizen, and divides her time between Sydney, Los Angeles and her hometown in Victoria. When not researching and writing her sixth crime novel, Moss enjoys riding her 900cc Triumph Scrambler motorcycle and spending time with her 7 foot coastal carpet python ′Fester′, her 5 foot baby black-headed python ′Thing′ and her faithful dog ′Bogart′, and serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, as well as an ambassador for the YWCA, and the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

For more information visit her official website www.taramoss.com which receives one million hits a month from around the world.

Tara is one of my favourite authors to interview, and this was a great interview to do... but... unfortunately we had phone problems, so parts of the interview are louder than others, sorry.