HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Friday, 6 August 2004

BOOK PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2004

Contact: Mel Cain
Tel: 02 9952 5000
E: mel.cain@harpercollins.com.au

With just two novels to her credit, she's already Australia's No. 1 crime writer* …
now get ready for…

MEDIA RELEASE

COVET

(and the dark side of)

Tara Moss

Tour Dates
Melbourne 30 August - 1 September 2004
Hobart 2 September 2004
Sydney 3 September 2004
Adelaide 5-6 September 2004
Perth 7-8 September 2004
Gold Coast 7-8 October 2004
New Zealand 27-28 October 2004

Tara Moss is moving closer to her dark side … and she's letting it loose in what is destined to be
her biggest bestseller yet!

Tara Moss burst onto the literary scene in 1999 with the publication of her first novel, Fetish, which hit the bestseller lists and proved she could deliver a gripping read. Her second book, Split, published in 2002 was an even greater success, proving that Tara was definitely no 'one hit wonder'. She also answered her critics in true crime fashion - she sat for a polygraph test - and passed!

Along the way, she has introduced her readers to some of her unusual interests - serial killers, dead bodies, murder investigations, forensics, fetishism and basically all things creepy and taboo.

Tara's fascination with the morbid started at the ripe old age of ten, when she began writing gruesome Stephen King-style horror stories for her young classmates. Tara says, "My school friends enjoyed them so much that they asked to be written into the stories, and they lined up after class to read the chapter that featured their own grisly demise. My parents must have thought I was a pretty weird kid. I begged my mom to turn my Barbie doll into a Vampira doll, black hair and all, and I had a fascination with female action figures. I've collected about one hundred pieces now, and my favourites are Vampirella, Betty Page, Belladonna, Kabuki and Electra." The action figures take pride of place in her office, among criminology textbooks, FBI caps and a replica human skull.

The research for her adult novels has seen Tara travel far and wide to provide the grim accuracy she needs to create a believable psychological thriller. The latest novel, Covet, which features her "psycho magnet" heroine Makedde (Mak-kay-dee) Vanderwall, has meant visiting morgues, doing surveillance with private investigators, sitting in on murder cases at the Supreme Court and poring over textbooks on criminal psychology and psychotherapy.

It took years to finally get her foot in the door of the FBI's training facility at Quantico. Tara has also spent time with the LAPD, attended the American Association of Police Polygraphists' Conference, and psychopathy conferences in Canada. She has conducted countless interviews with poisons experts, judges, lawyers, forensic pathologists, polygraphers and police.

Tara Moss is an accomplished woman. She can shoot a gun, ride a motorcycle, has pulled 4.2 G's doing loops over the Opera House with RAAF Roulettes and has studied self-defence - but she can't cook.

Tara considers one of the most defining moments in her life the first time that she saw a dead body. She was not scared, but rather she felt at peace, realising a sense of emptiness in death that confirmed her views on a spiritual essence present in the living. Tara believes if they have the opportunity everyone should make a trip to the morgue - they shouldn't be afraid.

Tara Moss is an internationally bestselling and award-winning writer, with translations recently published in Germany and France. She is also a popular public speaker and freelance journalist. Her former career as a top model took her around the world, living in New York and all over Europe, cat-walking for the top designers and gracing the covers of over thirty magazines as well as making a number of appearances on television. She recently married producer, Mark Pennell, and is at work on her fourth novel.


From the bestselling author of Fetish and Split comes the latest instalment in the Makedde Vanderwall series, Covet...

Eighteen months after her ordeal at the hands of the sadistic 'Stiletto Murderer', fashion model and forensic psychology student Makedde Vanderwall must confront her demons when she returns to Sydney for the trial. But just as the verdict is handed down, the unthinkable happens -- the killer makes a daring escape, aided and abetted by a twisted accomplice that no one suspected ...

Mak is terrified, and ex-boyfriend Detective Andy Flynn, who has a bad habit of employing more madness than method in his work, isn't helping. She decides to leave the country, but the press dog her every move, hindering her safe passage and unknowingly helping the Stiletto Murderer, who's busy rekindling an old fetish ... her ...

Where can she run? Who can she trust? And has she, and the police, underestimated Australia's most notorious serial killer yet again? Sharper than a Manolo four-inch heel, sexier than a Versace fashion show, and more risky than all seven deadly sins, Covet will set your pulse racing.


Praise for Fetish:

"A novel sure to keep you on the edge of your deck-chair … expertly crafted … a definite page-turner … best read in daylight."
- Flare Magazine, Canada

"Moss keeps the tension high … [She has] natural storytelling ability. Fetish is a worthy first entry in the crowded thriller genre."
- Kathy Kerr, Edmonton Journal

"Moss's plain and simple depiction of the unglamorous worlds of middle-income modelling and the NSW police force is fascinating"
- Who magazine

"A work of dark and sinister themes which earned deserved acclaim from readers and critics ..."
- Gold Coast Bulletin

Praise for Split:

"Split is pacy and readable ... Moss is an author to watch"
- Marie Claire

"A really terrific read ... very pacy ... I really enjoyed it. More power to your pen, Tara!"
- Sally Loane, ABC Radio 702 (Sydney)

"Another thrilling ride … Moss is a gifted storyteller, able to control the suspense and give her characters an authenticity as they find themselves in extraordinary situations."
- Michael Jacobson, Gold Coast Bulletin

"... one of Australia's most successful female authors in any genre."
- Crime Factory

* Australia's No. 1 Crime Writer - Source: ACNeilsen BookScan sales figures
January 2003 to June 2004.

Covet by Tara Moss
Published: September 2004
ARP: $29.95
ISBN: 0732276721
Imprint: HarperCollins


For further information please contact:

Mel Cain, Senior Publicist
Tel: 02 9952 5000 or Fax: 02 9952 5666
E: mel.cain@harpercollins.com.au
www.harpercollins.com.au

>>Go to the Press Package page
>>Read reviews of Tara's novels
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