Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute is a 2012 debut crime novel by Australian author Maggie Groff. It was originally published in Australia by PanMacmillan.[1]
| Author | Maggie Groff |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Scout Davis Investigation |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | PanMacmillan Australia |
| Publication date | 1 March 2012 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 359 |
| Awards | 2013 Davitt Award, Best Adult Novel, winner |
| ISBN | 9781742610795 |
| Preceded by | - |
| Followed by | Good News, Bad News |
It is the first installment in the author's Scout Davis Investigation series of novels, preceding Good News, Bad News (2013).[2]
The novel was the winner of the Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel in 2013.[3]
Synopsis
editScout Davis is a middle-aged freelance writer living in Byron Bay, New South Wales. Her husband is a war correspondent working for Reuters in Afghanistan, her daughter has recently moved to Sydney, and she is a member of the Guerilla Knitters Institute, a group who produce knitted artworks. An American cult has moved into the area and Scout is commissioned by a newspaper to write an article about them. While doing so she encounters a woman who has lost a daughter to the cult and the two set out to expose the cult's leader.
Critical reception
editSue Turnbull, in The Sydney Morning Herald, described the novel as being "all a bit chick-litty, Janet Evanovichy and perilously close to cute - but fun, especially the knitting."[4]
Reviewing the novel for The Age, Thuy On saw similar connections: "Though Maggie Groff deals with some fairly heavy material such as brainwashing cults and adolescent bullying, there's a humorous strain that carries the narrative to its outlandish climax. Scout is a likeable protagonist, feisty and intrepid: think Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum but with an Australian drawl."[5]
Publication history
editAfter the novel's initial publication by PanMacmillan in Australia in 2012 the novel was reprinted by the same publisher in 2013.[6] The novel was also translated into German in 2014.[7]
Awards
edit- 2013 Davitt Award — Best Adult Crime Novel, winner[3]
- 2013 Davitt Award — Best Debut Crime Novel, winner[3]
Notes
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ↑ "Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute by Maggie Groff". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ "Austlit – Scout Davis Investigation series by Maggie Groff". Austlit. Retrieved 16 March 2026.
- 1 2 3 ""Davitt Award Winners 2001-2025"" (PDF). Sisters in Crime. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ ""Tangled webs they weave"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 2012. ProQuest 923240501. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ ""Fiction: Off the Shelf"". The Age, 14 April 2012. ProQuest 995205870. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- 1 2 "Austlit – Mad Men, Bad Girls and the Guerilla Knitters Institute by Maggie Groff". Austlit. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ "Frauen am Rande des Strandes Ein Scout-Davis-Roman by Maggie Groff, aus dem Englischen von Petra Knese". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
- ↑ ""Why cults are all in the mind"". The Courier-Mail, 17 March 2012. ProQuest 928394388. Retrieved 19 March 2026.