WELCOME
Welcome to the website of Dr L.J.M. Owen
An author, librarian and archaeologist with a passion for reclaiming women’s history.
L.J. is an award-winning writer, the founder and artistic director of the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival, and the Convenor of the Tasmanian chapter of Sisters in Crime Australia.
These pages contain information on:
L.J.’s latest release, a twisty novel anthology where YOU become the detective, Murder You Wrote: An Interactive Mystery;
her dark, atmospheric Tasmanian crime novel, The Great Divide;
her cosier, skeleton-filled exploration of forgotten women’s history in the Dr Pimms Archaeological Mysteries*; and
L.J.’s Tasmanian crime and mystery literary festival, the Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival.
L.J.M. Owen, Founder and Director of TARWF, at Hadley's Orient Hotel, Hobart, at TAF2019 ‘Murder She Wrote’
L.J. Owen and Ann Cleeves demonstrating the element of surprise at TAF2023 ‘Tassie Vice’
L.J. Owen celebrating a triple win at Sisters in Crime Australia’s 2020 Scarlet Stiletto Awards
*2024 note for Dr Pimms fans: more Dr Pimms archaeological mysteries are in the pipeline!
After numerous attempts, L.J. reclaimed the series rights in 2023. She is currently working on a series reboot - expanded editions of the existing books followed by new investigations into forgotten women’s history from around the globe.
Due for release in 2026, the first instalment in the relaunch will see Dr Elizabeth Pimms grapple with familiar skeletons in the forensic laboratory, library stacks and family closet…and a fresh body in the archaeology department.
MURDER YOU WROTE:
AN INTERACTIVE MYSTERY
YOU become the detective…
One story. Twenty writers. Your choice.
Edited by L.J.M. Owen
Click here to learn more.
Murder You Wrote: An Interactive Mystery, a 2024 Silver Falchion Award Top 10 Pick, is a classic country manor murder mystery with a twist – YOU become the detective.
Can you solve this classic ‘Body in the Library’ mystery - now a 2024 Silver Falchion Award Top 10 Pick?
‘Hugely entertaining’
– ANN CLEEVES, author of Vera and Shetland
‘A deliciously devious read’
– POPPY GEE, author of Bay of Fires
‘Be prepared to question what you think you know’
– THE BOOK MUSE
‘A ridiculous idea that somehow works’
– TASMANIAN TIMES
‘The ending was just brilliant!’
– TASMANIAN BIBLIOPHILE AT LARGE
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Twisted Secrets. Hidden Victims. Monstrous Crimes.
A city detective hunts a killer through a fog of lies in small town Tasmania.
Click here for more.
The Great Divide , launched by Marta Dusseldorp, was longlisted for the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel
'Australian rural crime at its most atmospheric...The Great Divide is compulsive reading’—BOOKS+PUBLISHING
‘Chilling, masterful…works its way into your bones and lingers long after the book is closed’ —SULARI GENTILL
DR PIMMS ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES
An archaeologist-librarian solves international mysteries of forgotten women’s history.
From the library stacks and halls of academia to the family closet…
Not all skeletons stay buried.
Click here for more.
BOOK 1: OLMEC OBITUARY
BOOK 2: MAYAN MENDACITY
BOOK 3: EGYPTIAN ENIGMA
‘A series you can’t help but fall in love with.'—BETTER READING
'A splendid fusion of ancient and modern narratives…What else could a reader possibly ask for?’ —KERRY GREENWOOD
