I’m a history and true crime author and podcaster based in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia. I’ve had sixteen books published. They include history and true crime, cinema studies and personal memoir, and young adult and middle-grade fiction. I’m the creator and host of the podcast Forgotten Australia, which is Australia’s leading independent history podcast, with over six million downloads since 2018. I am also a public speaker and regular guest on Australian media, specialising in Australian history and true crime.

My new book is out now.

In 1959, Australians thrilled to every move made by a new criminal underdog, a Ned Kelly for the rock ‘n’ roll era. Kevin John Simmonds was a charismatic crook whose brazen crime spree had scored him a lengthy prison sentence. But as he was led from court, he boasted, ‘They’ll never hold me.’ Two months later, Simmo made good on his promise, staging a daring escape from Long Bay Gaol. When his bid for freedom took a deadly turn, Detective Ray ‘the Gunner’ Kelly took charge of the search, putting the fugitive in the crosshairs of the biggest armed manhunt in Australian history.

They’ll Never Hold Me is the true story of an antihero with a code of honour, who captured the public’s hearts and minds even as he engraged the cops and the establishment. This never-before-told tale takes us beyond the tabloid adventures that made Simmo into Public Enemy No.1 to reveal the haunting tragedies he was trying to outrun – and the terrible fate even he might not escape.

These are my other recent nonfiction books.

This is my podcast: