Natalie Conyer - Finding the Bones

Name: Natalie Conyer - Finding the Bones
Start: 2026-03-13T18:30:00+11:00
End: 2026-03-13T18:30:00+11:00
Location: Upstairs at Gleebooks

About

6pm for 6:30pm Friday 13th March

In conversation with Tim Ayliffe

Finding the Bones is the third novel from acclaimed Sydney based crime writer Natalie Conyer. Inspired by the true story of the disappearance of journalist and urban activist Juanita Nielsen in Sydney in 1975 which remains an unresolved case to this day. Belle Fitzgerald, young, rich and spirited, lives in Kings Cross, the city’s bohemian heart. When she learns of plans to demolish her street and evict its residents, she commits to fighting the development. Then Belle goes missing and her disappearance becomes one of the nation’s great mysteries.

Detective Jackie Rose leads the homicide investigation and reopens the cold case after the bones of Belle Fitgerald are discovered more than 40 years after her disappearance.

This will be her moment to shine. But what she uncovers threatens to turn her life – and the lives of those closest to her – upside down.

‘A compelling crime novel about corruption, compromise and the persistence of the past.’ GARRY DISHER

Finding the Bones is Natalie Conyer’s third novel. Her first novel, Present Tense, won a Ned Kelly Award and her second, Shadow City, has been shortlisted for both the Ned Kelly and Danger Awards. Her short stories have won several awards and been featured in anthologies such as The Only One in the World and Dark Deeds Down Under Volume 2. A collection of her stories, The Book Club & Other Stories, was published in 2024. Natalie lives in Sydney. She is a swimmer, a TV addict, a world-class procrastinator and a crime fiction tragic who loves the genre so much she did a doctorate on it.

Tim Ayliffe is an award-winning author whose thriller novels have been informed by his 25-year global career as a journalist. He writes about crime, espionage, extremism and the global power games at play in the 21st Century. He has been the Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News and also Executive Producer of News Breakfast. He is the author of the ‘John Bailey’ series including The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within, Killer Traitor Spy – which won the People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Danger Awards – and The Wrong Man. Tim's thrillers are also in development for TV. His latest thriller Dark Desert Road was published in January 2026.