Good fiction writing is based on a degree of reality and Burning Issues is no exception!

Whilst recently travelling on The Ghan, an Australian tourist train, I listened to tales many elderly people had to tell. I was curious about the age demographic and then realized that older people have had the time to accumulate wealth in this lucky country of Australia. A common element seemed to be a darker side where family members tried to scam the vulnerable old people and manipulate the law for financial gain. It was often legal, but coercive and underhand, to the point of being a silent problem. The scary part is - it was common amongst them!

I thought about these opportunistic manipulators, often disenchanted family members on the periphery who slip in at the last minute when they sniff out money. So, when I alighted from the train, I put pen to paper and wrote Burning Issues.

Regarding the character Bonnie, manipulation and fear underpin her decisions to withhold information. The idea of ‘’behind closed doors’’ looms loudly in tales like Burning Issues. Perhaps readers can relate to this? Each character had their own reasons, and justifications, for taking the stance they did.

This is a story about deceit and manipulation. It looks at the workings of justice both in Australia and abroad. Burning Issues looks at the power of the Will and how easily it can be challenged thus disempowering people’s wishes. Without a knowledge of current law, elderly people, and not so elderly people, are vulnerable. But even in the book, justice is perverted by fear and mistrust. Murders go unchallenged and therefore a miscarriage of justice occurs all too easily.