Best-selling author Nikki Mottram puts Killarney, Southern Downs on the map in latest crime caper novel

A best-selling Toowoomba author has put a unique Southern Downs village on the map by setting her second novel in the small town.

Killarney is the setting for a new crime book by author Nikki Mottram

A best-selling author has put a small Southern Downs village on the map in her sophomore crime novel.

“Sleepy” Killarney is the set for another Dana Gibson mystery, the sequel to Toowoomba author Nikki Mottram’s debut novel Crows Nest.

Killarney follows the child protection worker protagonist on an adventure to the border town, in search of a missing boy, which inevitably leads to all sorts of chaos ranging from flooding to drug runners.

Killarney by Nikki Mottram is the latest book in the Dana Gibson series

Mottram said her years of working in Toowoomba in child protection helped form the character of Dana Gibson, but majority of the books were entirely fictionalised.

“I started writing (the first book) Crows Nest when I was very busy and did not have a lot of time to research into a new setting, I love Toowoomba so I set it where I live and have the character visit the towns that would fall into the larger region,” the author said.

“Dana does the same sorts of things I did when I was in that field in the early 2000s, and I had a lot of nostalgia for that era, I was learning in the field, on the go.”

Mottram has a psychology degree and uses her background in child protection in her crime fiction, especially the Dana Gibson series.

The author grew up on Enid Blyton and always had dreams of being a novelist, with the Dana character bubbling in her brain for years before she began writing.

She says writing is “cathartic” and is proud of showcasing a female social worker character which is ruthless, motivated and strong, and being skewed from the typical police procedural tropes.

Nikki Mottram is showcasing the south west region in her Dana Gibson crime series of novels. (Photo: UQP/ Syd Owen)

“The first novel is inspired by a real life true crime case from Atherton in Far North Queensland, but Killarney is from my imagination, and Dana does the same work I would have done at the same time- and I set it in the 90s to make it clear it isn’t a commentary on current practices,” Mottram said.

“It was important to me though to highlight the job can be complex and difficult work. It’s definitely work that pulls at your heartstrings, and you need a lot of empathy but you need to create your own boundaries.”

Nikki Mottram at the launch of Killarney (Photo: Jenny Hockings)

The ‘write what you know’ ethos is in clear view for Mottram, who imagines her settings in the Downs as “really atmospheric”.

“It’s a really evocative name for a novel, and the cover they came up with was really atmospheric, cool and exciting, and I think both of those places are incredibly beautiful and mysterious in their own ways- and they haven’t been written about.”

Mottram and her family took many weekend trips from Toowoomba to Killarney to visit the town, take photos and get inspiration for the novel – but she insisted no locals would make an appearance as characters in the book.

“I think we see so many novels set in big cities, and less are set in small, regional towns. It’s so important to speak about regional towns, and so many people have gotten a kick out of seeing local landmarks – for example St Mary’s Cathedral in Warwick, or Dana going for a jog in Queen’s Park, and lot’s of people have genuinely enjoyed that aspect of the book,” Ms Mottram said.

“(In Killarney) we drove around with the windows down and we felt the cold air coming in and heard the birds, and it was wonderful, that sort of stuff really helps me setting the scene.”

The sleepy southern hamlet of Killarney is the setting for a new crime book by author Nikki Mottram

In good news for fans, Dana’s story doesn’t end at the Queensland border town, with Mottram already planning and writing a third book in the series.

She’s cagey with the details, but confirms it will be set in the wider Darling Downs region again – perhaps Gatton, Pittsworth or Allora will be hitting local shelves soon.

“I don’t want to give away too much about it yet, but Dana will be heading off again. We’ve gone north and south of Toowoomba so I’m looking at a setting that’s either east or west of Toowoomba next. I love when people take a guess, I’ve even had people guess Ipswich.”

There’s a busy few weeks ahead for Ms Mottram, with the publicity circuit for Killarney calling, before she settles in to write the next instalment.

You can buy Ms Mottram’s book here. Her latest book Killarney is having a launch party at Brisbane bookstore Avid Reader on Friday, 6.30pm