Every Move

Rachel Watts is suffering from recurring nightmares about her near-death experience in London. She just wants to forget the whole ordeal, but her boyfriend, James Mycroft, is obsessed with piecing the puzzle together and anticipating the next move of the mysterious Mr Wild - his own personal Moriarty.

So when Rachel's brother, Mike, suggests a trip back to their old home in Five Mile, Rachel can't wait to get away. Unfortunately it's not the quiet weekend she was hoping for with the unexpected company of Mike's old school buddy, the wildly unreliable Harris Derwent.

Things get worse for Rachel when Harris returns to Melbourne with them - but could Harris be the only person who can help her move forward? Then a series of murders suggests that Mr Wild is still hot on their tails and that Mycroft has something Wild wants - something Wild is prepared to kill for.

Can Watts and Mycroft stay one step ahead of the smartest of all criminal masterminds? The stage is set for a showdown of legendary proportions...

Ellie Marney was born in Brisbane, and has lived in Indonesia, Singapore and India. Now she writes, teaches, talks about kid's literature at libraries and schools, and gardens when she can, while living in a country idyll (actually a very messy wooden house on ten acres with a dog and lots of chickens) near Castlemaine, in north-central Victoria. Her partner and four sons still love her, even though she often forgets things and lets the housework go.

Ellie's debut novel, Every Breath, was shortlisted for the Davitt Awards, the Ned Kelly Award and the Centre for Youth Literature's Gold Inky. Every Move is her third novel for young adults.

Every Move
Allen and Unwin
Author: Ellie Marney
ISBN: 9781743318539
RRP: $18.99

Interview with Ellie Marney

Question: How would you describe Every Move?

Ellie Marney: Every Move is a Sherlock-inspired YA crime thriller, with a generous helping of romance. Set between Melbourne and the Mallee region, the finale of the Every series follows Rachel Watts and James Mycroft as they investigate a series of murders that lead to a showdown with Mycroft's nemesis, Mr Wild.


Question: How did the idea come about for the book?

Ellie Marney: After the excitements of Every Breath and Every Word, I knew we needed a cracker of a finish for Every Move. Tying together all the threads from the first two books provided plenty of material to work with. Mycroft needed to find out what happened in the mystery surrounding his parents' deaths – Rachel needed to gather her strength to confront Wild. It was hard to write, but hopefully a fun read!


Question: How much of your inspiration comes from real life and real people?

Ellie Marney: I think another writer, Diana Gabaldon (Outlander) says it best when she describes writing as -a cannibal's art' – you combine a lot of small details from life around you and use it to give colour and authenticity to your work. I was very inspired by the Mallee region, though, when I visited there last year while researching. The landscapes and people are pretty amazing, and I could really see how the landscape that Rachel grew up in affected her personality.


Question: There are several issues raised in this book. Was this deliberate or did the story evolve this way?

Ellie Marney: I'm not a plotter – that is, I don't write a detailed plan of how events will play out when I'm writing. I just write. So the issues in the book (Rachel's PTSD especially) grew up organically as I followed the character's development, and the events of the previous two books.


Question: Why did you set the book in Melbourne?

Ellie Marney: Melbourne is my adopted city – I'm originally from Brisbane – and I still find so many things about Melbourne that fascinate me. The laneway life, the cobbled alleys, the enclaves in different parts of the city…the grungy parts too! I love Melbourne so much, and I think part of that love stems from the fact that I discover odd new things about it all the time.


Question: What's next, for you?

Ellie Marney: My next book centres around a character who was introduced in Every Move – Harris Derwent, described by Rachel as a -sunbleached, Drizabone-wearing, dickhead tearaway'. Harris is a bit of a wild boy, and in the new story, he finds himself in some serious trouble when he offers to work undercover with a drug ring in Mildura, with the local police sergeant's daughter as his contact… The working title of the book is No Limits, it's gritty and very romantic, and right now, I'm really loving writing it!

Interview by Brooke Hunter