Belinda Alexandra is an international bestselling author with a whole string of blockbuster historicals to her credit, but she has taken a new path with her latest book, The Mystery Woman. br /

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It has been characterized by one reviewer as “Australian Gothic”, a story of secrets, lies and unexplained death in a 1950s country town. In some ways it has a few similarities to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, or hints of it.br /

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Hi there, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler and today in Binge Reading Belinda talks about her long road to publication, her passion for cats, and why psychopathic personality traits seem to be more evident today than ever before.br /

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Support Binge Reading on Patreonbr /

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Support Binge Reading on Patreon for as little as a cup of coffee a month and receive regular exclusive bonus content on featured authors and the making of the podcast. br /

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Bonuses include regular weekly Getting To Know you Five Quickfire Questions with authors, giving a fund candid snapshot of their likes and dislikes, as well as an exclusive monthly Behind the Scenes newsletter giving previews of upcoming books. You can join and get this bonus content and having the satisfaction of knowing you are helping pay some of the hosting and production costs for the show. The time I give to the show in sourcing guests and researching their books is still free. Become a Patreon supporter today by going to https://www.patreon.com/thejoysofbingereading/br /

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SUPPORT BINGE READING ON PATREONbr /

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Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:br /

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The long road to publicationWriting books with a fulltime jobThe family story that gave Belinda breakthroughWhy cats are a life long loveIs psychopathology a sign of our times?The writers she admires the mostbr /

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Where to find Belinda Alexandra: br /

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Website: https://www.belinda-alexandra.com/br /

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belinda_alexandra_author/br /

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelindaAlexandraAuthorbr /

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/hellobelindaalexandra/_created/br /

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What follows is a near as transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.br /

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But now, here’s Belinda.br /

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Introducing Belinda Alexandrabr /

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Jenny Wheeler: Hello there, Belinda and welcome to the show. It's so good to have you with us.br /

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Belinda Alexandra: It's so good to be speaking with you, Jenny.br /

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Jenny Wheeler: You are a bestselling and highly successful author. When I started this podcast and asked around amongst my friends, a lot of times they said, “get Belinda Alexandra on”, so your name is really well known. br /

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Belinda Alexandra - Blockbuster international authorbr /

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The latest book we are going to be talking about today is The Mystery Woman. It has been called Australian Gothic by one reviewer, and you have said that it's a bit of a departure from some of your earlier books. Tell us about how it's different.br /

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Belinda Alexandra: A lot of my earlier books were big historical sagas – sweeping generations and across countries and so on. But I think there comes a time in every author's life, especially when we have written quite a few books, when there is that other book inside of us we want to write.br /

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I had been very influenced by classic noir mystery stories. My mother used to gobble those down and I used to watch them with her when I was a child,