Vikki Petraitis (born 1965) is an Australian true crime author, based in Melbourne, Victoria.

Media

Petraitis regularly speaks on the Australian True Crime podcast hosted by Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb.^[1] In September 2019, Petraitis was interviewed by Casefile for their From the Files podcast titled From Frankston to Philip Island.^[2] She was also instrumental in creating Casefile True Crime Podcast episode titled The Vanishing of Vivienne Cameron^[3] – a 10-episode Australian crime podcast series released in 2020 covering the case. In 2021, she also created and narrated a 9-episode podcast on the disappearance of Sarah Macdiarmid.^[4]

Awards

Petraitis was nominated for the 2007 Sisters in Crime Davitt Award for her book Forensics. In 2007, she won the Scarlet Stiletto Award for Best New Talent for a fiction piece she wrote called "Side Window".^[5] She won the Readers' Choice Award^[6] and was shortlisted for the Adult novel category of the 2023 Davitt Awards for The Unbelieved.^[7]

Books

• The Phillip Island Murder – the true account of a brutal killing (with Paul Daley), 1993, Kerr Publishing ISBN 1875703098
• Victims, Crimes and Investigators, 1995, Victoria Press
• The Frankston Murders – the true story of serial killer, Paul Denyer, 1995, Nivar Press ISBN 0646228285
• The Great John Coleman (with Wayne Miller), 1998, Nivar Press ISBN 0646316168
• Rockspider – the danger of paedophiles – untold stories, (with Chris O’Connor), April 2000, Hybrid Publishers ISBN 9781876462031
• On Murder II – (chapter: Serial Killers are Losers) Edited by Kerry Greenwood, Black Inc, 2002
• Cops – True stories from Australian Police, 2005, The Five Mile Press ISBN 9781741246087
• Forensics – true stories from Australian Police Files, 2006, The Five Mile Press ISBN 9781741240801
• "The Frankston Murders and The Paedophile Witch" in Outside the Law, 2008, The Five Mile Press
• Crime Scene Investigations – more stories from the Australian Police Files, 2008, The Five Mile Press ISBN 9781741784091
• Salvation – the true story of Rod Braybon's fight for justice, 2009, Jewel Publishing ISBN 9780980621303
• The Russell Street Bombing, 2013, Clan Destine Press ISBN 9780987553812
• The Dog Squad – incredible true stories of courageous police dogs and their handlers, 2015, Michael Joseph, ISBN 9780143799641
• Once a Copper: The life and times of Brian "The Skull" Murphy, 2018, Wild Dingo Press ISBN 978-0648066330
• The Frankston Murders: 25 Years On, 2018
• Inside the Law: 25 Years of True Crime Writing, 2019, Clan Destine Press ISBN 978-0648293712
• Cops, drugs, Lawyer X and me (with Paul Dale), 2020, Hachette Australia ISBN 9780733643804
• Police Stories: Compelling True Stories from the Frontline of Australia's Police, 2020, Lake Press ISBN 9780655219927
• The Unbelieved, 2022, Allen & Unwin ISBN 9781761067396