Candice Fox Bio

Sending out four novels and receiving 200 rejection letters was just the start for Candice Fox, the author of 13 crime novels and winner of three prestigious Ned Kelly Awards. She finally met an agent who was interested in her novel Hades, an award-winning debut at the Ned Kelly Awards.

Candice Fox, a leading figure in crime fiction, was the daughter of a foster-carer and prison worker. She spent many months of her childhood listening to tales of violence, madness, and evil from the police and childcare authorities who regularly turned up at her Bankstown, Western Sydney home.

The family got their first computer when Fox was 12, and she started experimenting with writing. A chaotic home and anxiety at school left her making up stories she would escape into.

Candice Fox spent a brief period of time in the Australian Navy, and in her twenties turned to academia, teaching high school through two undergraduate units and two postgraduate degrees.

As a child, she told her mother she was going to be a famous writer, but no one believed her—there was no reason to. Her home wasn’t littered with books, rather marked by poverty and chaos, with new foster children coming into the house regularly.

She started writing her stories on a laptop picked up from a council clean up. Writing was an escape from the real life she was struggling with. Her early obsessions with mothers, vampires, and crime went some way to shaping the crime fiction books she writes today. Fox is also known as a meticulous researcher, often conducting thorough investigative methods to ensure authenticity in her work.

Beyond writing, Fox is a dedicated volunteer with WIRES, where she has rescued countless wild animals, reflecting her commitment to wildlife rescue and conservation.

Interviewing a serial killer 

Lawrence Bittaker was one half of the “Toolbox Killers” duo who murdered five teenage girls over a period of five months in 1979 in Southern California. When Candice Fox decided to interview him, she was living in LA and, although she had written 12 crime novels, she had never met a killer. For work purposes and as part of her meticulous research, Fox chose to visit the prison, determined to stop theorising and directly ask a serial killer on death row about his motives, hoping to solve the mysteries behind such minds and find clues that could inspire her stories.

Fox found herself on death row, in a cage with floor-to-ceiling mesh and bulletproof glass on the inside. She didn’t realise she would be sitting in this cage with an uncuffed serial killer, forced to watch his every move and protect herself during the tense night encounter.

The experience of confronting death and the reality of death row deeply influenced her writing, giving her a better understanding of how to write and portray fear, manipulation, and the lasting impact of death in true crime stories.

Co-writing with James Patterson 

For many authors, co-writing with the world’s bestselling thriller writer would be a dream. But it is one Candice Fox, a winner of multiple crime writing awards, has lived and continues to live. She first met James Patterson in 2015 at a cocktail party at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where Patterson was launching a children’s book he had co-written with Ed Chatterton.

James Patterson had recently written Private: Oz with Michael White and Private: Sydney with Katheryn Fox, so Candice didn’t think there was an option to work with him.

But as a fan from when she was young, she was not discouraged and went up to start a conversation with him. Despite a brief, and possibly awkward, chat, several months later Fox’s publisher invited her to lunch to discuss the details of a collaboration, including six ideas on what James Patterson wanted for the next Australian book.

And the rest is history. The ongoing conversation and collaboration between Candice Fox and James Patterson has produced New York Times bestsellers and continues to result in award-winning books.

Television adaptations 

Screening in 2022, Troppo is a major ABC TV series adapted from Candice Fox’s novels Crimson Lake and Redemption Point, starring Thomas Jane and Nicole Chamoun. The series was filmed in Australia and premiered in February 2022, with its U.S. debut on May 22. Troppo has reached No.4 in the Amazon charts and is currently in production for its third season, marking significant recent events and production milestones for the show. Candice Fox made a cameo role in this latest screen adaptation, further connecting her to the on-screen portrayal of her work.

Following the success of Troppo, many of Fox’s other novels have been optioned for movies and TV adaptations, indicating strong interest in bringing her stories to the screen. In March 2022, Gathering Dark was optioned for adaptation by Renegade Entertainment.

Awards and accolades

Candice Fox has picked up many awards throughout her career. At the time, she was only the second author to win the Ned Kelly Award for best debut and the best fiction back-to-back, showing her skills in crafting a crime novel. 

• 2014: Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel, for Hades

• 2015: Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, for Eden 

• 2016 short-listed, Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, Fall 

• 2016 shortlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel, Fall 

• 2017 shortlisted Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, Crimson Lake 

• 2018 shortlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel, Crimson Lake 

• 2019 shortlisted Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, Redemption Point

• 2019 shortlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel, Redemption Point 

• 2020 shortlisted Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, Gathering Dark 

• 2020 shortlisted Davitt Award Best Adult Crime Novel, Gathering Dark 

• 2022: Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction, for The Chase in 2022