CATHY BOOKS SPOT FOR AWARDS

A MAGISTRATE who wrote a novel inspired by a notable Palm Island murder case is in the running for a swag of literary awards.

Innisfail magistrate Cathy McLennan (pictured) wrote Saltwater: An Epic Fight for Justice in the Tropics based on her experiences as a young Townsville lawyer.

Now the book is short- listed for three separate categories in the Queensland Literary Awards, as well as the Colin Roderick award from James Cook University’s Foundation for Australian Literary Studies.

Within the prestigious Queensland Literary Awards, Saltwater is shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s book of state significance award, nonfiction book of the year and the people’s choice Queensland book of the year.

McLennan, who grew up on Magnetic Island and attended JCU, said she had represented hundreds of cases so it had been a real challenge to pick what made it into the book.

“It’s centred around a murder case,” she said. “I had only just turned 22 and it was pretty much my first day when I was handed a murder case involving a young boy and he was the youngest boy ever charged with murder in Queensland.”

McLennan said that story was interwoven with other cases she was working on at the same time.

“I really wanted to show what happens behind the scenes of crime in Townsville,” she said.

McLennan is working o on her next book, an outback thriller called One, Two, I’m Coming For You.

>> Members of the public can vote in the Courier Mail People’s

Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award until 5pm Monday September 25 at ww.qldlit-eraryawards.org.au