About Karen
Dr Karen Thurecht has a PhD in medical anthropology and specialised in Indigenous Health and Aged Care. Starting her career traipsing through the jungles of Papua New Guinea and the tropics of Australia, Karen has published articles in professional journals in relation to both Indigenous Health and Aged Care and has previously published two non-fiction books, "Good Girls Keep Their Legs Together" a novel based on her PhD research into the Social Barriers to Pap Smear Screening for Cervical Cancer, and "Story and Belief" which explores the ways in which our cultural stories frame and shape our lives.
The pandemic of 2020 effectively stopped Karen from travelling for her work, so she sat down to write the "Dr Hamish Hart Mysteries" set in Southeast Queensland in the 1880s. The series follows the exploits of the young and handsome Dr Hamish Hart and his wilful assistant Dr Rita Cartwright. The first book is set at the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum on Stradbroke Island, the second, on the Sugarcane Fields south of Brisbane, with the third in Frogs Hollow, that notorious red-light district of 19th century Brisbane.
Karen's fourth book travels to The Grand Hotel at Deepwater Point on the Gold Coast while her fifth book kills off the Maryborough blacksmith in the first paragraph. Karen has now finished her sixth book in the "Dr Hamish Hart Mysteries" - "The Body on Hamilton Reach" which has Hamish and Rita returning to the Brisbane waterfront of 1887.
Karen has also completed book one in her exciting new saga, the "Dr Nova Corbin Series" which transports you forward to the near future and introduces Dr Nova Corbin, an anthropologist specializing in the emerging field of artificial intelligence who partners with Detective Inspector Mitchell Gray of the Queensland Police Force to investigate a series of deaths that result from interactions with intelligent machines and biotechnologies and which introduces killer drones directed by A.I. in the "Dark Wings of Justice."
Karen continues the "Dr Hamish Hart Mysteries" with book seven being set at Redwood on Queensland's Darling Downs (due mid 2026) as well as book two in the "Dr Nova Corbin Series" which is well on its way to completion (due late 2026). All Karen's books reflect her experience and interest in social history, the history of medicine, and themes of overcoming oppression. Although the actual murders are fiction, each book is based on accurate historical research on the people, places, and circumstances of those periods in Queensland.
Contact Me
Contact Info
Address: 3052/37 Finnegan Street, Hamilton, QLD, Australia, 4007
Phone: +61 402 532 435
Email: karen@karenthurecht.com.au