Published in 2014
320 pages
Virginia Peters grew up on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. One of her earliest memories is being taken on the Wellington cable car to a children’s book launch by her mother.
Drawn to a career in publishing, she began working in newspapers and magazines—but found herself on the wrong side of the office in advertising, using her writing skills to target companies with lengthy marketing proposals.
After travelling, marrying an Australian, and having three children in quick succession, she finally decided to pursue creative writing and enrolled in an undergraduate degree at UTS in 2000, majoring in Professional Writing. She then went on to do her Masters, producing a suite of fiction short stories that have appeared individually in Australian literary journals.
More recently she was motivated to switch to nonfiction after the disappearance of a young German woman, in her area. Have You Seen Simone? investigates an unsolved murder, and is the subject of her doctoral studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.
What is this book about?
‘Beneath the palm tree she’d perished like a stone fruit amongst the leaves and insects: her flesh bruised a variety of shades, from black through to yellow; her facial features, for all their lovely detail, completely indistinguishable. Look what happened to me, I could hear her say. This is what they did to me.’
In February 2005, German backpacker Simone Strobel went missing in Lismore, New South Wales. Six days later her naked body was discovered, crudely hidden beneath a palm tree. At the inquest into her death the local police accused her boyfriend, Tobias Suckfuell, of killing her, but lacked the evidence to charge him.
Writer Virginia Peters was captivated by the case, and committed herself to uncovering the truth. With the agreement of the police, she analysed the evidence, uncovered new lines of investigation and travelled to Germany to interview the couple’s family and friends. Ultimately, she tracked down and questioned Suckfuell himself, who remained the prime suspect.
Having become intimately involved in the case, Peters came to understand that the story of Simone Strobel’s murder was about much more than the crime itself or the investigation that followed. Written with great honesty and self-awareness, and with echoes of Joe Cinque’s Consolation, Have You Seen Simone? explores grief and loss, truth and accountability, and asks whether justice in this case can ever be done.
