Verity "Birdie" Birdwood is a fictional character, and the protagonist in a series of six

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

novels by Jennifer Rowe. Birdwood is a "scrappy TV researcher" who detects criminals in novels set against Australian backgrounds.

Background

Verity Birdwood is the only child of Angus Birdwood, a wealthy lawyer. Her mother died in a car crash. Scruffy and unkempt, Birdie's most striking feature is her brown eyes, which she keeps hidden behind thick-rimmed glasses. Little is known about Birdie, but in ''Murder By The Book'' she invites Detective Dan Toby into her loft in Annandale, Sydney, for a drink.

Titles

All first editions published by

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

. :*''Grim Pickings'' (1987) :*''Murder by the Book'' (1989) :*''Death in Store'' (1991) :*''The Makeover Murders'' (1992) :*''Stranglehold'' (1993) :*''Lamb to the Slaughter'' (1995)

Mini-Series

The first book of the series Grim Pickings was made into a two part (four-hour) mini-series by the

South Australian Film Corporation South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed ...

which aired on the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

on 15 and 16 November 1989. Filmed in locations within the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

and

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley (Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major list of wine-producing regions, wine-producin ...

regions of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, the series starred Lorraine Bayly,

Max Cullen Maxwell Phillip Cullen (born 29 April 1940) is an Australian stage and screen actor. He has appeared in many Australian films and television series but is best known for his role in the film '' Spider and Rose'' and the television series '' The ...

Catherine Wilkin Catherine Wilkin (born October 1950) is a New Zealand actor who has worked in New Zealand and Australia. Career Wilkin has acted in many Australian television shows, with a mix of guest and multi-episode recurring roles. She played the recur ...

and

Liddy Clark Elizabeth Anne Clark (born 6 November 1953) is an Australian former politician with the Labor Party in the Queensland Legislature who held the seat for Clayfield and also an actress of television and film, director, producer and presenter, cre ...

in the role of Verity "Birdie" Birdwood. Clark's "Birdie" was notably different in both appearance (Clark had short, blonde hair) and manner (Clark portrayed a more extroverted, outwardly confident Birdie).Grim Pickings at answers.com
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References

Fictional amateur detectives Fictional Australian detectives Fictional Australian police detectives Female characters in literature Fictional Australian people Books by Jennifer Rowe Literary characters introduced in 1987 Fictional female amateur detectives {{Fict-char-stub