South Coast author A.L. Tait is inviting young readers to Kiama Library on Saturday 30 August to help solve a murder in an interactive event tied to her latest novel.

Tait is a bestselling author who has 11 published middle-grade novels, and will be presenting “Can YOU solve a murder?”, a hands-on experience that combines discussion about her new book Danger Road with detective work.

The free event is aimed at younger readers from 10 and up, and Tait credits the Kiama Library staff for their innovative and interactive approach to the book launch.

“I'd been talking to the team there, including Lauren, Carla, Elizabeth, and I mentioned to them earlier this year that I had a new book coming out,” she said.

"We were talking about what we could do, because they're always looking for interesting things to do as part of their programs to get young readers involved and engaged in the library”.

Her new book Danger Road, published by Scholastic in July, follows brothers Alex and Leo as they investigate a 25-year-old cold case of a hit-and-run in their regional town. Tait will be discussing her book and the inspiration as well as leading the charge on the investigation.

“I'm going to show some photos and things of the inspiration of where the story came from and talk about how I came up with that story,” she said.

The interactive session at Kiama Library will have participants “inspect the crime scene, dust off fingerprints, decipher puzzles” and work through case files to identify the culprit.

Tait will be leading the kids through the investigation that the Library staff have put together.

“This is a hands-on way to kind of experience that for yourself, like figure out what the clues might be, because the whole point of a mystery story is following the clues, finding the suspects, and then working out the solution at the end,” Tait said.

Tait recently completed Book Week school visits including Kiama Public School, and chose to set Danger Road in regional Australia to represent an often overlooked experience for kids.

“There's a lot of books about kids in cities, but there's not a huge number of books about kids who don't have that experience,” she said.

“It's that idea of being in a town that's not quite the country, not quite the coast, not quite a farm, not quite anything, which is the regional experience for a lot of Australian kids.”

The free event runs from 1:30pm-3:00pm Saturday 30 August at Kiama Library. Books will be available for signing and purchase, registration is essential through Kiama Library’s website.