Jamie and Julie Ramage were the classic middleclass, Australian couple. From the outside they had the perfect life and the perfect marriage. And then one day, he killed her. In Silent Death, journalist Karen Kissane walks us through the front door of the Ramage family home and reveals what went horribly wrong on 21 July 2003.
Kissane's research for this book has been meticulous. Her coverage began in October 2004 as a writer for The Age. The story so gripped her imagination that she could not let it go. She was present for every minute of Jamie Ramage's trial and Silent Death includes material gleaned from exclusive interviews with involved parties including Julie and Jamie Ramage's friends and therapists. Karen Kissane's detailing of how a trial is constructed and what the jury is permitted to know, combined with the brutal disintegration of a relationship and a family, and the way the law handles the question of guilt makes for compelling reading.
Karen Kissane grew up in Melbourne and has been a journalist for 28 years. Starting as a cadet at The Age, she then worked at a number of publications, including The National Times and Time Australia magazine before returning to The Age in 1993 where she is now a senior writer.