“It’s so special because I was born in Brighton, I’ve lived in Hampton, Sandringham, Black Rock, and now I’m back in Brighton.

The Family Next Door is Hepworth’s fifth novel. She has published 10 so far, one a year since 2014, and collectively they have sold more than two million copies worldwide. Four of them, and one short story, have been optioned for the screen, by uberproducer Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers) and comedian Amy Poehler, among others.

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This one is filming locally because the ABC wants Australian drama, and because the Victorian government, through VicScreen, supported it. But it’s easy to imagine future Hepworth adaptations will be set Stateside, rather than bayside.

Her work has been compared to Liane Moriarty, whose prolific book-to-screen pipeline practically constitutes a genre of its own.

Moriarty, who is a friend, once bristled at being compared with another writer, saying she didn’t want to be “the second-best Maeve Binchy”. But, Hepworth jokes, “I’m fine with being the second-best Liane Moriarty”.

She’s less keen on the term “domestic thriller” to describe the space in which she works. “If I were to give a genre to my books it would be ‘family dysfunctionality with a side serve of murder’.

“It’s long,” she adds with a smile. “I think that’s why it hasn’t taken off.”