Bone Lands by Pip Fioretti

Publisher's Synopsis

1911, on a winter's night in arid New South Wales wool country, mounted trooper Augustus Hawkins discovers the bodies of three young people. They are scions of the richest family in the district, savagely murdered on a road that Hawkins should have been patrolling, had he not been busy bedding the local schoolteacher.

Detectives arrive from Sydney and the disgraced Hawkins, a traumatised veteran of the Boer War, comes under fierce scrutiny. With his honour and sanity at stake, he becomes hell-bent on finding the murderer. But as ever darker secrets are revealed about the people he thinks of as friends, Hawkins is forced to confront an uncomfortable question: who is paying the price for the new nation's prosperity?

Book Extract

Silent forks of lightning flashed in the west. Rain was coming in, driving the dust before it. It would be a long ride before I reached my bed but I didn't mind all that much, sleep being a difficult pastime for me. My horse, Dancer, picked his way along the rutted road. I lounged in the saddle, pulled my oilskin closer as the rain hit, fat drops pelting down, then settling into a steady downpour. Soon my boots were full of water, my feet numb. Dancer was fed up, ears back, plodding along with his head down, sticky mud cleaving to his hooves. Water rushed along a ditch at the side of the road, rain hitting the parched ground loud as a train.

Out of habit I took notice of the fenceline, looking for breaks. Through the rain I noticed a whole section down, sagging wires and a fencepost uprooted. It looked fairly recent. No dead roos tangled in the wire. What could have been fresh wheel tracks led across the fenceline, over the sagging wire and up a low rise. No stock around, just saltbush and the odd clump of mulga.

I saw the cart on top of the rise, no horse in the traces. No people. The rain continued its steady pace. I dismounted, took my rifle out of its holster, stomach clenched tight, and walked over to what looked like a pile of wet washing.

A young woman, sprawled on the ground, her skirts torn and her legs twisted. Rain fell on her face, washing the blood away and leaving a mask of jagged bone, tendon and muscle. I felt for a pulse and then lurched away and vomited, glad no one was with me. I'd seen death many times as a soldier, but I'd never seen a woman so brutally bashed. Still shaking, I turned back to her, fairly certain I knew who she was, but the state of her face left some hope I was wrong.

With the cloud cover the night was dark, and in the back of the cart I found a lantern. I took it out and crouched under the cart, trying to get a match to strike, hand shaking. Once it was lit I straightened up, then walked over to another crumpled pile and held the lantern aloft, the raindrops glittering as they smacked into the body of a girl, a blanket tangled around her feet.

I squatted beside her. She was facedown in the mud, her hair loose and flowing in the rivulets like shining seaweed. There was a small hole in her back which had to be a bullet wound. I couldn't tell if she’d been raped and I didn't want to go looking. I checked her pulse. People sometimes take a while to die, but she was gone. Her skin was as cold as the mud she lay in.

Lantern shadows danced like spirits of the unshriven dead. Back at the cart I found a young man slumped by the rear wheel, the side of his head caved in, his hands in his lap, water and blood dripping from his face. I recognised him, and fought off the urge to throw up again. It was James Kirkbride, and the girls were his two younger sisters, Nessie and Grace.

My Review of Bone Lands by Pip Fioretti

The loneliness and the desolation of the far west reaches of New South Wales has been wonderfully captured by Pip Fioretti in her debut crime thriller Bone Lands. Set in 1911, the time and the place have been perfectly captured to create a finely crafted picture of a hardscrabble fight for survival in difficult conditions amongst tough and unforgiving people.

The story is told from the point of view of Senior Constable Gus Hawkins, veteran of the Boer War, a Mounted Trooper in the north-west New South Wales town of Calpa, out towards Bourke and Cobar. 

One night after a local district dance Hawkins comes across a horrific murder scene. Three children of the area’s wealthiest landowner have been bludgeoned to death and left on the side of the road. The family is well known to Gus, particularly the surviving eldest daughter and he feels responsible because he was supposed to be out on patrol when the murder took place.

Detectives from Sydney are sent to take over the case. But it’s not long before Gus himself is in the crosshairs of the investigation thanks to a couple of poorly reasoned lies. In trying to extricate himself from the mire, largely motivated by feelings of guilt and a sense of responsibility, he finds himself on suspension.

So, of course, as any good copper with a guilty conscience would do, he decides to run his own investigation in a bid to get to the bottom of what happened that night. This is all despite the angry exhortations from the father of the three victims.

And it’s here that an important theme raises its head, that of the power of the wealthy over any pursuit of natural justice. Similarly, societal niceties tend to dominate over the truth and even as the scant evidence unearthed by Gus comes to light, he finds himself constantly shut down by the very people who should be supporting him.

Bone Lands is a well-crafted historical crime novel told in a distinctive voice that manages to bring the time and setting vividly to life. The straightforward narrative feels as though we’re being personally spoken to and exudes honesty and heartfelt emotion. Slipped neatly in amongst the more dire and serious themes that set the foundation of the story comes some wonderfully humorous moments, helping to round out Gus’ character. 

Gus Hawkins is by no means a perfect man. He has a wandering eye, is scarred both physically and mentally by his wartime experiences and tends to tell it like it is - a real problem when dealing with superiors. He actually seems well suited to life at a one man police station.

Highlighted throughout the story is the difficulties faced by the bush policeman. Apart from the loneliness and isolation are the tremendous distances that must be covered as a matter of course on the job. And then there’s the dangerous fact that, although he’s got the authority to keep law and order, he doesn’t necessarily have the power to enforce it. Often outmanned and outgunned, Gus has to play the pragmatic role in order to survive. 

This debut crime novel is absorbing, atmospheric and moving and it benefits from some devastating revelations as the case is brought to its dramatic conclusion. The twists are nicely concealed and provide a dramatic conclusion to what is an extremely satisfying story.

Critical Praise

'Bone Lands is incredibly evocative. You can taste the dust and feel the searing heat as Mounted Trooper Hawkins investigates the brutal murder of three settler children. Hawkins is a terrifically authentic character and this is high quality writing – sharp and descriptive – that doesn't flinch or look away.' – David Whish-Wilson

Bone Lands is an historical crime novel written in an absolutely unique and distinctive voice. And while the setting, the crime/s, the characters and the plot are all well-crafted, it is the voice which elevates this novel above others. Reading this book is like sitting beside a campfire while an old-timer tells a story about days past. - Cass Moriarty