Keep track of the latest mystery and crime novel releases from your favourite best-selling Australian crime and mystery authors and discover new and emerging authors.
Listed below are the new Australian crime fiction novels that were released in 2022.
Wherever possible the exact release date is included with the publisher details. We have also included the synopsis that was supplied by the publisher and have included the sub-genre(s) we believe the book sits under.
December 2022
Chase Her Shadow by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 9 December 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 19th book in the Alton and Kane series
She wakes suddenly. Dawn is still hours away, but through the window of her log cabin in the woods, something moves in the distance. A lone figure in the forest. Her blood runs cold as the shadow begins to walk slowly toward her…
It’s Halloween in Black Rock Falls and Sheriff Jenna Alton and her deputy David Kane are called to a small lodge on the outskirts of town. Jenna is devastated to find the lifeless body of Willow Smith, a military widow whose husband went missing in action and has been presumed dead for years. Her breath catches in her throat when she notices the heart-shaped purple medal on Willow’s pale chest. Was Willow clinging to it when she died, or was it placed there after she took her last breath?
The Cast Aways of Harewood Hall by Karen Herbert
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 1 December 2022
Sub-Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: stand alone
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Josh is a sweet, well-meaning university student with a big heart. After he impulsively steals two research mice from a campus laboratory, he hides them in the basement of the retirement village where he works. The mice are happy and so is Josh, until he discovers that the lab mice could cause a deadly disease.
Enter a cat called Harley, a dog called Bobby, the arrival of some mysterious packing boxes, and a strange spike in the village’s water bill.
As the clock ticks, and disaster looms, can the efforts of the Harewood Hall residents save the day?
November 2022
The Next Girl by Pip Drysdale
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: 30 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: stand alone
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A bad day at work. A drunken night. A rogue Instagram follow. That’s all it takes to ruin a life …
The question is, whose life will be ruined? When Billie wakes up in a strange guy’s bed, her first thought is: what happened last night? She can't even remember meeting him. And how the hell did she get to Coney Island?
Then reality bites and the memories flood in – the reason she was in that bar, drinking to start with: today she's going to get fired. Because yesterday her law firm lost a big case: Samuel Grange v Jane Delaney. And it looked like it was her fault.
It wasn't. Yet now Samuel Grange is free to drive off into the sunset in his stupid Porsche and do it all again to another woman. And all Billie can think is: What about the next girl? And the one after that? But there is nothing she can do to stop him.
Unless ... She could expose the truth about him on her own. Then everyone would see what he was really like. And he wouldn't be able to do it again.
The problem is, the only way to protect the next girl is to become the next girl. And, well, that could be a little risky ... even deadly.
Retribution by Sarah Barrie
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 30 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Lexi Winter series
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Once a vigilante, now a cop ... but Lexi Winter still plays by her own rules. A fast-paced, suspenseful thriller for readers of Candice Fox and Sarah Bailey.
Ace hacker, ex-prostitute, Jack Daniels drinker and part-time vigilante Lexi Winter is now working with the police, with a new enemy in her sights and an old foe on her mind.
Most probationary constables would baulk at chasing a drug dealer into a train tunnel in the dead of night - not Lexi. But when she emerges, injured but alive, to face the wrath of her boss it's clear that while Lexi may now be in uniform, she has as much trouble with authority as ever. Just to prove it, Lexi is quietly using her hacking skills to investigate a notorious drug-dealing Sydney crime family with links to her old prey, the paedophile Damon Vaughn.
As her colleague Detective Sergeant Finn Carson investigates a death on a Sydney building site that leads him to the picturesque Wondabyne train station on the Hawkesbury River, Inspector Rachael Langley oversees an enquiry that is becoming ever more complex as multiple lines of investigation seem to interweave.
What they don't know is that Lexi is the only one who can unravel them - if only she would toe the line ...
Headcase by Jack Heath
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 29 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 4th book in the Timothy Blake series
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A Chinese astronaut is found dead in a NASA training environment in Houston, Texas. No one can explain how he got there. Amid fears of a diplomatic catastrophe, the CIA dispatches Timothy 'Hangman' Blake to investigate a convicted kidnapper who works in the facility – someone Blake put away seven years ago.
Blake is deeply insane, afflicted by terrible urges he can barely control - but he's also brilliant. Zara, his beautiful and deadly CIA handler, suspects a secret Chinese spacecraft is surveilling the United States, but Blake can see something much more sinister is going on. Something connected to the kidnapping seven years ago, to the technologies being developed at NASA, and to the serial killer known as the Texas Reaper.
Will Blake survive long enough to uncover the truth? And if he does, will anyone even believe him?
The Butterfly Collector by Tea Cooper
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 3 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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What connects a botanical illustration of a butterfly with a missing baby and an enigma fifty years in the making? A twisty historical mystery from a bestselling Australian author.
1868 Morpeth Theodora Breckenridge, still in mourning after the loss of her parents and brother at sea, is more interested in working quietly on her art at the family's country estate than she is finding a husband in Sydney society, even if her elder sister Florence has other ideas. Theodora seeks to emulate prestigious nature illustrators, the Scott sisters, who lived nearby, so she cannot believe her luck when she discovers a butterfly never before sighted in Australia. With the help of Clarrie, her maid, and her beautiful illustrations, she is poised to make a natural science discovery that will put her name on the map. Then Clarrie's new-born son goes missing and everything changes.
1922 Sydney When would-be correspondent Verity Binks is sent an anonymous parcel containing a spectacular butterfly costume and an invitation to the Sydney Artists Masquerade Ball on the same day she loses her job at The Arrow, she is both baffled and determined to go. Her late grandfather Sid, an esteemed newspaperman, would expect no less of her. At the ball, she lands a juicy commission to write the history of the Treadwell Foundation - an institution that supports disgraced young women and their babies. But as she begins to dig, her investigation quickly leads her to an increasingly dark and complex mystery, a mystery fifty years in the making. Can she solve it? And will anyone believe her if she does?
East of Alice by Annie Seaton
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 3 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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Gemma Hayden has returned to her hometown of Alice Springs for a new job as a primary school teacher. It's been six years since her family broke apart following the disappearance of her twin brother. And the scars still run deep.
Hard on the heels of her homecoming, Saul Pearce, the man she once loved, is reposted from Parks and Wildlife in Darwin back to Alice. When an old car wreck is uncovered, washed down the river to Ruby Gap, Saul investigates only to find that the wreck belonged to Ethan, Gemma's twin - and there's a coded note for her in the glovebox.
Joining forces, they trek through the rugged outback, piecing together clues that not only bring them to the attention of a criminal organisation, but lead them to uncover an even older puzzle ... One now lost to the history books.
With targets on their backs, will they unearth the truth in time?
Day's End by Garry Disher
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 1 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 4th book in the Paul Hirschhausen series
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Hirsch’s rural beat is wide. Daybreak to day’s end, dirt roads and dust. Every problem that besets small towns and isolated properties, from unlicensed driving to arson. In the time of the virus, Hirsch is seeing stresses heightened and social divisions cracking wide open. His own tolerance under strain; people getting close to the edge.
Today he’s driving an international visitor around: Janne Van Sant, whose backpacker son went missing while the borders were closed. They’re checking out his last photo site, his last employer. A feeling that the stories don’t quite add up.
Then a call comes in: a roadside fire. Nothing much—a suitcase soaked in diesel and set alight. But two noteworthy facts emerge. Janne knows more than Hirsch about forensic evidence. And the body in the suitcase is not her son’s.
Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: 22nd book in the Phryne Fisher series
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Accustomed to both murder and dalliance, Australia's favourite detective, the inimitable Miss Fisher, returns in a case that will test her courage and judgement to the full.
When the redoubtable Miss Phryne Fisher receives threatening letters at her home, she enlists the unflappable apprentice Tinker to investigate. But as the harassment of Phryne threatens to spin out of control, her lover Lin Chung is also targeted.
Meanwhile, Dot begins to fear that her fiancé, newly promoted Sergeant Hugh Collins, has gone cold on their wedding. And Phryne's clever daughters Ruth and Jane begin their own investigation into suspiciously dwindling funds when they are sent to help at the Blind Institute.
None of this is quite enough to prevent Phryne from accepting an invitation to a magnificent party at the house of the mysterious Hong. When the party is interrupted by shocking tragedy, Phryne gathers all of her unerring brilliance to track down the miscreants.
With some unlikely assistance, Phryne is in a race against time to save a pair of young lovers from disgrace and death.
Clarke by Holly Throsby
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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On a hot morning in 1991 in the regional town of Clarke, Barney Clarke (no relation) is woken by the unexpected arrival of many policemen: they are going to search his backyard for the body of a missing woman.
Next door, Leonie Wallace and little Joe watch the police cars through their kitchen window. Leonie has been waiting six years for this day. She is certain that her friend Ginny Lawson is buried in that backyard.
But the fate of Ginny Lawson is not the only mystery in Clarke. Barney lives alone in a rented house with a ring on his finger, but where is Barney's wife? Leonie lives with four-year-old Joe, but where is Joe's mother?
Clarke is a story of family and violence, of identity and longing, of unlikely connections and the comedy of everyday life. At its centre stands Leonie Wallace, a travel agent who has never travelled, a warm woman full of love and hope and grief, who would do anything in the world for Joe.
Broad River Station by Fleur McDonald
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 November 2022
Sub-Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: 8th book in the Detective Dave Burrows series
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A young constable faces prejudice in a small country town, but the search for a missing child changes everything. A breathtaking novel of rural suspense from the bestselling Voice of the Outback.
Mia, a newly graduated constable, is assigned to the small country town of Broad River. And as certain as she is about her ability to do the job, on day one she's already in conflict with colleagues who believe that women shouldn't be coppers.
It takes the shine off coming home, where her grandmother, Clara, is in the early stages of dementia. Mia is accustomed to their conversations often not quite making sense, but when Clara gives Mia a mysterious key and hints of veiled family secrets, Mia isn't sure what she should believe.
In the midst of all this, a local child goes missing and Mia is confined to barracks. When Detective Dave Burrows realises she has skills that could be put to use, Mia's career takes a new turn, and she must decide down which road to walk.
October 2022
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 20 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: Non-series
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He said she jumped. He wouldn't lie.
Before the woman went over the cliff, Pippa and Gabe were happy. They have the kind of marriage that everyone envies, as well as two sweet young daughters, a supportive family, and a picturesque cliff-side home - which would have been idyllic had the tall beachside cliffs not become so popular among those wishing to end their lives.
Gabe has become somewhat of a local hero since they moved to the cliff house, talking seven people down from stepping off the edge. But when Gabe fails to save the eighth, Amanda, a sordid web of secrets begins to unravel, pushing bonds of loyalty and love to the brink.
What wouldn't you do for your soulmate?
The Tilt by Chris Hammer
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 5 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 2nd book in the Nell Buchanen series
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A man runs for his life in a forest.
A woman plans sabotage.
A body is unearthed.
Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file and forget'.
But this is no ordinary cold case, as the discovery of more bodies triggers a chain of escalating events in the present day. As Nell starts to join the pieces together, she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her. Could her own family be implicated in the crimes?
The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more dangerous the present becomes for her, as she battles shadowy assailants and sinister forces. Can she survive this harrowing investigation and what price will she have to pay for the truth?
After You Were Gone by Vikki Wakefield
Publisher: Text Publishing
Pub Date: 5 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: 1st Adult Novel
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What happens to a family when a child goes missing?
In a busy street market, Abbie lets go of six-year-old Sarah’s hand. She isn’t a bad mother, just exhausted. When she turns around, her daughter isn’t there.
Six years later, Abbie is in love and getting married. But her fragile peace is constantly threatened: not knowing what happened to Sarah is like living with a curse.
Then she receives a phone call from an unknown number.
A man claims to know what happened to Sarah, but if Abbie tells anyone or fails to follow his instructions, she’ll never find out. How far will Abbie go to know the truth?
The Ghost of Gracie Flynn by Joanna Morrison
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 5 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: Non-series
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Gracie Flynn may be dead, but she’s not gone.
Three university friends are divided by a tragic death. Eighteen years later, chance reunites them. Robyn is still haunted by memories of her best friend Gracie, and Cohen’s heart has never healed. Only Sam seems to have moved on and found success and happiness. But death rocks their lives again when Sam’s body is found in mysterious circumstances. And the ghost of Gracie Flynn has a story to tell about the night that changed their lives forever.
The Orphans by Fiona McIntosh
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Pub Date: 5 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical
Series: stand alone
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Orphan Fleur Appleby is adopted by a loving undertaker and his wife and she quickly develops a special gift for helping bereaved families. Her ambition to be the first female mortician in the country is fuelled by her plan to bring more women into the male dominated funeral industry.
Raised in the outback of South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, Tom Catchlove is faced with a life-changing tragedy as a young boy. He works hard but dreams big, striving for a future as a wool classer.
A chance encounter between the two children will change the course of their lives.
By adulthood Fleur finds herself fighting for the survival of the family’s business, while her widowed father drinks away generations of prosperity and a new, conniving stepmother wants Fleur gone. When Tom emerges from the isolation of the desert to find new work at the port woolstores, his path crosses with Fleur’s again – only to be caught up in a murder investigation, in which they can only trust each other.
At once tragic and triumphant, The Orphans is an unforgettable story about a unique bond between two children that will echo down the years, and teach them both about the real meaning of life, of loss, and of love.
Halifax: Transgression by Roger Simpson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Pub Date: 5 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: 1st book in the Halifax series
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The first murder is brazen, violent and ritualistic. Committed in the victim’s home, the killer leaves few clues as to their motive or their identity. All the police know is that the perpetrator entered the house, impaled the art collector on one of his own priceless sculptures, before melting away into the night.
Inspector Eric Ringer is desperate for Dr Jane Halifax to profile the killer, but Jane is cautious. She and Eric have a past … plus, she hates these kinds of cases; a psychopath is a psychopath, any way you slice it.
But there’s something about this killer that intrigues Jane. And as the bodies pile up, Jane must use all her knowledge and intuition to enter the mind of the murderer before they strike again.
Murder In Bridal Lane by Helen Goltz
Publisher: Atlas Productions
Pub Date: 4 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: 5th book in the Miss Haywood and the Detective series
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Miss Matilda Hayward has a wedding to plan and while ordering her bridal bouquet in Bridal Lane, she finds a note in her sample bouquet requesting a liaison. Innocently believing the note to be a mix-up, Matilda engages her brother, Daniel, to attend the liaison with her, but the young paramour rushes off. He is later found beaten and bruised in an alley off Bridal Lane by Matilda's fiancé, Detective Thomas Ashdown, and his partner, Detective Harry Dart.
When a respected lacemaker is also found murdered in the same laneway, the note takes on a new significance. Matilda is assigned to write the obituary for the Women's Journal with her illustrator friend, Miss Georgina Urry, and soon finds herself embroiled in danger in the middle of a murder case, much to her fiancé's displeasure. There is mystery, danger, and love afoot before Matilda makes it to the altar!
One Woman's War by Christine Wells
Publisher: William Morrow
Pub Date: 4 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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World War II London: When Victoire “Paddy” Bennett first walks into the Admiralty’s Room 39, home to the Intelligence Division, all the bright and lively young woman expects is a secretarial position to the charismatic Commander Ian Fleming. But soon her job is so much more, and when Fleming proposes a daring plot to deceive the Germans about Allied invasion plans he requests the newlywed Paddy's help. She jumps at the chance to work as an agent in the field, even after the operation begins to affect her marriage. But could doing her duty for King and country come at too great a cost?
Socialite Friedl Stöttinger is a beautiful Austrian double agent determined to survive in wartime England, which means working for MI-5, investigating fifth column activity among the British elite at parties and nightclubs. But Friedl has a secret—some years before, she agreed to work for German Intelligence and spy on the British.
When her handler at MI-5 proposes that she work with Serbian agent, Duško Popov, Friedl falls hopelessly in love with the dashing spy. And when her intelligence work becomes fraught with danger, she must choose whether to remain loyal to the British and risk torture and execution by the Nazis, or betray thousands of men to their deaths.
Soon, the lives of these two extraordinarily brave women will collide, as each travels down a road of deception and danger leading to one of the greatest battles of World War II.
Blood & Ink by Brett Adams
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 2 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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Literature professor Jack Griffen has recently suffered a nervous breakdown. His wife has divorced him and she and their adult daughter have moved to the USA. Into the void steps exchange student Hieronymus Beck, claiming to be the professor’s greatest fan.
But everything changes when Jack finds Hiero’s list. Five sheets of paper. Five ways to commit a murder.
His student has told him he’s writing a crime novel, but is that all he is doing? Caught up in his protégé’s dangerous game, the mild-mannered professor finds himself asking how far will he go to save a life. As far as murder?
Mad, Bad and Dead by Sherryl Clark
Publisher: Verve Books
Pub Date: 1 October 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 3rd book in the Judi Westerholme series
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A dead employee. A missing child. Anonymous phone calls in the dead of night. Judi Westerholme's troubles aren't over yet...
Already struggling to juggle co-running the local pub along with her new childcare responsibilities for her orphaned niece, Judi does not need her life to become any more complicated.
Yet, as usual, complications arrive in spades: she starts receiving threatening, late-night phone calls before discovering one of her employees, Kate, shot dead.
Judi finds herself caught up in a murder investigation, as well as the hunt for the Kate's fourteen year-old daughter, who has been missing since the murder.
Add in the uncertainty of her relationship with Melbourne-based D.S. Heath and the fact that her estranged mother's nursing home keeps urging her to visit, and Judi might finally be at breaking point.
September 2022
Scavengers by Robert Hood
Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Pub Date: 28 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller / Horror
Series: Stand Alone
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Mike Crowe doesn’t believe in ghosts, but it seems there’s one ghost that believes in him. Can he escape the attention of a psychopath long enough to help her?
A not-exactly legal PI, Crowe is blackmailed into tracking down a serial killer known as The Scavenger. At the same time, he finds himself increasingly plagued by visions – and eventually visitations – of a young girl he failed to save from being murdered a decade before.
Are these things connected?
Crowe must scavenge through the debris of a world going to pieces around him – at first just to survive and then to find the answers to questions he’d rather hadn’t been asked, in Robert Hood's Scavengers.
Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 22 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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Melbourne, 1930, as the Great Depression is taking hold: Thirteen-year-old Morris Turner, a little anxious by nature, feels more at home gazing at the stars than spending time with his detached father Jude, a detective, and older sister, Lottie. When a young woman is murdered in Jude’s home town of Gemini, he is assigned to solve the case. With fear and polio rising in the city, Jude reluctantly takes Morris and Lottie to the small town he left long ago.
At the family farm in Gemini, Morris meets relations who are strangers – an aunt, an uncle, and a cousin obsessed with detective novels – and is drawn into a community reeling from a murder and a financial crash. Without a clear suspect for the killing, suspicions have turned to the downtrodden, huddled in camps outside the town. But Morris is sure there is more to this case. With the help of new friends, he turns his attention instead to the people around him, confronting his fears and searching for a killer in a town full of mysteries – a search that will bring secrets old and new to the surface, and leave someone else fighting for their life.
The Foster Family by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 21 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
In their holiday home, a stone’s throw from the beach, Elizabeth dials the police with trembling hands. ‘My little boy, he’s missing.’
Elizabeth is Joe’s foster mother, but she loves him like her own. The five-year-old, who adores superheroes and watching the birds outside, is the child she has dreamed of. As she looks into the garden, where he was playing just moments ago, her heart feels like it has been ripped from her chest.
She was meant to save Joe from his birth mother who almost harmed his chances at life. The woman who has been trying to desperately get him back.
She was meant to protect Joe from her husband. The man who, right now, lies to the police, saying he was making breakfast when Joe disappeared. Who squeezes her shoulder, ordering her to be quiet.
She was meant to look after Joe. They are just footsteps from the ocean, and little Joe can’t swim.
Then Joe’s tiny blue sandal is found in the water. If the worst has happened – the unimaginable – Elizabeth will never forgive herself. Because what if the secret she has been keeping for years, the guilt eating her alive, has somehow hurt her little boy?
It’s time to tell the truth – even if it means losing the child who is her whole world. Even if it could be the death of her.
Exiles by Jane Harper
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 20 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 3rd book in the Aaron Falk series
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At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds.
A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.
Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk's closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he's drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.
Her Bleeding Heart by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 12 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 16th book in the Kane and Alton series
Rain soaks her clothes as she runs from the large, isolated family home and hides behind the beaten-up pickup truck parked out front. Miles from safety, her heart thuds as footsteps draw closer. He’s found her…
The rain had been falling for weeks when Black Rock Falls Sheriff, Jenna Alton, receives a panicked phone call from a local forest ranger. The lifeless body of a woman has washed up on the banks of a swollen river.
Rushing to the scene, Jenna and her deputy, David Kane, find the young girl laying face up in the dirt, her long brown hair spilling out around her, her perfect pale skin showing no signs of struggle. Leaning in for a closer look, she finds a jack of hearts playing card tucked into the girl’s underwear. This was no accident—someone killed this innocent soul, and left a twisted calling card…
Days later, another young woman is found slumped in the back of car at a local truck stop on the outskirts of town, angry red marks around her neck. Jenna’s head spins when she finds a second playing card in her clothing. Is this killer escalating? And does he have a next victim already in his sights?
As a landslide shuts the town off from the outside world, Jenna and her team battle raging storms in their search for answers. Jenna is convinced the playing cards link these victims to a twisted serial killer the FBI have been hunting for over a decade. If she’s right, she’s chasing America’s most dangerous and elusive killer. Can she catch him before Black Rock Falls loses another innocent young life?
The French Agent by Belinda Alexandra
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pub Date: 7 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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Paris 1946: Sabine Brouillette is a war crimes investigator with the French secret service. She lost her family, including her young son, when her Resistance circuit was betrayed near the end of the war. New evidence comes to light that the traitor was a British double agent who went by the codename 'the Black Fox'. Now her quest for revenge has a single focus: find the Black Fox and kill him.
Sydney 1946: Landscape designer Diana White has been waiting six years for her husband, Casper, to return from the war in Europe. Her son, Freddy, was only a baby when his British-born father joined the RAF. But Casper is a changed man when he returns from the convalescent hospital in England where he has spent the past year under mysterious circumstances. No longer the easygoing personality Diana fell in love with, he is now darker and more secretive.
Soon Sabine and Diana find themselves on a collision course - one seeking vengeance, the other willing to go to any lengths to protect her family.
The Only Child by Kayte Nunn
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 6 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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Almost every graduating class had a girl who disappeared. A decades-old crime threatens to tear apart three generations of women in this unputdownable mystery that will keep you gripped until its last heart-wrenching page.
1949 It is the coldest winter Orcades Island has ever known, when a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church. She and her baby will disappear before the snow melts.
2013 Frankie Gray has come to the island for the summer, hoping for one last shot at reconnecting with her teenage daughter, Izzy, before starting a job as a deputy sheriff. They are staying with her mother, Diana, at The Fairmile Inn, soon to be a boutique hotel, but when an elderly nun is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and then a tiny skeleton is discovered in the grounds of the house, Frankie is desperate for answers.
The Invisible by Peter Papathanasiou
Publisher: MacLehose Press
Pub Date: 1 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 2nd book in the DS George Manolis series
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Burnt-out from policework, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage.
On arrival, Manolis learns of the disappearance of an 'invisible' - a local man who lives without a scrap of paperwork. The police and some locals believe the man's disappearance was pre-planned, while others suspect foul play. Reluctantly, Manolis agrees to work undercover to find the invisible, and must navigate the complicated relationships of a tiny village where grudges run deep.
It soon becomes clear to Manolis that he may never locate a man who, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. And with the clock ticking, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the events of today as Manolis's investigation leads him to uncover a dark and long-forgotten practice.
All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 1 September 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: stand alone (debut)
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There were a dozen witnesses to Denny Tran’s brutal murder in a busy Sydney restaurant. So how come no one saw anything?
‘Just let him go.’ Those are words Ky Tran will forever regret. The words she spoke when her parents called to ask if they should let her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation. That night in 1996, Denny – optimistic, guileless, brilliant Denny – is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in Cabramatta, a Sydney suburb facing violent crime, an indifferent police force, and the worst heroin epidemic in Australian history.
Returning home for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by her brother’s case: several people were at Lucky 8 restaurant when Denny died, but each of the bystanders claim to have seen nothing.
As an antidote to grief and guilt, Ky is determined to track down the witnesses herself. With each encounter, she peels away another layer of the place that shaped her and Denny,exposing the trauma and seeds of violence that were planted well before that fateful celebration dinner: by colonialism, by the war in Vietnam,and by the choices they’ve all made to survive.
August 2022
The Heart Match by Phillipa Nefri Clark
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Pub Date: 31 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Romantic Mystery
Series: 1st book in the Maple Gardens Matchmakers series
Izzie Davis might be broke but she will never accept charity. Which is a problem, because the cute guy she met visiting Maple Gardens Assisted Living could solve all her financial woes with a click of his fingers. Keeping her mom’s fees up to date takes almost all her meagre income but she's seen first-hand what money does to some people. Nothing will change her mind.
Bart Brown inherited more money than he knows what to do with, but the one person he’d love to spend it on happens to be a spitfire who sticks to her principles. The only way she’ll date him is if he promises he won’t ever spend money on her. His generous heart doesn't quite understand but she is worth the compromise.
When the family heirloom Izzie's been desperate to buy back for her mom is up for auction, Bart wants to change the rules to help her. But will Izzie's principles mean more to her than love? Because suddenly there’s more at stake than a necklace.
The Paris Mystery by Kirsty Manning
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 30 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: 1st book in the Charlotte 'Charlie' James series
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1938 Paris. The last sigh of summer before the war.
As Australian journalist Charlotte (Charlie) James alights at the Gare du Nord, ready to start her role as correspondent for The Times, Paris is in turmoil as talk of war becomes increasingly strident.
Charlie is chasing her first big scoop, needing to prove to her boss that she can do this job as well, if not better than, her male counterparts. And the best way to forge the necessary contacts quickly is to make the well-connected British expats Lord and Lady Ashworth her business. Lady Eleanor knows everyone who counts and at her annual sumptuously extravagant party, a circus ball, Charlie will meet them all.
On the summer solstice eve, the circus ball is in full swing with the cream of Parisian society entranced by burlesque dancers, tightrope walkers, a jazz band and fireworks lighting the night skies. But as Charlie is drawn into the magical world of parties, couture houses and bohemian wine bars, secrets start to unravel, including her own. Putting a foot wrong could spell death …
The Liars by Petronella McGovern
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 30 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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What if your search for the truth puts your family at risk?
The close-knit community of Kinton Bay is shocked when fifteen-year-old Siena Britton makes a grisly discovery in the national park. She believes it's a skull from the town's violent colonial past and posts a video which hits the news headlines.
Her parents, Meri and Rollo, aren't so sure. In 1998, their classmate went missing after a party in the Killing Cave. They're horrified to discover the destructive teenage parties are still happening, and Siena was there last weekend.
While Meri is trying to keep her daughter out of trouble, she doesn't realise her son, Taj, has his own problems. And none of them foresees the danger that Siena's actions will create for the whole family.
As more secrets are exposed, the police investigate whether multiple murders have been committed. If so, by whom? And is the killer still living in Kinton Bay?
The Liars is a heart-stopping cocktail of family secrets, sinister unsolved killings and a community at war with itself.
A wife burning with resentment. A husband hiding the past. Their teenage daughter crusading for the truth. Who can we trust?
Cut by Susan White
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 30 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: Stand Alone
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Cut is a thrilling, provocative novel set against the backdrop of a major Melbourne hospital’s surgical team in the time before #metoo blew the lid off institutionalised misogyny and sexism (and will appeal to readers of Love & Virtue and Emotional Female).
Carla is a young doctor striving to become the first female surgeon at a prestigious Melbourne hospital. When a consultant post opens up, she competes with her lover for the job and thinks she can be judged on merit. But an assault after a boozy workplace dinner leaves her traumatised and struggling to cope with the misogyny coming from every corner of her workplace. Recovering her fragmented memories from that night, Carla begins a fight for justice that will shake the foundations of the hospital she loves.
Good Girls Don't Drink Vodka by C.A. Larmer
Publisher: Larmer Media
Pub Date: 16 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Amateur Sleuths
Series: 3rd book in the Sleuths of Last Resort trilogy
WHO KILLED SIR GEORGE?
The spectacular third book in the Sleuths of Last Resort series sees our amateur detectives come full circle when the mining magnate who united them is found murdered, his trusty assistant arrested – and with good reason. All the evidence points Verity Vine’s way, and at least one sleuth thinks she’s guilty.
Yet there are so many delicious suspects to choose from, especially when another prime suspect shows up murdered.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO KILA’S SISTER?
While the sleuths start solving two fresh crimes, renegade gumshoe Kila is busy with a cold case of his own. He's just learned the monster who killed his sister on a Tinder date may be innocent, and the culprit could still be out there.
What’s more, Kila’s just found a connection to two seemingly unrelated deaths…
THE BODY IN THE ALLEY & THE GIRL AT BONDI
How does the shanking of a conman in a Kings Cross laneway and the accidental drowning of a vodka drinker at Bondi Beach connect to a Tinder date gone bad? As Kila begins to unravel the layers of Chili's four-year-old case, he realises it’s more complex than he could have imagined, and it's going to take more than lemon squash and lager to swallow the truth of what happened to his sister.
Luckily, Kila has his fellow "supersleuths" to back him up…
The Ex Between Us by Nicola Marsh
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 12 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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For as long as I can remember my best friend Abi has been in love with Cal and I could not have been happier for her. What started as a crush in high school, blossomed into the birth of their son and now, even though they are separated, the chemistry between them is undeniable.
Or so Abi thinks. Because for years I’ve seen the way Cal’s eyes wander, the way our female friends flirt around him, the glint in his eye when he sees me. I know it goes beyond just good friends and deep down I’m filled with guilt.
But as I begin to get a little closer to Cal, the threats land at my door, telling me to stay away from him. It seems I’m not the only one chasing a happily ever after. When Abi comes to me terrified and clutching a note saying “I want your life,” I know what I have to do.
Someone wants to take everything I love away from me. But they have no idea how far I’ll go to get what I want.
Stay Awake by Megan Goldin
Publisher: St Martins Press
Pub Date: 9 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who claims to live in her apartment. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing. In its place is a bloodstained knife. Her hands are covered in scribbled messages, like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.
Two years ago, Liv was thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently.
A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.
Gone To Ground by Bronwyn Hall
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 3 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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UN surgeon Rachel Forester is posted at a remote medical clinic deep in the jungle of Democratic Republic of the Congo. With violence escalating in the region, Dr Forester risks her life by remaining to tend an injured child while the rest of her team evacuates. On the cusp of her final desperate chance to leave, a soldier is carried into the camp by three other members of his unit, his condition so critical, his airlift must take priority over hers.
With no help coming, and in the path of warring militias, this small unit must flee through the heart of the jungle to reach the safety of the province capital. But in the dark wilderness lies a strangling web of crime and corruption. As they get deeper, they discover a sinister mining operation and stolen children with evidence indicating shadowy ties to the UN. But aren't those the people Dr Forester works for? The only people who know she's still lost out there? And now, the people who want her dead?
The further they delve, the more the web closes around them. Will they make it out alive?
The Brothers by S.D. Hinton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 3 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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An isolated house. A mysterious note. Someone is watching ...
An absorbing, atmospheric mystery about families, secrets and the bonds of brotherhood set on the Victorian south coast.
Welcome home, Jake ...
When Special Forces veteran Jake Harlow returns to the hamlet of Lorne on the Victorian south-west coast for his younger brother Tom's funeral, he finds a sinister series of notes that suggest Tom's death was no accident.
With Tom's best friend Stocky, and ex-girlfriend Lucy, Jake starts to dig into secrets old and new. Who might be targeting the Harlow family, and why?
As they get closer to the truth, the danger becomes very real. But can Jake, burdened by scars both physical and mental, still protect anyone - including himself?
An absorbing, atmospheric mystery about families, hidden truths and the bonds of brotherhood.
The Carnival Is Over by Greg Woodland
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 2 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Rural Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Moorabool series
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1971—Hal is seventeen, with dreams of escaping from Moorabool to a life in the city. But right now he’s on a good behaviour bond and stuck in a job he hates, paying off the car he ‘borrowed’ and crashed. Hal’s packing-room job makes him a target for workplace bullies and the friendship of the older, more worldly Christine is all that makes each day bearable. So when she doesn’t turn up for work, he’s on the alert.
So is Sergeant Mick Goodenough. But he already knows what’s happened to Christine: the same thing that happened to the newly elected deputy mayor. When another gruesome ‘accident’ occurs in Moorabool, Goodenough suspects there’s something sinister going on behind the scenes at the abattoir.
Mick and Hal are both determined to dig up the truth. Before long each of them is going to find himself in mortal danger and running for his life.
After the Flood by Dave Warner
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 2 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 4th book in the Snowy Lane / Dan Clement series
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A violent death by crucifixion near a remote north-west station has Detective Inspector Dan Clement and his Broome police officers disturbed and baffled.
Other local incidents – the theft of explosives from a Halls Creek mine site, social justice protests at an abattoir, a break-in at a childhealth care clinic – seem mundane by comparison.
But as Clement starts to make troubling connections between each crime, he finds himself caught in a terrifying race. In a landmass larger than Western Europe, he must identify and protect an unknown target before it is blown to bits by an invisible enemy.
Framed by John M. Green
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 2 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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When art conservator JJ Jego spots a long-lost masterpiece through the window of a luxury apartment, she’s drawn into a dark web of intrigue, deception and murder.
JJ spies what she believes is a priceless Van Gogh. Except it can’t be … that painting, Six Sunflowers, was destroyed during World War II. She also glimpses what looks like a Rembrandt, one stolen in the infamous 1990 robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston.
JJ sets out on a mission to discover if these works are fakes or genuine. But when she gets in too deep, she is forced to seek help from her estranged father, a Sydney detective.
From the pubs of Belfast to the boardrooms of Monte Carlo and the shores of Sydney Harbour, this gripping art heist thriller exposes a shadowy underworld where JJ crosses paths with a global organised crime empire in her pursuit to solve some of art history’s biggest mysteries.
Cobalt Blue by Matthew Reilly
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 2 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Action Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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For 35 years, the United States and Russia each had their own superhero.
Three days ago, America's hero died.
Today will be bad.
In the face of an overwhelming attack, one young woman - unassuming and anonymous - might be America's only hope.
Her codename ... COBALT BLUE
The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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'So you believed the alleged rapists over the alleged victim?' Jane's voice took on an indignant pitch. 'Girls lie sometimes.' I nodded. 'And rapists lie all the time.'
When Senior Detective Antigone Pollard moves to the coastal town of Deception Bay, she is still in shock and grief. Back in Melbourne, one of her cases had gone catastrophically wrong, and to escape the guilt and the haunting memories, she'd requested a transfer to the quiet town she'd grown up in.
But there are some things you can't run from. A month into her new life, she is targeted by a would-be rapist at the pub, and realises why there have been no convictions following a spate of similar sexual attacks in the surrounding district. The male witnesses in the pub back her attacker and even her boss doesn't believe her.
Hers is the first reported case in Deception Bay, but soon there are more. As Antigone searches for answers, she encounters a wall of silence in the town built of secrets and denial and fear. The women of Deception Bay are scared and the law is not on their side. The nightmare has followed her home.
A Silent Truth by Rachel Amphlett
Publisher: Saxon
Pub Date: 1 August 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 4th book in the Detective Mark Turpin series
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When the body of a young woman is found by the side of a quiet country road, police first suspect a hit and run.
Then a darker side to the victim is uncovered – a dangerous addiction that led to her violent death.
With little sympathy from a local population, Detective Mark Turpin faces a daunting task to track down her killer.
When a second victim dies after a ferocious attack, Mark realises someone is determined to hide the truth.
Both victims kept to the shadows of society – will their secrets die with them?
July 2022
The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 27 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Private Investigator
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IT WAS A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. WASN'T IT? A private investigator returning to the hometown he fled years ago becomes entangled in the disappearance of two teenage girls in this stunning literary crime thriller.
Reid left the small town of Manson a decade ago, promising his former Chief of Police boss he'd never return. He made a new life in the city, became a PI and turned his back on his old life for good.
Now an insurance firm has offered him good money to look into a suspicious car crash, and he finds himself back in the place he grew up - home to his complicated family history, a scarring relationship breakdown and a very public career-ending incident.
As Reid's investigation unfolds, nothing is as it seems: rumours are swirling about the well-liked young woman who crashed the car, killing her professor husband, and there are whispers about a second local student who has just disappeared.
As Reid veers off course from the job he has been paid to do, will he find himself in the dangerous position of taking on the town again?
The Pride by Tony Park
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 26 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Action
Series: 5th book in the Sonja Kurtz series
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Ex-mercenary Sonja Kurtz is out for revenge after her daughter Emma is assaulted by an abalone poacher while on a beachside holiday near Cape Town.
When the poacher is murdered, Sonja is targeted by a violent local gangster and must flee the country.
As Sonja leaves a trail of destruction in her wake - from the threatened wilderness of Zimbabwe to the treacherous beaches of northern Mozambique - a concerned Emma must find the courage to rescue her mother.
But is Sonja a cold-blooded killer? Or is there a darker conspiracy taking place in southern Africa's underworld - one that will change their lives forever?
Time and Tide In Sarajevo by Bronwyn Birdsall
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 26 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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Evelyn is teaching English in Sarajevo, a beautiful city still recovering almost two decades after the long and brutal siege in the 1990s.
Life in the city is tenuous yet welcoming. Dedicated to her work preparing high-schoolers for a scholarship that could change the course of their lives, Evelyn feels more herself here than at home in Australia. But when the teenage son of a local hero is stabbed and it seems like a cover-up will let the killer go free, Sarajevans take to the streets in protest.
When Evelyn discovers evidence that could ignite the volatile situation, putting both her students’ ambitions and her friendships at risk, she faces an impossible decision.
Gripping and heartfelt, Time and Tide in Sarajevo asks: how do we find hope in a world that feels beyond repair?
The Whispering by Veronica Lando
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 6 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Rural Noir
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Callum Haffenden swore he'd never return to Granite Creek. But, thirty years after a life-shattering accident, he's thrust back into the clutches of Far North Queensland and a local legend he worked hard to forget.
When a man goes missing in the rainforest, the past begins to resurface, breathing new life into memories of previous tragedies - two girls lost, seventeen years apart. In a town where it's easiest to turn a blind eye, the guilt runs deep and everyone in Granite Creek has something to hide.
In his search for answers, Callum fights to keep his feet firmly on the trail as he battles the deafening call of the rainforest burrowing into his ears. After all, everyone knows that the worst things in the rainforest are those unseen.
Out Of Breath by Anna Snoekstra
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 6 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Jo Ainsley has been running for a long time. From her childhood in small town England to art school in London to the messy end of a relationship in Sydney, Jo has chosen to run again and again, each time moving further from where her troubles began.
This time, her escape will bring her to the remote northwest region of Western Australia, where she must work for 88 days on a farm in order to extend her visa. There she meets an American, Gabe, with whom she has an immediate connection. He tells her of an idyllic off-grid community which seems like a refuge to her. Miserable, desperate and traumatised by a brutal event at the farm, Jo decides to run.
But the paradisal free-diving haven that embraces her without judgement is not all it seems. It harbours some sinister secrets - and so does Gabe. Jo searches for answers, but is she prepared for what she uncovers? She must decide where her loyalties lie and if she is really ready to confront the darkness of her past...
The Map of Night by Kimberley Starr
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 5 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
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Astronomer Lucy Rutherford is celebrating the refurbishment of the 100-year-old telescope in the Yarra Valley town of Bowness, Victoria. Her husband, Justin, is running for parliament, on a platform of responsibility and progress.
But Lucy isn’t interested in being a politician’s wife. And after twenty years, admittedly some good ones, she plans to leave Justin. Once he's won the election. Lucy’s biggest concern is how her eleven-year-old daughter, Gabby, will take the news. Or does Gabby already know? She has a habit of listening in on conversations she shouldn’t.
A week before polling day Lucy takes the family dog for a walk and doesn’t return. Justin is convinced Lucy has left him and is angry that she would abandon him so close to the election. Yet Gabby is certain her mother is missing and in trouble. Why isn't her father looking?
As the days go by, tensions rise between Gabby and her father. Desperate to contact her mother, Gabby takes matters into her own hands. On the day of the election Bowness is faced with a decision, and so is each member of the Rutherford family.
Criminals by James O'Loghlin
Publisher: Bonnier Echo
Pub Date: 5 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Crime
What makes a criminal? One May 2019 morning, two masked gunmen rob Blacktown Leagues Club. What happens next will change the lives of three people. Twenty-three-year-old Dean Acton is a heroin addict trying to get off the break and enter treadmill by pulling one big job. Sarah Hamilton, also twenty-three, is a police officer on stress leave, working behind the bar, trying to forget the mistake she made that caused the death of her fiancée. Mary Wallace, a forty-five-year-old ex-schoolteacher who lives and drinks alone, feels that her life is already over, and has made plans to formalise that arrangement.
When Sarah realises there is something familiar about one of the gunmen, she is drawn back to the thrill of investigating, and can identify Dean. Dean is overjoyed at his $12,000 haul, but before he can decide whether to spend it on a new start in Queensland or a few months' worth of heroin, he's arrested, and in Long Bay jail everyone wants to find out where he's stashed the cash.
Mary is inspired by the robbery. Pottery and French classes haven't jolted her out of her depression, but perhaps embarking on a life of crime will. She starts small, and then ups the ante. When she, too, is arrested and her lawyer tries to discover why a respectable middle-class woman would steal constipation medication, will she be able to reveal what caused her to give up on teaching and everything else?
Dean learns that the only person who identified him at the robbery was Sarah and is tempted by a plan that will ensure she won't ever be able to give evidence against him. But is he prepared to go that far? And if he does, will he ever come back?
As Dean's trial approaches, Mary, Dean and Sarah must work out why they have become who they are, and whether they have the courage to change.
Millen by Chris Nyst
Publisher: Aurora House
Pub Date: 5 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Legal Thriller
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In the isolated outback town of Millengarra, a young man is found bashed to death.
When his house-mate – an out-of-work drover – is charged with murder, the investigation goes to hardened Brisbane detective Dave Hocking, a career cop facing corruption charges that threaten his job, his liberty, and his very identity.
In Millen, he finds a damaged community, held together by a fragile web of deceit. Struggling for redemption, the veteran detective uncovers a town's shame, and his own, as lies are exposed, and dark secrets unearthed.
Conviction by Frank Chalmers
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 2 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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Queensland in 1976 churns with corruption. When Detective Ray Windsor defies it, he is exiled deep into the state's west. It's easy out there to feel alien in your own country.
Royalton is a town on its knees, stricken by drought, riven by prejudice, and plagued by crimes left largely uninvestigated by the local police chief, Kennedy, and his elusive boss.
Mutual dislike between Kennedy and Ray gradually turns ugly as Ray and his new partner, Arshag, uncover a pattern of crimes that no one seems concerned about solving. But when two girls from local immigrant families are found dead and another disappears, Ray and Arshag are forced to take the law into their own hands. Not knowing who to trust, nor how deep the corruption runs, how long will it be before their lives are also threatened?
A spare and uncompromising crime thriller that pulls no punches.
Stone Town by Margaret Hickey
Publisher: Bantam Australia
Pub Date: 1 July 2022
Sub-Genre: Outback Noir
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With its gold-rush history long in the past, Stone Town has seen better days. And it’s now in the headlines for all the wrong reasons . . .
When three teenagers stumble upon a body in dense bushland one rainy Friday night, Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti’s hopes for a quiet posting in his old home town are shattered. The victim is Aidan Sleeth, a property developer, whose controversial plan to buy up local land means few are surprised he ended up dead.
However, his gruesome murder is overshadowed by a mystery consuming the entire nation: the disappearance of Detective Sergeant Natalie Whitsed.
Natalie had been investigating the celebrity wife of crime boss Tony ‘The Hook’ Scopelliti when she vanished. What did she uncover? Has it cost her her life? And why are the two Homicide detectives, sent from the city to run the Sleeth case, so obsessed with Natalie’s fate?
Following a late-night call from his former boss, Mark is sure of one thing: he’s now in the middle of a deadly game . . .
June 2022
Release by Lucy Christopher
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 30 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Ten years ago, sixteen-year-old Gemma Toombs was kidnapped from Bangkok Airport by an infatuated drifter, Tyler MacFarlane, who took her to a secret den in the Australian desert. Now her name is Kate Stone and it’s her turn to confront Ty and try to find answers to the questions that have obsessed her since her ordeal. What is the legacy of this coercive relationship? Who holds the cards now? In the confusion of past and present, will Kate remain trapped in a deranged dance of desire and revenge? Or will she regain control and find release?
Set in both London and Perth, a courtroom drama and a road trip in the searing heat of the West Australian desert, Release is the story of two people confronting each other, each intent on destruction and survival. A companion to Lucy Christopher’s bestselling novel Stolen, this gripping psychological thriller explores a young woman’s discovery of the complicated truth about a relationship that once seemed alluring.
The Diplomat by Chris Womersley
Publisher: Picador Australia
Pub Date: 28 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Crime
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1991. Fresh out of detox and five years after his involvement in the theft of Picasso's masterpiece The Weeping Woman from the NGV, Edward Degraves - art forger and drug addict - returns to Melbourne for a new start. All he needs to do is make one last visit to The Diplomat, a seedy motel renowned for its drug dealers and eccentrics.
But Edward's new-found sobriety is both a torment and a gift. As he revisits old haunts, he is confronted by reminders of the past: ruined relationships, a stalled career as an artist and - looming over everything - the death of his beloved wife Gertrude.
Shot through with grief and dark comedy, The Diplomat is a powerful story of love and recovery - and a stark evocation of the fine line between self-destruction and redemption.
Keep Her Sweet by Helen Fitzgerald
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 28 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven's family was murdered. Only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.
Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.
As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Then a second woman is abducted . . . The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she can tell when you are lying.
Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them - and he and Evie know better than anybody how the past can come back to haunt you . . .
Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 23 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven's family was murdered. Only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.
Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.
As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter, Maya, is missing. Then a second woman is abducted . . . The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she can tell when you are lying.
Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them - and he and Evie know better than anybody how the past can come back to haunt you . . .
His Other Wife by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 21 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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She has my husband. She has my child. She has my life.
I never thought I would end up here. Alone, in a cold one-bedroom apartment, only seeing my precious daughter once a week.
Another woman is living the life that was once mine. I wish I was still married to my ex-husband, the love of my life. I dream of tucking my five-year-old child into her ballerina bed sheets every night. I miss living in a beautiful house, the perfect family home, with a winding staircase and a sprawling garden.
I’d do anything to be with my family again. To start over and prove to them that I’ve changed, that I won’t lose control like before.
But when I get my second chance, the vicious messages come. The noises at night. The feeling of being watched. It’s happening all over again. I know I’m not going mad, but no one will believe me. I don’t know if I even believe myself.
All I wanted was my life back. But now my life is under threat – and my darling little girl is in danger…
A totally addictive, twist-packed psychological thriller about the lengths we go to for the people we love. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Liane Moriarty and Adele Parks.
Gathering Storms by Kerry McGinnis
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Pub Date: 15 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
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Penny Carter's quiet life in Southbend, running a nursery with her ex father-in-law, is turned upside down when Lisa, the young daughter of her late husband, is unexpectedly deposited on her doorstep. The unwelcome houseguest stirs up more than just memories of Penny's husband's betrayal, when a cyclone leads to the discovery of a skeleton buried next to the town cemetery.
As the mystery around the unsettling discovery grows, Penny, supported by her enigmatic neighbour Flint, begins to question everything she thought she knew about her own childhood and her mother's death. Family secrets long thought buried come bubbling to the surface, as other shocking revelations see Penny and Lisa in an ultimate race for survival.
But what other secrets will the Wet season uncover, while the whole town is cut off from the rest of the world?
The Bay by Allie Reynolds
Publisher: G.P. Putnam
Pub Date: 14 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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The waves are to die for.
Three years ago, passionate surfer Kenna Ward lost her two great loves—after her boyfriend drowned, she hung up her surfboard and swore off the water for good. But she is drawn back to the beach when her best friend, Mikki, announces her sudden engagement to a man Kenna has never met—a member of a tight-knit group of surfers. Kenna travels to a remote Australian beach, entering a dangerous world far from civilization where the waves, weather, and tides are all that matter. Kenna is tempted back into the surf, and drawn into the dazzling group and the beach they call their own.
But this coastal paradise has a dark side, and members of the group begin to go missing. Kenna realizes that in order to protect Mikki and learn more about the surfers, she must become one of them…without becoming one of their victims. What follows is an adrenaline-fueled thriller packed with twists and turns, exploring the dangerous edge between passion and obsession.
The Ghosts of Paris by Tara Moss
Publisher: Dutton
Pub Date: 7 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: 2nd book in the Billie Walker series
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A thrilling tale of courage and secrets set in postwar London and Paris, in which a search for a missing husband puts investigator and former war reporter Billie Walker on a collision course with an underground network of Nazi criminals
It’s 1947. The world continues to grapple with the fallout of the Second World War, and former war reporter Billie Walker is finding her feet as an investigator. When a wealthy client hires Billie and her assistant Sam to track down her missing husband, the trail leads Billie back to London and Paris, where Billie’s own painful memories also lurk. Jack Rake, Billie’s wartime lover and, briefly, husband, is just one of the millions of people who went missing in Europe during the war. What was his fate after they left Paris together?
As Billie’s search for her client’s husband takes her to both the swanky bars at Paris’s famous Ritz hotel and to the dank basements of the infamous Paris morgue, she’ll need to keep her gun at the ready, because something even more terrible than a few painful memories might be following her around the city of lights .
The Woman In the Library by Sulari Gentill
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Pub Date: 7 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
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In every person's story, there is something to hide...
The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who'd happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning―it just happens that one is a murderer.
White Noise by Mercedes Mercier
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pub Date: 6 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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When prison psychologist Dr Laura Fleming is assigned charismatic inmate Justin Jones to assess for parole, alarm bells ring. Working with some of the state's most damaged criminals, she knows Jones is too dangerous to release, but he's got everyone fooled . . . She needs proof.
Laura knows all about damage. Her own painful mistakes have destroyed her marriage and she's been refused access to her daughter. Step by agonising step, she's rebuilding her life and her relationships, but it's a hard road. What does she have to do to prove she can be trusted?
Laura's not taking any chances with Jones, and as she races to find evidence before his parole hearing, she digs deep into his life - and is shocked by what she finds.
But as she edges closer to the truth, Laura falls victim to a series of increasingly personal attacks, and secrets from her past threaten to unhinge everything she holds dear - her job, her family . . . even her sanity.
Sometimes redemption is out of reach. But revenge will do just fine.
An A-List For Death by Pamela Hart
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 1 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Humorous
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TV researcher Poppy McGowan has never sought the spotlight and is none too happy to be photographed with rock god Nathan Castle. When the photo pops up on celebrity gossip sites, it sparks a media feeding frenzy, forcing Poppy to go to ground, don a wig, and pull some nifty moves to escape a tailing car. On top of that, she cops abuse from Nathan's outraged fans.
None of this would have happened if Poppy hadn't found Nathan's mother Daisy, one-time glamour girl and elderly best friend of her Aunty Mary, bleeding and unconscious in her bathroom. The police dismiss the case as an accident, but Poppy is sure there are questions to be answered. Who attacked Daisy, and why? Will she come out of her coma? What secrets are her gathering family hiding? What happens to Daisy's money if she dies?
When a murder occurs outside Daisy's flat, the police step in at last. Unfortunately, they finger Poppy's boyfriend, Tol, for the crime - after all, he had bad blood with the victim. As Daisy's money-hungry family circle amid hints of poisoning, bribery and blackmail, Poppy must find a way to clear Tol's name and ensure Daisy's safety.
Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 1 June 2022
Sub-Genre: Small Town Mystery
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Durton. Dirt town. Dirt and hurt – that’s what others would remember about our town . . .
When twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi disappears on her way home from school in the small town of Durton in rural Australia, the local community is thrown into a state of grief and suspicion.
THE DETECTIVE
As Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels begins her investigation, she questions those who knew the girl, attempting to unpick the secrets which bind them together.
THE MOTHER
The girl’s mother, Constance, believes that her daughter going missing is the worst thing that can happen to her. But as the search for Esther develops, she learns that things can always get worse.
THE FRIENDS
Ronnie is Esther’s best friend and is determined to bring her home. So when her classmate Lewis tells her that he saw Esther with a strange man at the creek the afternoon she went missing, Ronnie feels she is one step closer to finding her. But why is Lewis refusing to speak to the police?
And who else is keeping quiet about what happened to Esther?
May 2022
Death At the Belvedere by Sue Williams
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 31 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Humorous Crime
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It’s a mostly normal Friday evening in the Rusty Bore Takeaway. Cass Tuplin’s cleaning down the grill when her glamorous sister Helen walks in, all bones in an Italian-weave suit and the kind of state that calls for the full comfort: double bacon cheeseburger with extra chips.
It’s man trouble as usual. But this time it turns out the trouble is less emotional and more fatal. Helen’s boyfriend has been pushed off the rooftop terrace of his Fitzroy apartment, and Helen’s trying not to become a person of interest. She’s also trying to retrieve something rare and valuable from Ben’s place—which is where Cass comes in.
Cass doesn’t do investigations anymore, of course, being unlicensed. And she’s not particularly keen on breaking into a crime scene, even if it’s not strictly breaking when you’ve got a key.
On the other hand, Helen is her only sister. And she has been getting Cass into trouble for more than forty years. Why stop now? But this time Helen’s little problem will drop Cass into deeper trouble than ever before.
The Fallback by D.L. Hicks
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 31 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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Deep down, there’s something we’d all kill for.
I know I would. I know I have. I know I will.
Recovering addict Eric Johnstone is turning his life around until one small moment sends him down a dark path. Just months after he takes a job at the retirement village in Point Imlay, the ebbing tide reveals Eric’s body, trussed to the town’s oyster beds.
When Senior Detective John Darken’s business card is discovered in the dead man’s pocket, J.D. transfers to Point Imlay to help with the investigation. But J.D.’s life is in shambles: his job is precarious, his marriage is on the rocks, and his past haunts him constantly.
Two men whose lives are entwined – but how does one end up dead?
Together, J.D. and homicide detective Emma Capsteen – another unwelcome new face in the sleepy seaside town – work to unravel the final days of Eric’s life. But instead of answers, all they uncover are more questions. Why does a local bikie have free reign? What are the residents at Seascape Gardens retirement village hiding? And, in a town whose beating heart is community, why isn’t anyone prepared to tell the truth?
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 31 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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A long, burning summer in Sydney. A young woman found murdered in the deserted grounds of an elite boarding school. A serial killer preying on victims along the banks of the Parramatta River. A city on edge.
Adam Bowman, a battling journalist who grew up as the son of a teacher at Prince Albert College, might be the only person who can uncover the links between the school murder and the 'Blue Moon Killer'. But he will have to go into the darkest places of his childhood to piece together the clues. Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, meanwhile, is part of the taskforce desperately trying to find the killer before he strikes again. Adam Bowman's excavation of his past might turn out to be Rose's biggest trump card or it may bring the whole investigation crashing down, and put her own life in danger.
Taut, suspenseful and utterly compelling, Black River is the best thriller you'll read this year.
The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
Publisher: William Morrow
Pub Date: 10 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.
They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.
They think I’m working hard to impress them.
They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.
They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.
One of Us by Kylie Kaden
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 3 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
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Behind the tall hedges of the affluent, gated community of Apple Tree Creek, not all is as it seems …
Out of the blue, Gertie's husband decides they need a break and he's leaving her with their three children. Two streets east and three gardens down, successful businesswoman Rachael discovers her husband has cheated on her – again – even though she's pregnant with his third child. Thrown together by a chance encounter, the two women bond over the shared disaster that is their marriages.
But did one husband push his wife too far?
When the ambulance sirens cut through the serenity of Apple Tree Creek, the small community is shocked at the violence that's played out in their midst. CCTV reveals no outsiders visited the estate that night, confirming that the assailant must have been one of their own. Is the culprit still living among them? And why didn't any of the cameras, designed to keep them all safe, catch anything?
As the web of neighbourly relationships unravels and the workings of their inner lives are exposed, questions will be asked, but not everyone wants to learn the answers.
You can only push people so far.
Lying In Wait by Diane Hester
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Pub Date: 1 May 2022
Sub-Genre: Romantic Suspense
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No one else believes there’s a murderer out there…
Grieving widow Andy Vaughn has struggled to get back to the real world after her husband’s sudden death. But her son needs her, and when a terrifying encounter with a snake reveals unknown skills, the American expat feels alive for the first time in years. She’s going to leave behind her career as a science teacher and instead start training as a national park ranger with a specialty in snake handling. There have been a high number of brown snake incidents in their small community over the last few months, and Port Matthews desperately needs an experienced snake handler on the Parks and Wildlife team.
But with two deaths and several close calls in only a matter of weeks, is the increased snake activity just an unusual spike? Or is something more sinister going on? New cop in town Dev certainly thinks something isn’t quite right, but nobody is going to believe the city cop with a chequered past. With growing suspicions that a serial killer might be out there using snakes as a weapon, Dev is going to need to find proof — and fast. Because the serial killer has a new victim in his sights, and she might just be the beautiful snake handler Dev is fast falling in love with.
April 2022
Wake by Shelley Burr
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 27 April 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOUNG EVIE McCREERY? A searing debut crime novel where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community . . . and will ultimately lead to a reckoning
Evelyn simply vanished.
The small town of Nannine lies in the harsh red interior of New South Wales. Once a thriving outback centre, years of punishing drought have whittled it down to no more than a couple of pubs and a police station. And its one sinister claim to fame: the still-unsolved disappearance of Evelyn McCreery nineteen years ago from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister.
Mina McCreery's life has been defined by the intense and ongoing public interest in her sister's case. Now an anxious and reclusive adult, Mina lives alone on her family's sunbaked destocked sheep farm. The million-dollar reward her mother established to solve the disappearance has never been paid out.
Enter Lane Holland, a private investigator who dropped out of the police academy to earn a living cracking cold cases. Lane has his eye on the unclaimed money, but he also has darker motivations for wanting to solve the case.
Compulsively readable, with an unforgettable setting and cast of characters, WAKE is a powerful, unsparing story of how trauma ripples outward when people's private tragedies become public property, and how it's never too late for the truth to set things right.
A Date To Die For by Gaylene B. Corben
Publisher: AIA Publishing
Pub Date: 22 April 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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Set in contemporary Australia, Joe, a NSW police detective with a suitcase full of emotional baggage, and his partner, Tess, a tart-tongued Italian beauty, investigate a baffling series of three killings with complex connections. In order to catch the killer before he strikes again, they must match their wits against an intelligent and highly organised serial killer, who uses a gay dating site to lure his victims – all young, attractive women – into his clutches. The only clues at each of the bloody murder scenes are a cryptic note and a white rose.
The Shadow House by Anna Downes
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pub Date: 5 April 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
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A HOUSE WITH DEADLY SECRETS.
A MOTHER WHO'LL RISK EVERYTHING TO BRING THEM TO LIGHT.
Alex, a single mother-of-two, is determined to make a fresh start for her and her children. In an effort to escape her troubled past, she seeks refuge in a rural community. Pine Ridge is idyllic; the surrounding forests are beautiful and the locals welcoming. Mostly.
But Alex finds that she may have disturbed barely hidden secrets in her new home. As a chain of bizarre events is set off, events eerily familiar to those who have lived there for years, Alex realizes that she and her family might be in greater danger than ever before. And that the only way to protect them all is to confront the shadows lurking in Pine Ridge.
March 2022
Rising Dust by Fleur McDonald
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 29 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
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After the family's devastating tragedy, Detective Dave Burrows is crystal clear that his wife, Mel, is no longer interested in their marriage.
Before Dave can talk to Mel, he and his partner, Bob Holden, are sent to investigate a suspected sheep stealing at a station north of Carnarvon, where they very quickly realise that this crime is a lot more than just stock theft.
As a ferocious tropical storm floods the airstrip and uncovers more than anyone expected, Dave and Bob find themselves isolated, outnumbered and in extraordinary danger. Dave has to confront the guilt and trauma of his past before he can move forward. And perhaps there's no way out this time.
Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Pub Date: 29 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Whodunnit
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I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.
Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort, snow and bodies piling up.
The thing is, us Cunninghams don’t really get along. We’ve only got one thing in common: we’ve all killed someone.
My brother
My step-sister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me
The Scarlet Cross by Lyn McFarlane
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 29 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Suspense
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Meredith Griffin manages the emergency department at St Jude Hospital. A specialist in
psychiatric nursing, she’s also an expert at hiding her own problems – and solving everyone
else’s.
When women with the same fatal injury begin turning up in Meredith’s emergency ward,
their deaths are labelled as suicides. But Meredith isn’t so sure. With the help of Detective
Leo Donnelly, she begins an investigation to prove that the women were murdered.
As pressure mounts from all quarters to stop her, questions arise about why the women were
targeted – and why the hospital is so desperate to cover things up.
In a battle against addiction, self-doubt and a corrupt institution that may be hiding a serial
killer, Meredith finds herself in the crosshairs of a network of powerful people – all of whom
will stop at nothing to protect their privilege and keep her from the truth.
An atmospheric and intelligent crime thriller set in a hospital where nothing is as it seems.
The Stepchild by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 15 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Three-year-old Millie Everleigh disappears on a crisp winter’s day, and nothing is as it seems…
It’s the phone call every mother dreads.
I’m climbing into the car after a trip to the grocery store. As the engine starts, my phone rings. It’s my stepdaughter, Shelby, who is babysitting my three-year-old little girl Millie.
‘I only went upstairs for a second,’ she says through her sobs. ‘She’s gone.’
I race home to find my blue-eyed baby girl missing, and my heart ripped out of my chest.
When the police turn up, Shelby’s story starts to unravel. What is she hiding?
Then I get a message saying, ‘Your husband is not who you think he is.’ Could he be lying?
Suddenly, my family feel like strangers. Everyone has a secret – even me.
No one knows why I was late coming back from the store, and the guilt I’ve been feeling ever since…
Once the truth comes out, all of our lies exposed, will it be too late to save my precious child?
Murder On A Melbourne Tram by Brigid George
Publisher: Potoroo Press
Pub Date: 3 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Softboiled
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A celebrity chef with an acerbic tongue is dead! Was he murdered by the young woman who suffered his verbal abuse every day? Dusty Kent is determined to hunt down the killer whoever it is.
An Australian murder mystery - Agatha Christie style.
Twenty-nine-year-old Gracie Chamberlain claimed she didn’t know her boss’s dead body was decomposing in the upstairs bedroom while she went to work every day in the downstairs office. That is one reason the police arrested her.
It is the hot autumn of 2019 in Melbourne when Dusty Kent starts to investigate the strangulation of celebrity chef Rafe Mason. Four suspects have been identified by Gracie’s wealthy father who believes his daughter is innocent of the murder.
Dusty must decide if one of them is the killer. Her task is made difficult when it is established that each of the suspects has an alibi for the night of the murder. Dusty’s assistant suggests the police got it right in arresting Gracie Chamberlain. However, Dusty is not so sure.
Secrets unravel, tempers flare and suspects attempt to flee.
All She Wants by Kelli Hawkins
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 2 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
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Lindsay just wants to be a mother. And when she discovers her partner is leaving her for another woman, her dreams are left in tatters. He was her last chance at a family ... or was he?
Then she meets Jack, they fall hard for each other, and suddenly everything seems perfect. But why is his sister Natalie so strangely protective of him, yet eager to pass the responsibility to Lindsay? Who are these siblings, why did they really leave the UK, and what terrifying secrets lie in their past?
And does Lindsay really want to know?
Brunswick Street Blues by Sally Bothroyd
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 2 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
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Brick Brown has problems: she hates her day job, and her beloved Uncle Baz has gone missing.
Although a bartender by trade, Brick Brown has finagled herself a job on the city council to investigate a complaint that threatens to close her uncle's well-loved blues club in the heart of Melbourne.
Brick suspects something strange is going on, but when her amateur sleuthing uncovers the mayor's dead body in a locked room, she's dragged into the dangerous world of dodgy developers with the reluctant help of Mitch Mitchell, a prickly war correspondent turned investigative journalist.
Relying on her street smarts and an unlikely band of allies, Brick and Mitchell unearth corruption that runs deeper than just local government, and the stakes are higher than they banked on. And when Brick also discovers some terrifying information about her past, the stakes turn deadly...
When We Fall by Aoife Clifford
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Pub Date: 2 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
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It isn’t strangers you need to worry about here. Blood lines run deep and in unexpected places. Every victim, every accused, we’ll know. The past runs alongside us all the time. Some days it spills into the open.
In the wild, coastal town of Merritt, Alex Tillerson and her mother make a shocking find on the beach. The police claim it’s an accidental death but there are whispers of murder and that it is not the first.
Bella Greggs was found dead at the bottom of a ravine but drowned in salt water. Maxine McFarlane was pulled from the ocean but with no water in her lungs. Black feathers were found with both bodies but what do they mean?
As Alex fights for answers to honour the dead, and to discover why her mother fled town as a teenager, good people keep looking the other way, memories become unreliable and secrets threaten to reveal the past.
Alex discovers the truth never dies but it can kill…
Those Who Perish by Emma Viskic
Publisher: Echo
Pub Date: 1 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Hardboiled
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A REMOTE ISLAND
AN ISOLATED COMMUNITY
A KILLER PICKING THEM OFF ONE BY ONE …
'You should be careful, Mr Zelic. Because the person who killed Peter Taylor will almost certainly kill again.' The detective's glassy eyes didn't blink. 'And you're already in their sights.'
Deaf PI Caleb Zelic has always been an outsider, estranged from family and friends. But when he receives a message that his brother, Anton, is in danger, Caleb sees it as a chance at redemption.
He tracks Anton down to a small, wind-punished island, where secrets run deep and resentments deeper. When a sniper starts terrorising the isolated community, the brothers must rely on each other like never before. But trust comes at a deadly price …
Daughters of Eve by Nina D. Campbell
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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When a high-profile murder lands literally at her feet, Detective Emilia Hart sees a chance to expand her caseload beyond the endless succession of domestic violence matters she is forced to investigate. But this is no simple investigation.
Another body turns up, then another. Then more - a lot more. All men, all shot, with a similar MO. It's not until a manifesto taking credit for the crimes is published by a group calling themselves Daughters of Eve that Hart confirms a link between the victims: all of them had been perpetrators themselves. All had offended against women or children. Few had been charged with those crimes - and none convicted.
As panic sets in and chaos rules the streets, the police draw ever closer to the Daughters of Eve, but the serial killer continues to elude them. Again, Hart sees something that everyone else has missed. And what that is, she cannot believe.
The Mother by Jane Caro
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 March 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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Just like the garden, the fuse box, the bills, bin night and blown light bulbs, this was just something else she'd now have to take care of herself.
Recently widowed, Miriam Duffy is a respectable North Shore real estate agent and devoted mother and grandmother. She was thrilled when her younger daughter Ally married her true love, but as time goes by Miriam wonders whether all is well with Ally, as she moves to the country and gradually withdraws, finding excuses every time Miriam offers to visit. Their relationship has always had its ups and downs, and Miriam tries to give her daughter the distance she so clearly wants. But is all as it seems?
When the truth of her daughter's situation is revealed, Miriam watches in disbelief as Ally and her children find themselves increasingly vulnerable and cut off from the world. As the situation escalates and the law proves incapable of protecting them, Miriam is faced with an unthinkable decision. But she will do anything for the people she loves most in the world. Wouldn't you?
The Trivia Night by Ali Lowe
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 22 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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The events at a school fundraiser night get quickly out of hand, and the fallout leads to devastating results for a group of four couples . . .
Question: How long does it take to tear someone's life apart?
Answer: Sometimes just one night.
From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it's a community where everyone knows each other - and secrets don't stay secret for long.
The big date in the calendar is the school's annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it's not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.
But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart - and revenge turns fatal.
A Lethal Deception by Rachel Amphlett
Publisher: Saxon Publishing
Pub Date: 8 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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When a brutal attack on a business owner is followed by a suspicious death, the police first suspect the beginning of a new underworld drugs war.
Then a second victim is found dead, and the truth starts to look like something much worse.
With the death toll rising and her career under scrutiny from the media and her own superiors, Kay Hunter is running out of time to unravel the deadly secrets hiding behind ruthless ambition and treachery.
But Kay isn’t going to give up easily.
Because this time, the first victim is closer to home…
Crocodile Tears by Alan Carter
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 2 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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Detective Philip ‘Cato’ Kwong is investigating the death of a retiree found hacked to pieces in his suburban Perth home. The trail leads to Timor-Leste, with its recent blood-soaked history. There, he reunites with an old frenemy, the spook Rory Driscoll who, in Cato’s experience, has always occupied a hazy moral terrain.
Resourceful, multilingual, and hard as nails, Rory has been Canberra’s go-to guy when things get sticky in the Asia-Pacific. Now Rory wants out. But first he’s needed to chaperone a motley group of whistleblowers with a price on their heads. And there’s one on his, too.
The Torrent by Dinuka McKenzie
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 2 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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In Northern New South Wales, heavily pregnant and a week away from maternity leave, Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is exhausted and counting down the days. But a violent hold-up at a local fast-food restaurant with unsettling connections to her own past, means that her final days will be anything but straightforward.
When a second case is dumped on her lap, the closed case of man drowned in recent summer floods, what begins as a simple informal review quickly grows into something more complicated. Kate can either write the report that's expected of her or investigate the case the way she wants to.
As secrets and betrayals pile up, and the needs of her own family intervene, how far is Kate prepared to push to discover the truth?
The Gallerist by Michael Levitt
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 1 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Mystery
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Mark Lewis, a former surgeon, has found solace in running a small art gallery. When Jan, a local woman, brings him a painting for valuing, it looks uncannily like a painting by the enigmatic artist James Devlin. Yet Jan claims it was done by a seventeen-year-old boy called Charlie.
As Mark searches for the painting’s true provenance, he is joined by the attractive and clever Linda de Vries. But the pair will learn that James Devlin is a man whose past is as blank as an empty canvas, and he is determined to keep it that way.
The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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ONE MISSING GIRL.
NO SUSPECTS.
A TOWN ABOUT TO IGNITE.
Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.
Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.
Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history keeps returning to remind Quala that the past is always present.
As the smoke rises and tensions come to a head, the dark heart of Quala will be revealed, affecting the lives of all those who dwell beyond the cane.
The Cane is an evocative and atmospheric thriller, and announces an exciting new voice in Australian crime writing.
Wild Dogs by Michael Trant
Publisher: Bantam Australia
Pub Date: 1 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Thriller
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In the drought-ridden rangelands of Western Australia, Gabe Ahern makes his living trapping wild dogs for local station owners.
Still coming to terms with his wife’s death – and the part he played in it – the old bushman leads a solitary life. Until one morning, when he rescues a young Afghan man, Amin, from certain execution.
Now, with a gang of people smugglers on his tail and the lives of Amin's family on the line, Gabe is drawn into a ruthless game of cat and mouse. His main opponent is Chase Fowler, a kangaroo hunter with bush skills as wily and sharp as his own.
As the old dogger and roo-shooter go head to head, Gabe will need all his cunning to come out of this alive…
Dead Horse Gap by Lee Christine
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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When a light plane crashes at night in the midst of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, Sydney Homicide's Detective Sergeant Pierce Ryder and Detective Constable Mitchell Flowers are sent to investigate what immediately looks like foul play.
As Ryder and Flowers investigate the crash they uncover a generations-old feud between two local families. Could the bitterness that has been carried through the years have anything to do with the death of the pilot?
Meanwhile, Detective Constable Nerida Sterling is already deep undercover in the Snowies, her assignment to infiltrate a drug ring operating in the mountains and to ultimately hunt down a murderer. As her cover becomes more and more tenuous, what lengths will Sterling go to in order to get the information that she needs?
Wrongfully Infused by H.Y. Hanna
Publisher: Self Published
Pub Date: 1 February 2022
Sub-Genre: Cozy
Series: 11th book in the Oxford Tearoom Mystery series
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Things are eerily quiet at Gemma's quaint English tearoom and she can't understand why - until she learns about the trendy new "tea bar" that's opened on the other side of the village.
To her horror, she soon finds her customers being stolen and her business the target of sabotage. Meanwhile her mother's newfound obsession with all things Asian means a whole new world of fluffy footwear and hazardous dinner encounters. But Gemma has bigger problems than trying to eat with chopsticks, when the ruthless rival tea bar owner is savagely murdered and she is considered the key suspect!
Now she's in a real pickle, desperate to clear her name. And with her detective boyfriend accused of nepotism and under suspicion, Gemma is forced to tackle the case on her own. Luckily, she can still count on the help of the nosy Old Biddies, while the naughty antics of her tabby cat Muesli uncover some unexpected clues too!
As Gemma delves into a mystery where "East meets West", familiar motives arise despite the difference between cultures. But with a full menu of suspects, from the aggrieved dentist with the strained smile to the belligerent chef who lost everything - not to mention a pair of estranged sisters hurt by the ultimate betrayal - she discovers that solving this case is no piece of cake...
Missing In Red by Judy Parkinson
Publisher: KDP
Pub Date: 1 January 2022
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
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Detective Sergeant Luke Ellington nicknamed Duke, has gained fame and acclaim for his heroism in the capture and conviction of vicious serial murderer, Clarence Campbell.
He is subsequently assigned to find Elise Seymour, the missing daughter of politician David Seymour. Senior Constable Sarah Brogden is appointed his 'side kick'.
Their investigation takes them to the ethereal bedroom of the missing girl. Here they find evidence suggesting that Elise had adopted a dual personality and was suffering from a mental disorder.
Ellington becomes obsessed with the case and visits the girl's fairy-tale bedroom again and again. He feels certain the answer lies here.
The investigation takes a dramatic turn when two of Ellington's 'suspects' are brutally murdered in separate incidences.
Ellington is forced to put the case on hold when his old adversary Clarence Campbell escapes from custody. Remembering the explicit death threats Campbell made during his trial, Ellington fears for his safety. A terrifying climax is reached when the two finally come face to face.
And now a third person is receiving written death threats. But this time the victim becomes the victor.
A hospital bedside confession reveals the identity of the killer, along with the whereabouts of Elise.