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 2023 (latest releases listed first).
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 2023
Song of the Starlings by T.M. Clark
Publisher: Wilde Press
Pub Date: 1 December 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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In a race against time, can they hunt down one child in the vastness of Africa?
South African ex-security contractor Chrystal Booysen has officially retired to her family game stud farm after her last mission took a dark turn. Corruption-fighting magnate Curtis Wilson hires American private investigator Rowan Zackery to rescue his daughter. But Rowan is out of his depth in Africa, and he needs Chrystal's expertise. The longer Akina is missing, the more people presume she’s dead. And he doesn’t want to find yet another body…
As they investigate, Chrystal grapples with the unsettling evidence that her estranged childhood friend, Mother Stella-Rose, is involved somehow in the disappearance of the children. Akina is in the clutches of Levi Louw, an unhinged and dangerous criminal who works for Mother Stella-Rose. Driven by greed and power, he'll do anything to make a profit.
As they chase the elusive trail, can they save Akina, or will they be too late?
November 2023
The Wiregrass by Adrian Hyland
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Pub Date: 29 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 2nd book in the Jesse Redpath series
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A murder made to look like an accident. A disgraced cop trying to forget his past.
My eyes sprang open. What was wrong? Something had been hovering down in the backwoods of my brain. A disturbing image that only rose to the surface when I began to relax. Wild winds, wet hair, black bark, blood. A crushed body. The poor bastard killed by the falling tree at Wycliff Rise. Something about that scene wasn’t right.
Nash Rankin is a disgraced cop trying to escape his past – his career was destroyed when he chose to take justice into his own hands. Now he’s living a quiet life in a small town, caring for the local wildlife and trying to stay away from trouble.
Jesse Redpath has a new job in a new town: Satellite. The stormy weather that greets her first few days on the beat seems like a sign of what’s to come. A local has died in what looks like an accident, but Jessie isn’t so sure that the ‘accident’ wasn’t planned. All the evidence points to Nash, but Jesse’s not sure about that either.
Seems like Nash has enemies. And what looks like a close-knit community might just be a cover for dark secrets.
No amount of rain will wash this town clean.
Deep In the Forest by Erina Reddan
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 28 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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‘Urgent. Come tomorrow. Can’t wait any longer.’
Charli Trenthan plans to leave her hometown of Stone Lake. But when she receives a cryptic message from a member of the Sanctuary, a conservative closed community nestled in the forest, she is determined to find answers.
A gruesome discovery soon lands Charli in hot water with the police, but how is the Sanctuary connected? As she digs deeper, dark secrets are uncovered and the fight to prove her innocence turns into a fight for her life.
A gripping thriller with a shocking conclusion that will leave you spellbound, Deep in the Forest raises questions about who we trust and why.
Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 28 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Three couples, friends since high school, rent a luxurious house in the mountains for an unplugged weekend of drinking and bushwalking. No internet, no phones, no stress. On the first night, the topic of partner-swapping comes up. It's a joke - at first.
Not everyone is keen, but an agreement is made. The lights will be turned out. The three women will go into the three bedrooms. The three men will each pick a room at random. It won't be awkward later, because they won't know who they've slept with - or can pretend they don't.
But when the lights come back on, one of the men is dead. No one will admit to being his partner. The phones still don't work, and now the car key is missing. They're stranded. And the killer is just getting started ...
Lest Bridges Burn by Phillipa Nefri Clark
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Pub Date: 28 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 3rd book in the DS Liz Moorland series
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A little girl is missing. Homicide Detective Sergeant Liz Moorland has seen this before. Another child, eighteen years ago. Same colour hair and eyes. Same sweet smile. The same park. They never found her.
Liz has a connection to both disappearances and is convinced they are linked. But if she's to find this child then she has to keep her head. And with the chance of being removed from the most important case of her life, Liz can't make a mistake.
All signs point to a serial kidnapper but when the abductor calls, he'll only deal with Liz. Is this a cruel coincidence or a well-laid trap, planned for decades?
Haunted by the last words of her niece, Liz makes a promise to both girls.
She'll do whatever it takes to bring them home. Even if it means risking her career. And her life.
Vendetta by Sarah Barrie
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 15 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 3rd book in the Lexi Winter series
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Ace hacker, former sex worker and vigilante Lexi Winter is now a cop and not keen to revisit her criminal past. But when old friends invoke the wrath of a local motorcycle club - the same club Lexi herself used to work for - she races to help them the only way she can: undercover.
If Lexi is to save a child's life, she is going to have to go back - back to a life she thought she had outrun. Back to the person she used to be. But her timing isn't great. Former club president Arthur Cronin has finished his long prison sentence and is out for revenge for the death of his wife and child. As he launches a series of bomb attacks on the club members who set him up and the cops who took him down, Lexi is caught in the middle.
Torn between old loyalties and new responsibilities, she must decide once and for all which side she's on, but even if she does decide to break free, are her old criminal friends ready to let her go?
The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
Publisher: Random House
Pub Date: 9 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Spy Thriller
Series: stand alone
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If, like Kane, you're a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again - by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide - and when to shoot.
But some places don't play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane's experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet are such a place - a place where violence is the only way to survive.
Kane travels there to exfiltrate a man with vital information for the safety of the West - but instead he meets an adversary who will take the world to the brink of extinction. A frightening, clever, vicious man with blood on his hands and vengeance in his heart...
Where He Can't Find You by Darcy Coates
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pub Date: 7 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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DON'T WALK ALONE, OR THE STITCHER WILL FIND YOU.
Abby Ward lives in a town haunted by disappearances. People vanish, and when they're found, their bodies have been dismembered and sewn back together in unnatural ways. But is it the work of a human killer…or something far darker?
DON'T STAY OUT LATE, OR THE STITCHER WILL TAKE YOU.
She and her younger sister live by a strict set of rules designed to keep them safe—which is why it's such a shock when Hope is taken. Desperate to get her back, Abby tells the police everything she knows, but they claim their hands are tied.
DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, OR THE STITCHER WILL REMAKE YOU.
With every hour precious, Abby and her friends are caught in a desperate game of cat and mouse. They have to get Hope back. Quickly. Before too much of her is cut away. And before everything they care about is swallowed up by the darkness waiting in the tunnels beneath the home they thought they knew.
The Talented Mrs Greenway by Tea Cooper
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 1 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: stand alone
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1814 Sydney When Mary Greenway, freshly arrived from the old country, steps into the maelstrom of Sydney Town with three children at her skirts, she has high hopes of a new beginning, despite having little money and a husband in irons. After all, the sudden death of her sadistic first husband has meant freedom from her gilded cage and Francis Greenway is an architect of some promise, under the protection of Admiral Phillip himself.
Mary herself is a woman of great resources and an even greater creative passion, a passion that will surely burn through anything that the filthy, burgeoning, vitality of colonial Sydney can throw at her. Soon ensconced in a tiny cottage in George Street, Mary sets about moulding a life for her family from the unpromising clay of this new colony, with a determination fired in equal parts by guilt for her disastrous past action that nearly brought ruin to them all and desire to see her true calling realised.
When she is befriended by Elizabeth Macquarie it seems that fate is smiling on them with the promise of a better life in her grasp. But fate is a difficult mistress and with past secrets to keep, and current betrayals on the brink of discovery, the stakes are higher than ever. With Mary's grip on this new life slipping, will her past lies come back to haunt her?
The Devil Inside by Leisl Leighton
Publisher: Harlequin Escape
Pub Date: 1 November 2023
Sub-Genre: Romantic Suspense
Series: stand alone
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After months in a coma, music promoter Melissa Linklater wakes up to a world she doesn't remember. She's shocked to discover she's married - to Phil Paris, the intensely handsome drummer of world-famous band The Sidhe - and has a baby daughter. She has lost the memory of the last eight years of her life. Phil, their baby and his bandmates are all strangers.
Phil is devastated that Mel can't remember her years with him. He needs her to remember - because he is nothing without his wife. Fame and wealth, even his music, no longer bring him joy. The only things that matter are Mel and their baby. He throws all he is into helping Mel remember, but instead of recovering memories of them, she starts to remember a secret past and a web of lies that threatens to destroy everything she knew about herself.
Someone else is also after those secrets. As her mysterious stalker escalates from anonymous phone calls to break-ins and physical threats, the police and her doctors don't believe her - but Phil does. While she still can't remember anything about her life with him, she does feel things for him - passionate, needful things that make her want to trust him with her darkest secrets. Will sharing those secrets make them closer or bring more danger to their door?
October 2023
The Drowning by Bryan Brown
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 31 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: stand alone
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The body of a local teenage boy is found on the beach of a sleepy northern New South Wales town. David went for an evening swim and got into trouble . . . at least, that's what it looks like.
Three weeks before, Leila, a young backpacker, didn't turn up for her shift at the local cafe. Benny, the owner, isn't worried. It happens - backpackers are always on the move. There'll be another one.
One of the locals, Adrian, has been a help to Benny. He's found him a nice little sideline. Not exactly legal. Is that all Adrian is arranging on the coast? He once was a cop but has he gone bad?
And in the backblocks outside town, a bikie gang is gearing up for a large consignment from South America.
Murder, drugs, liaisons and lies are stirring up this small coastal town.
Voices In the Dark by Fleur McDonald
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 31 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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When Sassi Stapleton receives a middle-of-the-night phone call to tell her that her beloved grandmother is unwell, she quickly puts her job on hold, packs her ute and sets off on the long drive home, knowing her grandfather will need her.
Less than an hour away from Sassi's hometown, Barker, she swerves to miss a roo and her car rolls down an embankment. By the time Sassi is found, her grandmother has already passed away.
On the other side of the world, Sassi's estranged mother, Amber, receives a similar call and shocks the whole family when she flies home from South Africa.
With everyone under the same roof, tensions escalate as Amber's secrecy and odd behaviour become unsettling. What is she really doing at home with a father she's barely spoken to since she left years ago? And will Amber and Sassi ever be able to reconnect?
The Day After the Party by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 30 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone
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The perfect birthday or the perfect nightmare?
Katelyn smiles around at her husband and friends, gathered to celebrate her thirty-sixth birthday in their beautiful home decorated with fairy lights. But the next day Katelyn wakes up shaken and terrified in a hospital bed…
She doesn’t remember the sweet taste of birthday cake icing, or how angry her best friend was at midnight, or the terrible things her husband said. She doesn’t remember the party at all.
When she asks her husband what happened the night of the party he says ‘nothing’. But her blood runs cold at the way his voice lilts slightly. The way it always does when he is lying.
Did someone at the party harm her?
What is her husband hiding?
Or did Katelyn herself do something terrible?
Only one thing is certain. Nobody can be trusted. And if Katelyn’s memories of the party do come back, it will tear them all apart…
Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Pub Date: 24 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 2nd book in the Ernest Cunningham series
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When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.
The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty:
the debut writer (me!)
the forensic science writer
the blockbuster writer
the legal thriller writer
the literary writer
the psychological suspense writer.
But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime.
Or commit one.
How can you find a killer when all the suspects know how to get away with murder?
Mr Einstein's Secretary Lie by Matthew Reilly
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 17 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Thriller
Series: stand alone
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All Hanna Fischer ever wanted to do was to study physics under the great Albert Einstein.
But when, as a teenager in 1919, her life is suddenly turned upside-down, she is catapulted into a new and extraordinary life - as a secretary, a scientist, a sister and a spy.
From racist gangs in Berlin to gangsters in New York City, Nazis in the 1930s and Hitler's inner circle during the Second World War, Hanna will encounter some of history's greatest minds and most terrible moments, all while desperately trying to stay alive.
She is a most unique secretary and she will work for many bosses - from shrewd businessmen to vile Nazis, to the greatest boss of them all, Mr Albert Einstein...
Spanning forty years, this is the thrilling tale of a young woman propelled through history's most dangerous times. But read it carefully, because all may not be as it seems...
Where Hidden Souls Lie by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 11 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 20th book in the Kane and Alton series
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When a shallow grave is discovered in the dark pine forest surrounding Black Rock Falls, Sheriff Jenna Alton rushes to investigate. After unearthing the old bones, Jenna scours the area for clues: and her heart beats wildly when she bumps into a teenage girl, breathless and covered in dirt. Wanda Beauchamp tells Jenna she was kidnapped from her foster home and buried alive. Could the kidnapper be linked to the shallow grave?
Taking in Wanda’s thin frame, Jenna knows the poor girl is close to death. She’ll do everything she can to save her, but they’re miles from anywhere and night is falling fast. When Wanda falls, the kidnapper makes his move and Jenna is powerless to stop him taking the young girl’s life. Escaping the same fate, she is wracked with guilt and vows to catch the ruthless killer and bring him to justice.
When another girl is reported missing from a foster home, Jenna and her deputy David Kane know they must act fast to save her. Jenna believes the murderer lives off-grid, and a clue at a local supply store finally leads her to a remote cabin in the woods.
Still haunted by Wanda’s last moments, can Jenna lay a trap to outsmart this twisted killer praying on young girls? Or did she just put herself in unthinkable danger?
Lola In the Mirror by Trent Dalton
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 4 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: stand alone
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A girl and her mother have been on the run for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in their kitchen with a knife in his throat. They've found themselves a home inside a van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River.
The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you're on the run. But the girl has a dream. A vision of a life as an artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen 'Lady' Flora Box. A life of love with the boy who's waiting for her on the bridge that stretches across a flooding, deadly river. A life beyond the bullet that has her name on it. And now that the storm clouds are rising, there's only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can ever do. She must look in the mirror.
First Victim by L.A. Larkin
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 3 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 3rd book in the Sally Fairburn series
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Ex-cop Sally Fairburn has put the world of crime behind her, but when her old boss contacts her about working her first case as a detective, she can’t resist. The high-profile Austin case will be her first opportunity to prove herself.
Retired accountant Joseph Austin has been found dead and his wife, Fiona, in a coma, in their exclusive Peakhurst mansion. It’s a suspected burglary gone wrong, but something about the murder scene doesn’t add up: why is nothing valuable missing?
Nobody seems to know who might want to hurt this sweet old pair, but as Sally investigates, she discovers the wealthy couple weren’t as popular as she first thought. They’d been embroiled in heated arguments with their neighbor, ex-con Salvador Sobral, for months. His is the strongest motive she can find.
But before Sally can pounce, she receives a chilling call. Sobral has been brutally murdered with a thin strip of wire. Racing to find the missing link between the murders, Sally grows ever more desperate to catch the killer—especially when her violent ex-husband returns to his post with the Franklin police department, determined to discredit her.
Fiona Austin holds the answers Sally needs. But will she come round from her coma before the murderer strikes again? Or will the killer lead Sally down a dangerous path that will leave her balancing on a knife edge between life and death?
Vertigo by Karen Herbert
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 3 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: stand alone
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Frances, a public servant, is struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of her colleague Eric, and the death of her brother. Asked to review Eric’s last work file, Frances becomes an accidental sleuth, analysing spreadsheets and reports for clues that may help solve Eric’s mysterious disappearance. As Frances uncovers a trail of corruption that leads to the highest levels of government, she must use her wits and resourcefulness to stay one step ahead of those who want to keep the truth hidden. But will her personal vendetta lead her straight into danger?
With twists and turns at every corner, this is a must-read for mystery fans from the bestselling author of The River Mouth.
I Am Already Dead by David Whish-Wilson
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 3 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Noir P.I.
Series: stand alone
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Trainee private investigator Lee Southern finds himself drawn into a web of danger and deceit as he investigates a series of bribery attempts targeting a wealthy entrepreneur. Under the expert tutelage of retiring PI Frank Swann, Lee uses all of his developing skills, instincts and cunning to get to the heart of a sordid mystery. As Lee delves deeper into the case and questions the intentions of those he’s working for, he finds himself the target of increasingly ominous threats and several attempts on his life.
Summer of Blood by Dave Warner
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Pub Date: 3 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: stand alone
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Two Australian police officers travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the summer of 1967 in search of a missing young man, only to find themselves fully immersed in the world of music, free love, drugs and hippie counterculture. They soon realise this isn’t just any ordinary missing person investigation. A big gig is the perfect place to get away with murder, and their search becomes a thrilling journey through the seamy side of the 1960s counterculture.
This book is not to be missed for fans of gripping crime fiction and rock’n’roll.
The Seven by Chris Hammer
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 3 October 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful.
But now—in startling circumstances—one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.
Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War?
What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?
With the killer still on the loose and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die?
September 2023
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 26 September 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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It's not just secrets buried at Wild Meadows.
For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. Rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother on an idyllic farming estate, they were given an elusive second chance of a happy family life.
But their childhood wasn't the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. And when a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?
The Cottage At Whisper Lake by Phillipa Nefri Clark
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 25 September 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 1st book in the Temple River series
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Up close, the cottage is tiny and perfect, with fresh paint on the walls and the scent of roses in the air. A bicycle with a woven basket at the front is at the end of the veranda. And on the lake, a wooden rowboat floats loose. She shouldn’t intrude, but Sadie thinks again of the woman’s plea: ‘I need to find my family. Will you help me?’
Sadie Forest hasn’t lived in Rivers End for fifteen years. Not since she was eighteen when, after a devastating argument with her father, she packed her bags and left. Not until now.
Now, Sadie’s father is dead and her mother Pam is struggling to run the family inn alone. Sadie tells herself she’ll help her mother sort out the business and then leave again as quickly as possible.
But Rivers End has a way of pulling you back in. When Sadie arrives, she finds a town that’s both nothing and everything like she remembered. On a bittersweet exploration of her old childhood haunts, Sadie meets construction company boss Dan, and Rebecca, the reclusive new owner of the solitary cottage at the edge of nearby Whisper Lake. The old woman’s request for help touches Sadie’s heart. And draws her into a decades-old mystery.
By helping Rebecca to lay her ghosts to rest, could it be time for Sadie to face the trauma in her own past, and against the beautiful coastal backdrop she once called home, can she find a way to heal?
Cover the Bones by Rachel Amphlett
Publisher: Saxon Publishing
Pub Date: 18 September 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 5th book in the Detective Mark Turpin series
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When archaeologists discover a skeleton in secluded woodland, the body is first thought to be related to an ancient Saxon settlement.
Then the torn and rotten remains of another woman's bones are uncovered, her injuries bearing the markings of abuse and a violent death.
Detective Mark Turpin is tasked with finding their killer, except the forensic evidence is perplexing and the victims' bodies are proving impossible to identify.
When a third victim is discovered only metres from the first, Mark and his team realise they're running out of time to find out whoever is responsible.
Are the brutal murders the only evidence in a case gone cold, or does a serial killer lurk in the shadows, stalking their next victim?
Shadow Angel by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 12 September 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Special Agent Beth Katz series
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In a dark cabin, a young woman sits totally still. Long dark hair hangs over her shoulders and heavy makeup adorns her pale face. Cherry red lips offer a hint of a smile, but she won’t ever smile again. Her body is already cold to the touch…
When black crows are spotted circling over an abandoned cabin in the woods near Rattlesnake Creek, FBI agent Beth Katz and her maverick partner Dax Styles fear something is very wrong. Beth has been hunting serial killers for years, and as she races to the forest she vows to serve her own form of justice, whatever the cost…
Cassie Durham’s friends reported her missing when she didn’t return home from a local bar a few days ago. Now, Cassie sits in darkness, her last breath taken days before. Beth notices the rouged cheeks and bright blue eyeshadow are nothing like the pictures she’s seen of Cassie alive. Did someone add the heavy makeup and pose her like this after death?
When another woman vanishes from a night out, Beth is convinced a twisted killer is in town. A clue on the dark web leads her to a local late-night hangout. Going undercover, she learns that when both girls vanished they were being watched by someone at the back of the crowded room.
Noticing a man following her every move, Beth knows she has one chance to capture him. With a knife in her pocket and hellbent on saving another innocent life, Beth is already sure she’s going to be the killer tonight. Otherwise she will become his next victim…
Dark Angel by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 12 September 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 1st book in the Special Agent Beth Katz series
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In the dark pine forest surrounding the quiet town of Rattlesnake Creek, the body of a young girl lies on the ground. Her angelic blonde hair spills over her shoulders and her unblinking eyes stare up toward the sky…
It was Beth Katz’s serial killer father who made her like she is: a successful FBI agent and an unstoppable vigilante dedicated to hunting down murderers who have evaded capture. Beth will push herself to the limits to deliver justice. Even if it means killing those who deserve to die.
When the body of missing schoolgirl Brooklyn Daniels is discovered in a secluded patch of woodland on the outskirts of town, Beth and her partner Dax Styles race to the scene. Brooklyn and her best friend left home to pick wildflowers a week ago and vanished without trace.
Taking in Brooklyn’s body carefully laid on a blanket and the dress neatly folded next to her, Beth suddenly freezes. She’s seen this before: in the files of a cold case. The perpetrator takes two girls—one vanishes, the other is killed and left with her clothes beside her. Now Beth knows she has a twisted serial killer on her hands, she’ll stop at nothing to catch him. Even if it means going against Dax’s orders…
Desperate to find the other missing girl, Beth’s heart pounds as she puts herself up as bait and walks into the secluded forest, knowing evil is lurking nearby. With Dax watching her every move, Beth prays the gamble pays off. Can she outsmart the murderer, or did she just walk into a trap? And when Beth finally comes face to face with the killer, will she hand him over or serve justice of her very own?
August 2023
Resurrection by Roger Simpson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: 30 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Forensic Mystery
Series: 2nd book in the Jane Halifax series
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A near-fatal car accident has left Jane in a coma. When she wakes, she has no idea who she is.
Initially comforted by unlikely spectres from past cases, Jane is unaware of everyone else’s concerns: the police who believe she was deliberately run off the road; a lawyer whose files were in her car at the time of the accident – files he should never have lent her; her neurosurgeon who fears a relapse; and her partner, Tim, who has to cope with the fact Jane remembers almost nothing of the last two years – including their relationship.
A young woman called Luna keeps luring Jane back to the present. Linked to a thirty-year cold case from Jane’s past, Luna has a quest of her own she can only solve with Jane’s help.
But if Jane wants to help Luna, she first needs to heal herself, and there just might be reasons beyond the accident that are hampering Jane’s recovery...
Ripper by Shelley Burr
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 30 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Gemma Guillory has lived in Rainier her entire life. She knows the tiny town's ins and outs like the back of her hand, the people like they are her family, their quirks as if they were her own.
She knows her once-charming town is now remembered for one reason, and one reason only. That three innocent people died. That the last stop on the Rainier Ripper's trail of death seventeen years ago was her innocuous little teashop. She knows that the consequences of catching the Ripper still haunt her police officer husband and their marriage to this day and that some of her neighbours are desperate - desperate enough to welcome a dark tourism company keen to cash in on Rainier's reputation as the murder town.
When the tour operator is killed by a Ripper copycat on Gemma's doorstep, the unease that has lurked quietly in the original killer's wake turns to foreboding, and she's drawn into the investigation. Unbeknownst to her, so is a prisoner named Lane Holland.
Gemma knows her town. She knows her people. Doesn't she?
Ordinary Gods and Monsters by Chris Womersley
Publisher: Picador Australia
Pub Date: 29 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: stand alone
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It could have been any summer evening, but of course it wasn't.
It was the end of some things, the beginning of so many others.
Nick Wheatley has finished high school, but he isn't ready for the rest of his life. His parents are getting divorced, his sister is downright weird and his best friend and neighbour, Marion, seems to have acquired a boyfriend.
One hot night, Marion's father is killed in a hit-and-run. There are no suspects and no leads. But a sly tip from the local psychic sends Nick and Marion into the undertow of a strange and sinister world they hadn't known existed in the suburbs - one of inscrutable gangsters, speed-dealing bikies and unpredictable, one-eyed conspiracy theorists.
It's a world they'll be lucky to survive.
Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli
Publisher: Furphies Press
Pub Date: 26 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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“You’re not going to murder me in the night, are you?” Emily asks.
“Haha. That’s funny,” I say.
Of course, I’m not going to murder her in the night. I need my laptop back first. That’s the whole point of making friends with Emily Harper, author of the hugely successful novel Diary of an Octopus. So I could get into her apartment and take back what’s mine.
Emily doesn’t know who I really am. She thinks I’m her biggest fan, her new best friend who happens to need a place to stay for a few days. She doesn’t realize the laptop she found—and took—from a busy airport almost two years ago, was mine.
I didn’t care about the laptop, just what was on it.
My diary.
The one I kept many years ago as a troubled thirteen-year-old girl with a vivid imagination and a flair for the dramatic. The diary Emily Harper has now published as her own.
She thinks it’s a story about a schoolgirl’s crush on her teacher, but she’s wrong. It’s a story about a murder. Two murders, if you count the hamster.
She thought it was okay to make a few changes and publish it under her own name, but she was wrong about that, too.
The Detective Up Late by Adrian McKinty
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Pub Date: 8 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 7th book in the Sean Duffy series
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Slamming the door on the hellscape of 1980s Belfast, Detective Inspector Sean Duffy hopes that the 1990s are going to be better for him and the people of Northern Ireland. As a Catholic cop in the mainly Protestant RUC he still has a target on his back, and with a steady girlfriend and a child the stakes couldn’t be higher.
After handling a mercurial triple agent and surviving the riots and bombings and assassination attempts, all Duffy wants to do now is live. But in his final days in charge of Carrickfergus CID, a missing persons report captures his attention. A fifteen-year-old traveler girl has disappeared and no one seems to give a damn about it. Duffy begins to dig and uncovers a disturbing underground of men who seem to know her very well. The deeper he digs the more sinister it all gets. Is finding out the truth worth it if DI Duffy is going to get himself and his colleagues killed? Can he survive one last case before getting himself and his family out over the water?
Dark Corners by Megan Goldin
Publisher: St Martins Press
Pub Date: 8 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Rachel Krall series
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Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?
When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.
When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail—identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand—the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.
The Caretaker by Gabriel Bergmoser
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 2 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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An isolated, empty ski resort in the off-season. A woman who doesn't want to be found. A man who may not be who he appears to be. A game of cat and mouse - with deadly consequences.
On the run from a controlling husband and his underworld associates in Melbourne, Charlotte has adopted a new identity and found a job as an off-season caretaker in a tiny, deserted alpine resort. Some dangerous people are looking for Charlotte and so she's lying low, tending to the lodges, happy to be alone, but jumping every time a floor creaks or the wind whistles through the empty buildings. She's trying to convince herself she's okay, that she got away. But then strange things start happening around the resort. And Charlotte starts to realise that every escape route is being sealed off, one by one.
Twelve Steps To A Long and Fulfilling Death by Sarah Smith
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Pub Date: 2 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Dark Humour
Series: stand alone
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Stacey was trying to live her best life, but now she’s dead. But why hasn't she passed on? Could it be her fatal car accident was actually murder?
Detectives Ed Beaufontaine and Rosie Garafino certainly think so. They have a long list of suspects, chief among them Stacey's fiancé, Liam. His business dealings and new relationship with Emily Jackson are raising a few eyebrows. As the detectives dig deeper, so does Stacey. With nothing but time on her hands, she forensically examines her past relationships – her pathological ex, unreliable father, controlling psychologist, and toxic girlfriends – realising she might have been better off without them. She's hoping she can steer the detectives in the right direction before she's doomed to wander for eternity. Because in the city of angels and 12-step programs, even the dead need a little help from time to time.
The Chasm by Bronwyn Hall
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 2 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Aussie Noir
Series: stand alone
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Every town needs somewhere to hide their secrets.
Andy King knew she should never return to Stonefield. Ten years ago, her boyfriend Will Hoffman disappeared without a trace and most people in the town thought she was to blame. But a decade is a long time to be homesick, and she isn't technically going back there. Only to Taplin, a small town in the neighbouring valley, far enough away from Stonefield she can stay under the radar, but close enough to the mountains that she can feel their pulse and breathe their special brand of oxygen. And it's only for four weeks, after all.
But Andy didn't bargain on running into those who are still looking for Will, the ones who have the most to lose if he is ever found. Andy will go to her grave before she reveals what had happened back then, but when she realises that those same people have other secrets hidden in the mountains, it's clear she's once again in their way. And this time sending her to her grave is exactly their intention.
Mole Creek by James Dunbar
Publisher: Bonnier Echo
Pub Date: 1 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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A hellish war. A deadly secret. Fifty years on, in a small Tasmanian town, the truth unfolds and the killing begins again …
Betrayal cannot be buried forever
In the tiny Tasmanian town of Mole Creek, retired Australian cop and Vietnam veteran Pete McAuslan has retreated to his fishing cabin to write his memoirs. In Sydney, his grandson, journalist and trashy true crime author Xander, learns that Pete has taken his own life, begging forgiveness in a suicide note
Arriving in Mole Creek in the aftermath of Pete's death, Xander discovers that his grandfather's laptop is missing. He begins to suspect that something is wrong, refusing to accept the facts as presented. With the local police not interested in investigating an apparently open-and-shut suicide, Xander sets about uncovering the truth of what happened to his grandfather.
In the process, he discovers long-buried secrets from Pete's time serving in the Vietnam war: secrets that Pete has withheld from him and everyone else for fifty years; secrets that powerful people would prefer to stay buried. Ensnared in a web of betrayals that began a generation before, Xander finds himself on the hitlist of a clinically violent assassin. Now he must race to identify the connection between the seemingly unremarkable death of an old Australian soldier and the imminent reactivation of the most powerful and potentially destructive 'sleeper' in the history of espionage – before the truth catches up with him.
The Unearthed by Lenny Bartulin
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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After decades-old human bones are discovered in the Tasmanian wilderness, Antonia Kovács returns home with questions for her father, a retired police inspector in Queenstown.
Meanwhile, Tom Pilar receives news of an inheritance, from a man he barely remembers, one of his father's friends from the early days, newly arrived in the island and looking for work.
Set amidst the harsh terrain of the timber and ore industries of the west coast, The Unearthed is a haunting novel about the past and its quiet but tenacious grip on the present. It reveals the tragic connections between the disparate lives of post-war migrants and local workers, and the fallibility of memory, the illusion of truths and the repercussions on real lives.
Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl by Fiona Britton
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 1 August 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: stand alone
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Sydney, 1930: In a well-heeled corner of Paddington, just a short distance from the razor gangs of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross, sits La Maison des Fleurs, an upscale brothel run by the indomitable Madame. The star of La Maison is Violet Kelly – beautiful, clever and determined to make something of herself in a world that has already taken so much.
When a former associate of Madame's emerges to claim a long-owed favour involving a kidnapped girl and an ancient curse, Violet is drawn into a risky game of cat and mouse that takes her from dangerous underworld dealings to raucous parties to untold stories about her own past, and, eventually, right into the heart of La Maison des Fleurs. But how much is she willing to risk to save her friends, her home and the life she's come to love? And will it be enough?
July 2023
Vendetta by Tony Park
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 27 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 7th book in the Sannie Van Rensburg series
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Captain Sannie van Rensburg and safari guide Mia Greenaway are caught in the crossfires of a decades-old feud between five veterans of South Africa's apartheid-era Border War.
Haunted by the deadly mission that shaped their lives forever, the ex-paratroopers must finally confront their demons, and each other, at the funeral of a comrade in the red dunes of the Kalahari Desert.
But their scars run deep, and as the truth emerges, each man must ask himself: When serving your country, what makes you a hero and what secrets are worth dying for?
The Pit by Peter Papathanasiou
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 25 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Outback Noir
Series: 3rd book in the DS Manolis series
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With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.
Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there's a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer.
They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow beings to suspect that Bob's desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?
Her Hidden Bones by Fiona Tarr
Publisher: Amazon
Pub Date: 14 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: 4th book in the Opal Fields series
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Constable Jenny Williams moved to an outback mining town to find her missing cousin. The cold case is finally warming up, but it appears the remote, desolate desert community is hiding more secrets.
When a car crashes into the local motel reception, Jenny jumps in to help dig the owner from the debris – only to find tragedy. A women’s corpse is discovered hidden in the carnage, turning the crash scene into a crime scene.
Jenny starts digging, but quickly discovers the prime suspect is her friend, the woman who’s been her rock since she came to town. Jenny’s gut is telling her Marj didn’t kill anyone, but she’ll need do what her boss hates – ruffle feathers to find the truth.
Dredging up the past puts Jenny in the killer’s sights. Someone wants the past kept in the past. They’ll do anything to keep their secrets hidden.
Even kill a cop!
Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Pub Date: 11 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, she's hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes they'll be safe as they wait out the storm.
She couldn't be more wrong.
Deep in the night, their tour guide goes missing...only to be discovered the following morning, his severed head impaled on a tree outside the cabin. Terrified, and completely isolated by the storm, Christa finds herself trapped with eight total strangers. One of them kills for sport...and they're far from finished. As the storm grows more dangerous and the number of survivors dwindles one by one, Christa must decide who she can trust before this frozen mountain becomes her tomb.
Killer Traitor Spy by Tim Ayliffe
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: 5 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 4th book in the John Bailey series
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Someone wants Russian millionaire Dmitry Lebedev dead. After years flying under the radar in Sydney, he’s just had a sex worker poisoned in his hotel room. In desperation he contacts his former CIA case officer, Ronnie Johnson, offering to expose a traitor inside the Australian government in return for protection.
John Bailey has spent decades risking his life to break news stories. Along the way he’s made some interesting friends, including Ronnie — who saved his life in Iraq — and Scarlett Merriman, whose night with Lebedev left her in a coma. And now they both need Bailey’s help.
While Bailey investigates what happened to Scarlett, Ronnie Johnson is calling in an old debt. Because the same people going after Lebedev have framed Ronnie for murder.
The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 5 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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Cast a stone. Aim true. Let her sink.
Nate can't believe he's dragged himself up to this backwater town. Port Flinders would have fallen off the map years ago, except for one thing. Tourists flock to its mangrove-lined shores for the annual Drowning Girl festival: sacrifice a girl at sea, and the fishing hauls that keep the town afloat will prosper. Or don't and the whole town will sink.
But it's just a legend, a gimmick. Everybody knows that.
As fireworks light up the night sky, a woman's body is pulled from the inky waters of the gulf. Shock waves threaten to tear Port Flinders apart when she's identified as Kelsey Webb: a local teenager thought dead for twenty-five years.
As Nate tries to find the truth about what happened to Kelsey, he uncovers a string of deadly accidents over the decades. All women. All drowned. And always during the festival.
In his search for answers, the legend of the Drowning Girl begins to take hold of Nate, weaving its way into his head and threatening to pull him under, and he begins to question which sacrifices are truly necessary.
Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Pub Date: 5 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Rural Mystery
Series: stand alone
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1987: It’s late summer and a time of change when 17-year-old Tess Dawes leaves the local shopping centre in the sleepy town of Lowbridge and is never seen again.
Tess’s unsolved disappearance is never far from the town’s memory. There’s those who grew up with Tess, and never left. And those who know more than they’re saying …
It just takes an outsider to ask the right questions.
2018: Katherine Ashworth, shattered by the death of her daughter, moves to her husband’s hometown. Searching for a way to pick up the pieces of her life, she joins the local historical society and becomes obsessed with the three-decades-old mystery.
As Katherine digs into that summer of 1987, she stumbles upon the trail of a second girl who vanished when no one cared enough to see what was happening in plain sight.
Her trail could lead right to Katherine’s door.
Barren Grounds by B. Michael Radburn
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 4 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: stand alone
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In 1960s Sydney, a killer stalks the streets – and one cop will risk everything to stop him.
The calling card of the killer known as ‘The Jeweller’ is as elegant as it is gruesome: a pair of ring fingers, separated from their owners, encircled by a band of wire, delivered directly to Senior Detective Joe Capello. When the Jeweller taunts Joe and his team into meeting him in the diseased grounds of Barren Park, the consequences of that evening will have permanent repercussions for everyone involved. And for Joe, it gets personal.
Two years later, Joe is off the force, but no less obsessed with the Jeweller and his horrific crimes. When a new parcel arrives at his home, Joe is invited back onto the task force and given the opportunity to redeem himself. But vindication relies on Joe finally capturing The Jeweller and now he has to decide if he’s willing to do what it takes – whatever it takes – to finally bring this case to a close.
The Berlin Traitor by A.W. Hammond
Publisher: Bonnier Echo
Pub Date: 4 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Auguste Duchene series
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July, 1945. The war in Europe is finally over. But Auguste Duchene, who survived occupied Paris at great personal cost, cannot escape his past. He finds himself helping the Allies to pursue a Gestapo war criminal through the ravaged and dangerous streets of Berlin. Duchene soon learns, however, that, although one global conflict may have ended, another is beginning, and he is in a deadly race against the Russians as they hunt the same man. And, once again, at the heart of all he does, are his extraordinary wife Sabine and his beloved daughter Marienne.
With its vivid evocation of the post-war hardship and desperation of Germany’s capital, The Berlin Traitor pits a man of principle, who hates war and all it stands for, against relentless nationalism and self-interest.
Four Dogs Missing by Rhys Gard
Publisher: Bonnier Echo
Pub Date: 4 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: Stand Alone
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While estranged twins Oliver and Theo Wingfield are identical in appearance, they couldn't be more different. Theo, an extrovert verging on arrogant, was always a drifter, a nomad, operating on the fringes of the law. Oliver, intense, creative and introspective, was destined to become a winemaker. Each vintage, every bottle from Oliver's Mudgee-based label, Four Dogs Missing, sells out.
And now, after fifteen years without contact, Theo unexpectedly turns up at his brother's vineyard, bearing an invitation that his twin knows nothing about. The quiet and fulfilling life that the winemaker has built for himself is about to change overnight: Theo's arrival is the catalyst for a series of murders involving those closest to Oliver. Finding himself the main suspect, Oliver soon discovers that not everyone in Mudgee supports a reclusive and unorthodox vigneron who's shied away from the community that helped him succeed.
Oliver is inexorably drawn into a sinister world where poisoned liquor and stolen art leave a deadly trail. Abandoning his grapevines, he sets out to solve the crimes – and confront his damaged past – before someone else he loves is found dead … beside a bottle of his own wine.
Traced by Catherine Jinks
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 4 July 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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Jane is a contact tracer. She has to call a lot of people and some of them don’t want to talk. Various reasons – tax or immigration issues, infidelity. Domestic abuse.
Jane knows all about that. She and her daughter Tara have spent years in hiding from Tara’s manipulative and terrifying ex. Now, as Jane talks to a close contact, she realises the woman on the phone is scared of the same man – and he’s close. Too close.
Suddenly the past comes slamming back into the present as Jane realises she and Tara can’t keep running forever.
One day, they’re going to be found.
June 2023
The Truth About the Accident by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 30 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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I gaze at my husband’s once-handsome face, so still and pale in the hospital bed. The doctors say I should keep talking. He might be able to hear me even after the terrible accident that left him fighting for his life. But all I have to whisper to my husband is this: I know what you did.
Every day I wave my husband Damon off with a kiss and a smile, drive our precious children to school, and make sure our house is pristine before preparing a delicious meal. I pretend I’m not filled with fury that he once nearly destroyed our perfect life. It’s important to carry on as normal.
That is, until the accident.
My husband was hit by a car. It was pouring with rain. Nobody saw what happened. But the police are asking questions…
Do they know about the terrible argument we had that day?
Do they know about the text message I sent, telling someone to Delete everything?
And do they know that no-one is happier that my husband is in a hospital bed, than me?
Southern Aurora by Mark Brandi
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 28 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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Jimmy is a kid growing up fast on the poorest street in town. He tries to do everything right and look out for his mum and his younger brother. His older brother is in jail, so it's up to Jimmy to hold things together. But small-town life is unforgiving if you're from the other side of the tracks.
If only his mum didn't drink so much.
If only he could win the school billycart race.
If only his best friend understood.
If only he could stop his mum's boyfriend from getting angry.
If only he was there.
Jimmy soon learns that even when you get things right, everything can still go wrong.
When One of Us Hurts by Monica Vuu
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Pub Date: 27 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: Stand Alone
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Port Brighton hates outsiders. The small coastal town has its own ways of dealing with the evil, the foolish, the misled, and it holds tightly to them. But the seams start to split after two deaths occur on the same tragic night: a baby abandoned at the foot of a lighthouse, and a drunken teenager drowned in the storming sea.
Livvy is an insider. She keeps a watchful eye on what's happening in town while looking out for her troubled older brother. What has broken inside him - and why?
Marie is an outsider. She's escaped Port Brighton and started a new life, but she can't forget the night at the lighthouse - it changed her family forever.
As gossip fuels rumours and tensions erode trust, the bonds that keep Port Brighton together begin to fray, threatening to expose the truth about more than just the two deaths ...
Lay Your Body Down by Amy Suiter Clarke
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 27 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: Stand Alone
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When Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church six years ago, she vowed never to go back. Lars, the love of her life, was about to marry local golden girl Eve, author of a popular blog about the church’s ‘Noble Wife’ teachings.
But now Lars is dead, and Del is convinced it couldn’t have been an accident.
When she returns for the funeral, she discovers the church—and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin—has taken over the town. And Eve isn’t acting much like a grieving widow.
Del is determined to cut through the church’s lies and corruption to find out what really happened to Lars—even if it means confronting memories she’s spent years trying to bury.
Her Deadly Truth by L.A. Larkin
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 16 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Sally Fairburn series
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For weeks, Carolyn Tate’s suspicions that her husband is trying to kill her have been ignored—by her neighbors, her friends and even her family. But just two hours after her last attempt to make someone listen, her body is discovered.
Carolyn’s neighbor, ex-police officer Sally Fairburn, is determined to seek justice for her friend’s death. But although Carolyn suspected her husband, Sally finds no evidence he was involved. And Carolyn’s best friends are strangely quick to defend him…
Sally knows one of Carolyn’s friends, Lauren, is hiding something. She can see it in her tear-stained cheeks, averted eyes and tense shoulders: Fear. But just as Lauren’s finally ready to come clean, she is murdered in a brutal hit and run. Reeling from Lauren’s death, Sally is horrified to receive a series of dropped calls and anonymous flowers, leaving her with the unsettled feeling that she, too, is being followed…
Then, on edge but feeling closer than ever to the truth, Sally watches a stranger threaten her teenage son—a finger drawn across his throat. Her world stops. It’s not just Sally at risk—everyone she loves is in danger unless she finds the truth… Can Sally stop a brutal killer before more innocent lives are lost?
Next Girl Missing by L.A. Larkin
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 16 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 1st book in the Sally Fairburn series
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Four years ago, six young girls were snatched from the streets of quiet, suburban Pioneer Heights—chilling, fake “missing” posters of each victim hung around town just before they were taken. Ex-police officer Sally Fairburn has always been haunted by the case and their inability to bring the girls home. Having lost her own daughter, she knows only too well the pain it brings…
Four years on, the wide brown eyes and neat braids of twelve-year-old Anna Moorhouse—the last girl to disappear—still plague Sally’s dreams. She has never stopped fighting to bring the devastated families back together, but all leads have gone cold. Until Sally receives a chilling call out of the blue: their former main suspect, in prison for another crime, wants to talk to her… alone.
Desperate for answers, Sally races to interview him. But a horrifying discovery stops her in her tracks: a missing poster—on her daily running route, in the same style used four years ago—with Sally’s own face on it…
Not only is Sally in grave danger, but the more threats she receives, the more convinced she becomes that the killer is a lot closer to home than she ever could have imagined… But can Sally finally catch him before any more innocents disappear—and before Sally herself becomes his next victim…?
Their Wicked Games by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 13 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 19th book in the Kane and Alton series
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On a secluded path near Black Rock Falls, three bodies lie bloodied and still—the arrows that killed them removed, and polished penny coins carefully placed on their frozen eyes. When Sheriff Jenna Alton and Deputy David Kane are called in, they are shocked to recognise the hallmarks of an infamous serial killer. But he’s been in prison for ten years.
Jenna is convinced that the attacker knew the trio and lured them into the forest. But who would want to harm three innocent teenagers? And how does a convicted murderer fit in? Jenna knows she must question James Earl Stafford—one of America’s most dangerous killers—if she’s to save more innocent young lives.
With Stafford refusing to give answers, Jenna is convinced that a copycat killer is stalking her small town. And her worst fears are realised when a local fisherman discovers another teenager’s lifeless body floating in the shallows of a local watering hole with the same penny coins covering her eyes.
As parents panic for their children’s lives, Jenna works around the clock to track down the murderer, but little does she know that one of her own team is now being watched. Can Jenna play the killer’s wicked game and prevent another life from being taken?
Broken Bay by Margaret Hickey
Publisher: Random House Australia
Pub Date: 13 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 3rd book in the DS Mark Ariti series
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Old loyalties and decades-long feuds rise to the surface in this stunning crime novel, set in a spectacular Australian landscape known for its jagged cliffs and hidden caves.
Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy.
Renowned cave-diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark’s boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation.
But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before . . .
Suddenly Mark is diving deep into the town’s history - and in particular the simmering rivalry between its two most prominent families, the Doyles and Sinclairs.
Then Cherie Swinson, a former actress, is murdered in the Sinclairs’ old home – and Mark is left wondering which is more dangerous: Broken Bay’s hidden subterranean world or the secretive town above it . . .
The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 7 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery / Cozy
Series: 1st book in the Ill-Mannered Ladies series
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Welcome to the secret life of the Colebrook twins: unnoticed old maids to most, but unseen champions to those in need - society be damned.
Lady Augusta Colebrook, 'Gus', is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend's goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
The sisters set out to Caroline's country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. With Lord Evan injured and unconscious, the sisters have no choice but to bring him on their mission to save Caroline. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.
And so begin the beguiling adventures of the Colebrook twins ...
Black Lies by Mercedes Mercier
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 7 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Laura Fleming series
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Only a handful of inmates in Westmead Prison have committed crimes so atrocious that they've been locked away for life, and for fifteen years, convicted murderer Tomas Kovak has refused to disclose where he hid the body of his victim, a vulnerable young woman.
When Kovak is diagnosed with terminal cancer, intense pressure is put on Dr Laura Fleming, criminal psychologist, to find the location of Kovak's victim so her grieving family can find some sort of closure.
Laura has to use all of her training, skills and instinct to form a connection with the cold, remorseless killer, a man who has refused any psychological assessment since the day he confessed to the murder.
With every session, Laura becomes more and more convinced that something about Kovak's story doesn't ring true, and as his health rapidly deteriorates, the pressure on Laura ramps up. She becomes increasingly desperate, resorting to unconventional methods to find out what she can from the secretive man.
As she inches closer to the truth, she discovers some people will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden ... and the people Laura cares most about are fair game.
The Interpreter by Brooke Robinson
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Pub Date: 6 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Single mother Revelle Lee is an interpreter who spends her days translating for victims, witnesses and the accused across London. Only she knows what they're saying. Only she knows the truth.
When she believes a grave injustice is about to happen, and a guilty man is going to be labelled innocent, she has the power to twist an alibi to get the verdict she wants. She's willing to risk it all to do what's right.
But when someone discovers she lied, Revelle finds the cost might be too high... and she could lose everything, including her son.
A Disappearance In Fiji by Nilima Rao
Publisher: Soho Crime
Pub Date: 6 June 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: stand alone
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A charming and atmospheric debut mystery featuring a 25-year-old Indian police sergeant investigating a missing persons case in colonial Fiji
1914, Fiji: Akal Singh, 25, would rather be anywhere but this tropical paradise—or, as he calls it, “this godforsaken island.” After a promising start to his police career in Hong Kong, Akal has been sent to Fiji as punishment for a humiliating professional mistake. Lonely and grumpy, Akal plods through his work and dreams of getting back to Hong Kong or his native India.
When an indentured Indian woman goes missing from a sugarcane plantation and Fiji’s newspapers scream “kidnapping,” the inspector-general reluctantly assigns Akal the case. Akal, eager to achieve redemption, agrees—but soon finds himself far more invested than he could have expected.
May 2023
Blackwater by Jacqueline Ross
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 30 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Gothic Noir
Series: stand alone
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A baby will never be born at Blackwater.
There is much that heavily pregnant Grace still doesn’t know about her new husband King’s background. So, when word comes that King’s father is dying, Grace is eager to accompany him to his childhood home, Blackwater, located in a remote part of Tasmania.
Things go badly from the start. The house is in terrible repair, King’s dying father yells at Grace to leave and King’s twin sister, Ruth, seems disturbed by Grace’s presence. After his father’s death, King convinces Grace they must stay and help Ruth settle the estate, but as time stretches on he grows strange and distant. When Grace learns about Blackwater’s dark history, she begins to fear that it is the house itself exerting an evil influence on her husband.
Feeling increasingly isolated, and with the birth of her child looming, Grace knows she must uncover the secrets of Blackwater if she hopes to free her family from its grip.
Bunny by S.E. Tolsen
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 30 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Silas didn't have a happy childhood. Aunt Bunny made sure of that. But out of money and almost out of time, Silas and his girlfriend Rose are forced to return to his childhood home.
Back to the darkness, back to the woods, where addiction and hedonism are disguising something much more sinister ...
Plagued by strange, unnerving events, Silas is drawn back into the family by an ancient presence deep in the woods. It will not let him go, and neither will Bunny.
Orphan Road by Andrew Nette
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Pub Date: 29 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime / Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Chance series
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Gary Chance is an ex-Australian army driver and nightclub bouncer turned professional thief and in need of a job. An offer comes from a former employer, once notorious Melbourne social identity, now aging owner of a failing S&M club, Vera Leigh.
A shadowy real estate developer is trying to squeeze Leigh out of a rapidly gentrifying city. But she has a rescue plan that involves one of Australia’s biggest heists, Melbourne’s Great Bookie Robbery. On April 21, 1976, a well organised gang stole as much as three million dollars, a fortune at the time, from a Melbourne bookmakers club. The money was never recovered. No one was ever charged. And everyone associated with the crime has since died, either by natural causes or violently.
Leigh maintains that money was not the only thing stolen that day. So was a stash of uncut South African diamonds. And she wants Chance’s help to retrieve them. Problem is, they are not the only ones looking.
The heist always goes wrong and the consequences, even half a century later, can be deadly.
Paradise by Patricia Wolf
Publisher: Embla Books
Pub Date: 17 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural / Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the DS Walker series
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As DS Lucas Walker recovers from his injuries, he heads from Caloodie, Queensland, to the Gold Coast. Surfer's Paradise: a seaside city where gleaming high rises fringe sparkling surf beaches, sunny days lead to wild nights, and criminals and bikie gangs mingle with tourists and dignitaries at five star hotels, clubs and casinos.
Before long, Walker is part of a team trying to solve a horrific home invasion and murder that has claimed the life of a young mother and left her nine-year-old daughter fighting to survive. Can he help them find the perpetrators, and keep the young girl safe? Meanwhile, Vandals head honcho Stefan Markovich is in town - and Walker once again finds himself on a dangerous collision course with the drug gang.
Weak from his injuries, and grieving, can Walker solve a case that is more shocking than anyone expected, and survive the dark underbelly of Australia's Surfer's Paradise?
No Trace by Michael Trant
Publisher: Bantam Australia
Pub Date: 16 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Gabe Ahern series
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'Did you have to kill them all?’
It’s the question Gabe Ahern has been running from since he bust open a major criminal operation - and left a dozen men dead. He knows that one day the ‘bad guys’ will come for revenge.
A skilled dog-trapper, Gabe has one rule: leave no sign, leave no trace. And for the last year he’s been successfully hiding out on a friend’s remote cattle property in the Pilbara.
But when Goldmont Station opens its gates to a bunch of city folk eager for an authentic outback experience, Gabe can feel eyes on the back of his neck. Are all these visitors really tourists?
In the space of 24 hours, the station’s helicopter falls from the sky . . . the phones and internet go down . . . and one of the guests turns up dead . . .
With major flooding suddenly cutting off all exit roads, Gabe fears he’s as trapped as the dogs he hunts. And that his bloody past has finally caught up with him.
Death In the Dandenongs by Brigid George
Publisher: Potoroo Press
Pub Date: 15 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 7th book in the Dusty Kent series
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In April 2022, Queenie Forsyth died suddenly in a village in Melbourne’s picturesque Dandenong Ranges.
Renowned cold case warrior Dusty Kent drops everything and rushes to The Dandenongs, full of regret for ignoring the retired socialite’s call for help. Dusty’s fierce determination to solve murder cases is fuelled by a personal connection through her own family tragedy. Every fibre in her body will be directed toward exposing the truth.
A local resident suggests Queenie was murdered because she stumbled on the truth about the disappearance fifty years previously of Australia’s first celebrity chef.
Dusty wonders if the killer is closer to home. Is it Queenie’s son? A neighbour? A friend?
Unexpected secrets, like monsters from the deep, loom to the surface of the small community in the hills as Dusty follows one lead after another.
Eventually Dusty is sure she knows who murdered Queenie. But how can she find the evidence needed to bring the killer to justice?
The Rush by Michelle Prak
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: 3 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone (debut)
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The first drops start to fall when Quinn spies the body. With no reception and nothing but an empty road for miles, does she stop to help or keep driving to safety?
Back at the iconic country pub where Quinn works, Andrea is sandbagging the place in preparation for heavy rains. Alone with her sleeping son in the back room, she reluctantly lets a biker in to wait out the storm.
Out on the wet roads, tensions arise among four backpackers on their way to Darwin. They haven’t prepared for this kind of weather and the flooding isn’t the only threat on the horizon …
The Money Club by Fiona Lowe
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 3 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Urban Mystery
Series: stand alone
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Izzy Harrington's fiance is a successful entrepreneur and everyone's friend, but today she's waiting for him to get home so she can tell him they're over. Except Brad never arrives.
Instead, three angry men knock on the door and insist on talking to Brad. When the police arrive asking difficult questions and demanding to see his passport, Izzy's packed suitcases suddenly take on a whole new meaning.
Brad's disappearance sends ripples through their small town and a furious mob camps on Izzy's lawn desperate to recover their losses. They have Izzy in their crosshairs, determined to make her pay for Brad's audacious con.
As the search intensifies, conflicting clues emerge. Clues that suggest no one really knew Brad - least of all Izzy ...
After the Smoke Clears by Kylie Kaden
Publisher:
Pantera Press
Pub Date: 2 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime Suspense
Series: stand alone
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Her family offered her a neat life of privilege and power, until Lotti turned away from her father’s plans – and toward what she really wanted. Now happy as a primary school teacher, Lotti may even have found the right man, a single dad, not the kind of guy who will fit in with her family, but who nonetheless feels like home.
But Lotti isn’t the only one running from her past. August’s strong silent demeanour may be part of his attraction, but as they get closer, his inability to talk about his past begins to interfere with their future.
When August receives a cryptic text message that prompts an immediate departure, Lotti and Augie’s six-year-old son Otto follow him to his small hometown where decades of lies begin to unravel. When details of a shocking crime emerge, Lotti will have to decide if she trusts the man August has become more than she fears the man he once was.
Echo Lake by Joan Sauers
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 2 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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In the sleepy, scenic Southern Highlands of New South Wales, a beautiful young woman goes missing.
Six years later, recently divorced historian Rose McHugh leaves the city to start a new life in the Highlands and finds a roll of film buried in her back garden. On it are photos of the missing woman.
Against the advice of an enigmatic detective, she uses her powers of persuasion and her knack for deciphering clues to pursue the case. As Rose searches through tangled secrets and hidden places haunted by the past, she realises there is a killer at large.
As she makes new friends, and dangerous enemies, Rose closes in on a suspect—but will she solve the mystery too late to save herself?
The Fall Between by Darcy Tindale
Publisher: Random House Australia
Pub Date: 2 May 2023
Sub-Genre: Rural Noir
Series: stand alone
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On a hot November morning, the first body lies in a cattle trough . . . It will be another two hours before rigor mortis sets in. Until then, the slim fingers will float below the water’s surface, gently bobbing, beckoning Detective Giles to come and find her.
Detective Rebecca Giles has just finished interviewing aging petty crim Sticky Pete over a spate of break-and-enters when a disturbing new report comes in. Twelve-year-old Kayleen Ellis has vanished from her home in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley.
Hours later, Giles is a local hero, having apparently solved Kayleen’s case and the spate of jewellery thefts.
Yet the hangover from her celebrations has barely kicked in when the body of young jillaroo Ava Emmerson is discovered in gruesome circumstances on a nearby farm.
Giles is convinced the link between all three cases lies in the town’s tragic history, perhaps even in her own mother’s mysterious drowning thirty years ago.
In a place where nothing much changes, suddenly a great deal is happening - and Giles’s life and career are now on the line.
April 2023
The Other Side Of Her by B.M. Carroll
Publisher: Affirm Press
Pub Date: 24 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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A missing backpacker
A million-dollar reward
Ordinary people cracking under pressure
Busy parents Mia and Ryan were devastated when their former nanny, Irish backpacker Tara, tragically disappeared. But that was two years ago. Now they want to move on and focus on their son … so why are the police questioning them again?
When single mum Beth wakes up to a house burglary, she immediately suspects her abusive ex-husband. But when bad things continue to happen to Beth, her fear is overtaken by desperation and anger.
A dark secret binds these families together. How far will they go to protect their own?
Home Before Night by J.P. Pomare
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 23 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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As the third wave of the virus hits, all inhabitants of Melbourne are given until 8 pm to get to their homes. Wherever they are when the curfew begins, they must live for four weeks and stay within five kilometres of. When Lou's son, Samuel, doesn't arrive home by nightfall, she begins to panic.
He doesn't answer his phone. He doesn't message. His social media channels are inactive. Lou is out of her mind with worry, but she can't go to the police, because she has secrets of her own. Secrets that Samuel just can't find out about. Lou must find her son herself and bring him home.
The Tea Ladies by Amanda Hampson
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Pub Date: 12 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Cosy Crime
Series: stand alone
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They keep everyone's secrets, until there's a murder...
Sydney, 1965: After a chance encounter with a stranger, tea ladies Hazel, Betty and Irene become accidental sleuths, stumbling into a world of ruthless crooks and racketeers in search of a young woman believed to be in danger.
In the meantime, Hazel’s job at Empire Fashionwear is in jeopardy. The firm has turned out the same frocks and blouses for the past twenty years and when the mini-skirt bursts onto the scene, it rocks the rag trade to its foundations. War breaks out between departments and it falls to Hazel, the quiet diplomat, to broker peace and save the firm.
When there is a murder in the building, the tea ladies draw on their wider network and put themselves in danger as they piece together clues that connect the murder to a nearby arson and a kidnapping. But if there’s one thing tea ladies can handle, it’s hot water.
The Signatory by Stuart Black
Publisher: Glass House
Pub Date: 10 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: stand alone
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After selling his start-up business, Sam has the kind of money only dreams are made of. Young, and married to the love of his life, it's time for Sam to enjoy his good fortune.
That is, until Sam's Chief Financial Officer is taken hostage by a ruthless criminal demanding a document in his possession. A brutal murder follows, Sam is the prime suspect, and soon he and his wife, Lauren, are on the run from both the police and a faceless network of conspirators somehow connected to the company that just bought them out.
In a fight for survival, you need to know who to trust. And when it's no longer the company you work for, and your best friend is dead, who do you turn to?
Dying To Know by Rae Cairns
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pub Date: 5 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Twelve years ago budding journalist Geneva Leighton received a phone call that stopped her life in its tracks. Her terrified sister, Amber, was locked in the boot of a moving car and begging Geneva for help. Amber was never heard from again.
Since that night, Geneva's days have revolved around caring for her traumatised niece and nephew, despite the unpredictable behaviour of their father ... and keeping the search for her sister alive. But the knowledge it should have been her in the boot of the car haunts her waking hours.
When Sergeant Jesse Johns turns up with shocking new evidence about Amber, Geneva's world is thrown into chaos again.
The police leads hit a dead end and desperate for answers, Geneva becomes Amber's lone warrior for justice.
As she edges closer and closer to the truth, she uncovers dangerous secrets that have the power to destroy everyone she loves.
Fire With Fire by Candice Fox
Publisher: Bantam Australia
Pub Date: 4 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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A married couple launch a deadly plan to find their missing child.
A half-dead man washes up on a Los Angeles beach.
A rookie cop is fired on her first day.
Ryan and Elsie Delaney don’t accept the official line that their young daughter drowned on Santa Monica beach. Her body has never been found and their pleas for a proper investigation are rejected.
So now the desperate pair are raining hellfire on the police.
Taking three hostages at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, they give law enforcement an ultimatum: if Tilly isn’t located in the next 24 hours, they will destroy evidence in several major cases.
Detective Charlie Hoskins only just survived five years embedded with the ruthless gang known as the Death Machines. All his work is in that lab. If the police won’t look for Tilly, he will. Even if that means accepting help from Lynette Lamb, the rookie officer sacked for blowing his cover – and having him thrown to the sharks.
Finding Tilly is now a matter of life and death – for the Delaneys, for their hostages, for Charlie and Lamb, and for the little girl who one day simply vanished . . .
The Double Bind by Loraine Peck
Publisher: Text Publishing
Pub Date: 4 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the Johnny Novak series
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You can run, but you can never escape your family.
Amy and Johnny Novak have fled to a seaside town in northern New South Wales. They want a fresh start with their eleven-year-old son Sasha, and Amy is determined to shake off the legacy of Johnny’s criminal family.
But it’s hard to outrun the Novaks.
Are Amy and Johnny still keeping secrets from each other? And how did they get involved in a high-stakes game with Arturo Raoul De Leon, aka The Snake? Can Amy rise to the occasion to keep her family safe or will she be forced to become Johnny’s partner in crime?
Into the Night by Fleur McDonald
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 4 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 9th book in the Detective Dave Burrows series
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Detective Dave Burrows is devastated. After an acrimonious divorce, Dave has no choice but to let his ex-wife and her father Mark call the shots: supervised, one-hour visits are all he's allowed if he wants to see his two young daughters. And he knows he'll jump through any hoops to see Bec and Alice.
On Leo Perry's farm, sixty kilometres out of Yorkenup, the only positive in Leo's day is the unswerving loyalty of his dog, Coffee. Thanks to yet another power outage, Leo is out in the morning heat, refuelling the water pump. But seconds later he watches in horror as the tank explodes. Flames engulf wooden beams and sparks ignite grass just as Leo realises he's at the end of a one-way petrol trail, the fire roaring straight for him.
When Dave and his partner Detective Bob Holden are called to Leo's ravaged farm, they're unclear if they're dealing with arson, suicide or something else. There's been no sign of Leo anywhere, and his wife Jill is distraught. Leo and his dog appear to have vanished. But, when Dave and Bob begin their investigation, what they find makes no sense at all.
Her Broken Bones by Fiona Tarr
Publisher: Kindle
Pub Date: 4 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: 2nd book in the Opal Fields series
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Constable Jenny Williams came to the opal mining town of Coober Pedy to solve a family mystery, but two dead women in her first month have her colleagues labelling her a murder magnet.
A young woman is found dead at the side of a remote outback road, presumably victim of a hit and run. But she’s miles from anywhere, barefoot and covered in blood that has nothing to do with an accident.
As Jenny hunts down her prime suspect, new forensic evidence turns her theories upside down. Has she made a huge mistake and led a vigilante right to an innocent person’s door?
Homecoming by Kate Morton
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 4 April 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime, suspense
Series: stand alone
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Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959:
At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.
Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in hospital.
At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true-crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event – a murder mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.
March 2023
The Running Club by Ali Lowe
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 15 March 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: stand alone
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Everyone pays a premium to live in this town. But someone's paid with their life.
The rules of the running club are the same as they have always been: keep your breath steady, keep your mind sharp, record your laps! Only now there's a new one: don't get killed. The wealthy community of Esperance is picture-perfect. Big houses, stunning views, beautiful people. A brand new running track for the local club to jog around in the evenings. From the outside, it looks like paradise.
But the women of the town know the truth: you can hide anything - from wrinkles to secrets from your past - if you have enough money.
You could even hide a murder.
Dark Mode by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Publisher: Ultimo Press
Pub Date: 8 March 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Is it paranoia – or is someone watching?
For years, Reagan Carsen has kept her life offline. No socials. No internet presence. No photos. Safe.
Until the day she stumbles on a shocking murder in a Sydney laneway. The victim looks just like her.
Coincidence?
As more murders shake the city and she’s increasingly drawn out from hiding, Reagan is forced to confront her greatest fear.
She’s been found.
Apartment 303 by Kelli Hawkins
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 8 March 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense
Series: stand alone
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Even a locked door can't keep you safe
Twenty-six-year-old Rory rarely leaves her apartment, though her little dog Buster keeps her company. Days are spent working for her aunt's PI business, and watching and imagining histories for the homeless men, the Dossers, across the road. At night she walks Buster on the roof, gazes at the stars and wonders.
The night before New Year's Eve, one of the Dossers is murdered, an incident which brings the world - police, new neighbours, her dark past and new possibilities - crashing through Rory's front door.
She thought she was keeping her fears at bay. But has her sanctuary turned into her prison? Or is it safer for everyone if Rory stays locked away?
Now You See Me by D.K. Hood
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 7 March 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 18th book in the Kane and Alton series
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When a car belonging to Black Rock Falls’ much-loved bartender Maisy Jones is found abandoned on an ice-covered road outside of town, Sheriff Jenna Alton and her deputy David Kane are called in. The exhaust has been tampered with, which can only mean one thing: someone wanted Maisy stranded on that isolated road…
Finding a red backpack on the same perilous stretch of highway, Jenna hopes it will contain clues to Maisy’s whereabouts. But the debit cards inside belong to local teaching assistant, Billy Stevens. He didn’t show up for work that day. Billy too has vanished into thin air.
Jenna needs to find Maisy and Billy fast, but her frantic search only throws up another missing person. Canvassing the small town festooned with Christmas lights, Jenna has the impossible task of tracking down a twisted murderer plucking victims from their everyday lives and leaving no trace.
Almost giving up hope, she makes a sickening discovery in the church at the center of town, one that sends shockwaves through the tight-knit community. Everyone is afraid to let their loved ones out of sight. But how many more innocent lives must be lost before Jenna can catch the killer among them?
Birds In Flight by Anni Taylor
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Pub Date: 7 March 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Two estranged sisters reunite to solve the harrowing mystery of their missing mother.
In 1998, the American Jorgenson family had been on a year-long road trip in Australia. One humid, storming night, the mother - Elsa Jorgenson - vanished in an isolated stretch of Australian everglades. Elsa was never seen again.
That night, twelve-year-old Lily Jorgenson was left alone and terrified in the family camper—even her teenage sister Iris is missing. When Iris comes racing back through the rain, she refuses to tell where she’s been. Lily is certain her sister is hiding a dark secret.
24 years later, Lily is a travel writer living a settled life with her son in Pennsylvania, USA. Lily and Iris are estranged, with Iris’s secret having torn them apart. When floods dredge up their mother’s backpack from the everglades, tantalising clues are uncovered, and the police reopen the cold case.
Lily returns to Australia, determined to force Iris to finally tell her secret - and to do that, she'll have to reunite with her. But when Lily unlocks the gut-wrenching events of the past, everything she thought was true about her family is about to shatter.
February 2023
She Too by Eve Thomson
Publisher: Bonnier Echo
Pub Date: 28 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Legal Thriller
Series: stand alone
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A novel about reputation, defamation, the exercise and abuse of power – and the pursuit of a fragile truth.
At age twenty-eight, Romola Cross is already jaded by her work as a criminal defence lawyer in Sydney. In the aftermath of her father's death, she decides to reinvent herself, and blindly accepts a position at prestigious Melbourne law firm Bassett Brown. She soon finds herself in a place where the clients are household names, and the stakes are higher than she could have possibly imagined.
Patrick Payne is the only son of famed property tycoon Malcolm Payne. After years spent in his father's shadow, Patrick is trying his luck in politics. But when Patrick's girlfriend Hana is found dead in his home, the media accuse him of being an abusive partner, drawing comparisons with the death of his teenage sweetheart many years earlier. At the insistence of his father, Patrick sues for defamation.
With his reputation in tatters, Patrick becomes Romola's first client. Under the watchful eye of a narcissistic supervising partner, Romola sets out to defend his reputation. Drawn into the Paynes' life of privilege, and torn by conflicting family and client loyalties, Romola confronts the question of how to prove Patrick is a good man without sacrificing all that she holds dear.
Lest We Forgive by Phillipa Nefri Clark
Publisher: Amazon Digital
Pub Date: 28 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Book 1 in the Liz Moorland series
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A late night. An icy road. A car wrapped around a tree.
When Detective Liz Moorland stares at the lifeless faces of her ex-colleague’s daughter and son-in-law, she knows it is enough to push Vince Carter over the edge.
Vince, a bitter and reclusive retired cop, was once a hero to many. But in his eyes, he has failed those he most loved. Estranged from his daughter before her death, the enormity of his loss is immeasurable.
While Liz’s hands are full chasing an escaped criminal, Vince—alongside his fight for custody of Melanie, his eight-year-old granddaughter and sole survivor of the wreck—pieces together a compelling theory that the crash was no accident.
Vince’s theory provides Liz with an unexpected connection to her case and simultaneously raises concerns over Melanie’s safety and what she saw that fateful night.
Those concerns are justified. One person knows what the little girl saw.
The killer.
Judgement Day by Mali Waugh
Publisher: Macmillan Australia
Pub Date: 28 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: debut
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Family law judge Kaye Bailey is found murdered in her chambers. Is this the work of a disgruntled complainant? Or an inside job by a jealous colleague? Or is there something even more insidious at the heart of this brutal act?
Detective Jillian Basset is just back from maternity leave, struggling with new motherhood as she tackles the biggest case of her career. As her work and home lives get messier and messier, though, something's going to give.
Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne
Publisher: Bantam Australia
Pub Date: 21 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Suspense / BlackHumour
Series: stand alone (debut)
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Lenny Marks is good at not remembering.
She has spent the last twenty years not thinking about the day her mother left her when she was still a child. Her stepfather’s parting words, however, remain annoyingly unforgettable: 'You did this.'
Now thirty-seven, Lenny prefers contentment and order over the unreliability of happiness and the messiness of relationships. She fills her days teaching at the local primary school, and her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemate, watching reruns of Friends and rearranging her thirty-six copies of The Hobbit.
Recently though, if only to appease her beloved foster-mum, Lenny has set herself the goal of ‘getting a life’.
Then, out of the blue, a letter arrives from the Adult Parole Board. And when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel.
Worse, she starts to remember . . .
Taken by Dinuka McKenzie
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pub Date: 1 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Thriller
Series: 2nd book in the DS Kate Miles series
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Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is back from maternity leave and struggling on multiple fronts - the pressures of a second child, financial strain from her husband losing his job, and a corruption scandal that may involve her father.
When an infant goes missing, Kate finds herself fronting a high-profile and emotionally fraught case. Was baby Sienna removed from her bassinet by an unknown abductor or is the answer much closer to home?
Amidst a frenzied media demanding answers, and a station chief looking for any reason to remove her from the investigation, Kate is pushed to her limits, pulled between the competing demands of the family at the centre of the case and her own spiralling personal life.
The Woman Who Knew Too Little by Olivia Wearne
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Pub Date: 1 February 2023
Sub-Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: stand alone
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December, 1948. Officer Kitty Wheeler is a member of the Women Police, responsible for 'upholding the moral virtue' of Adelaide's at times unruly and amorous citizens. Patrolling Somerton beach one night, Kitty and her partner spot a man leaning against the sea wall, apparently drunk. It's late, they're tired, and they leave him to sleep it off ...
The man is dead, his identity unknown, and Kitty has missed a career-making opportunity. In the following months, the case of the Somerton Man grips first Adelaide, then Australia, as bizarre clues point towards international espionage, Eastern mysticism or salacious scandal. Kitty, preoccupied with the case, joins the investigation wherever she can, although the men are firmly in charge. Meanwhile, she must decide whether she wants husband and family, or a career - in 1940s Australia, she can't have both. Her boyfriend Peter wants to pop the question, but Kitty is keener on solving the case ...
January 2023
How To Kill A Client by Joanna Jenkins
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 31 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Humorous Mystery
Series: stand alone
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'Everyone is going to say what a great guy and a great lawyer he was. He wasn't. He was a prick … And a shithouse lawyer.'
Gavin Jones is dead at thirty-nine. As an in-house lawyer who controlled millions of dollars in fees per year, he was legal firm Howard Greene's biggest client and wielded that power with manipulative contempt. But he saved his worst behaviour for women, at work and at home.
The partners of Howard Greene relied on his favour to fund their lavish lifestyles. If sycophantic admiration of the man was all it took to secure work from Gavin, that's what they delivered.
But no one liked Gavin. The list of those who suffered from his cruelty was long enough to include pretty much everyone who had contact with him. So who actually killed him?
The Death of John Lacey by Ben Hobson
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 31 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Crime
Series: stand alone
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He felt the lump of gold still in his pocket. He would find his way out of this place and leave his brother happy and he would etch his name into the red earth or be damned.
John Lacey's lust for power and gold brings him riches and influence beyond his wildest dreams. Only he knows the terrible crime he committed to attain that wealth. Years later, as Lacey ruthlessly presides over the town he has built and named after himself, no one has the courage to question his power or how he wields it.
Brothers Ernst and Joe Montague are on the run from the law. They land in Lacey's town and commit desperate crimes to avoid capture. Lacey vows retribution and galvanises those in the town to hunt them down. But not everyone is blind to Lacey's evil, and a reckoning is approaching.
A visceral, powerful dissection of dispossession, colonisation and the crimes committed in their name, The Death of John Lacey is also a moving and tender account of the love between brothers and a meditation on the true meaning of mercy and justice.
A Routine Infidelity by Elizabeth Coleman
Publisher: Pantera Press
Pub Date: 31 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Private Investigator
Series: 1st in the Edwina 'Ted' Bristol series
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Private investigator Edwina ‘Ted’ Bristol deals in the cheating husbands and missing chihuahuas of Melbourne, but yearns for the heart-stopping excitement of real crime.
When Ted discovers her sister, Bob, has fallen prey to an internet catfishing scam, she sets out with her beloved miniature schnauzer and shrewd sidekick, Miss Marple, to catch the swindler. Meanwhile, when conducting routine surveillance on a couple suspected of having an affair, she uncovers a plot to embezzle millions.
As Bob’s case takes a series of bizarre twists and turns and the embezzlement investigation escalates into murder, Ted finds her own life in peril. Will she crack her first criminal case before it’s too late?
Locked Ward by Anne Buist
Publisher: Text Australia
Pub Date: 31 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: 4th in the Natalie King series
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Natalie King may be a psychiatrist, but that doesn’t mean she can persuade her baby to go to sleep. Sienna wants to party through the night—and lack of sleep is a major trigger for Natalie’s bipolar disorder.
Sleep school at Southside private psych unit, however, turns out to have its own hazards. It’s bad enough that Natalie doesn’t really want to be there, that she wants to keep her professional status quiet and that she’s seen enough group therapy to be quite sure it’s not her thing. But then someone arrives who Natalie knows very well indeed—and not in a good way.
Luckily she’s out of Southside by the time the murder happens. Unluckily, she knows everyone who’s involved, including the cops. They think they have an open-and-shut case. Natalie’s pretty sure they’ve locked the door on the wrong person.
Crows Nest by Nikki Mottram
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Pub Date: 31 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 1st in the Dana Gibson series
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Fleeing problems in her own marriage, child protection worker Dana Gibson leaves Sydney for a job in the Queensland town of Toowoomba. Her first house call is to nearby Crows Nest to assess the children of Sandra Kirby, which results in her getting both her new boss and a local detective offside. Dana soon learns that, in the country, city rules do not apply.
When Sandra and her best friend are found shot dead, Dana is drawn into an investigation that will force her to strip away the friendly veneer of small-town life, while grappling with ghosts of her own. As buried secrets, bitter tensions and corruption come to light, how far will locals go to stop her uncovering the truth of what happened?
The Deceit by Sara Foster
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Pub Date: 17 January 2023
Sub-Genre: thriller
Series: stand alone
Lenny has always known that his wife, Claire, is the love of his life. But somehow his marriage is in shambles, he’s struggling with the kids, and a string of anonymous text messages are tormenting him, insisting that Claire is a liar.
Claire adores Lenny, but there’s a lot she hasn’t told him about the traumatic events that led her to him, and over the last few years she has gradually closed down. Now she’s terrified that the horrors of her past might be about to put her entire family in danger.
However, it’s only when new neighbors move in across the road that Claire and Lenny’s carefully built facades start to rupture, for these strangers appear to know far more than they should about the couple’s troubles. Over the next few days, the lies will be exposed, and everyone’s lives will change forever, as the truth about Claire’s past finally comes to light.
The Newlywed by Anna Willett
Publisher: The Book Folks
Pub Date: 10 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 3rd book in the Cold Case Mysteries series
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Detectives dig deep to discover what happened to a lost bride
After travelling to the breezy seaside town of Seabreak with her new husband to meet his twin brother, Jane Wilson vanishes without a trace.
There is never any sign of her again, and despite blame initially being cast on the husband, with no evidence of a crime, nothing is done.
Years later, Detective Inspector Veronika Pope and her team at the Special Crime Squad reinvestigate the disappearance.
What really drove Jane to return to the town? And what made sure she would never leave?
Detective Pope is convinced the town and its windy dunes hold the secrets, but she is faced with the grim determination of others to keep them buried forever…
Headland by John Byrnes
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pub Date: 10 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: stand alone (debut)
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A coastal town is evacuated after record floods. Three young police officers are left behind. With a killer.
The small beachside town of Gloster is on the edge of disaster. After constant rain, floodwaters are rising fast.
Detective Constable Craig Watson, exiled to Gloster from Sydney, is a young man with a damaged past and an uncertain future.
Constables Ellie Cameron and Larissa Brookes are young women struggling to show their worth as police officers under a misogynistic sergeant.
The drowning town holds a secret that someone is prepared to murder for, and as the floodwaters cut Gloster off from the world the three young police officers begin to understand that it's not just them left stranded. Somewhere out there in the floodwaters is a killer. And he needs them dead.
Wild Card by Simon Rowell
Publisher: Text Publishing
Pub Date: 10 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: 2nd book in the DS Zoe Mayer series
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One foggy morning on the banks of the Murray River, a body is found in a burnt-out area of grassland. The heavily tattooed victim, who has suffered two bullet wounds to the head, is identified as Freddie Jones, a bikie from Moama.
Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer is on the case, alongside her trusty service dog, Harry. Although Zoe is determined to track down the murderer, she finds herself stonewalled at every turn—by Freddie’s family, his associates and even the local police. But then a second body is discovered, and soon all bets are off…
Wild Card is a gripping mystery about gang warfare and small-town corruption, featuring a crime-fighting duo like no other.
Red Dirt Road by S.R. White
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Pub Date: 10 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone
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One outback town. Two puzzling murders. Fifty suspects.
In Unamurra, a drought-scarred, one-pub town deep in the outback, two men are savagely murdered a month apart - their bodies elaborately arranged like angels.
With no witnesses, no obvious motives and no apparent connections between the killings, how can lone police officer Detective Dana Russo - flown in from hundreds of kilometres away - possibly solve such a baffling, brutal case?
Met with silence and suspicion from locals who live by their own set of rules, Dana must take over a stalled investigation with only a week to make progress.
But with a murderer hiding in plain sight, and the parched days rapidly passing, Dana is determined to uncover the shocking secrets of this forgotten town - a place where anyone could be a killer.
The Summer Party by Rebecca Heath
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pub Date: 5 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone (debut)
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An atmospheric psychological thriller about a glamorous family living on the coast of southern Australia. 2023's most addictive beach read.
A perfect family. A devastating secret.
Summer, 2000. In the tranquil town of Queen's Point in southern Australia, the Whitlam family marks the end of every season with a lavish party in their clifftop mansion. Here, clutching her first glass of real champagne, the summer breeze intoxicating on her skin, sixteen-year-old Lucy Ross is kissed for the very first time. And then, in the shadows of the rose garden, she sees something she shouldn't.
Winter, 2019. After two decades of silence, Lucy is back in Queen's Point. She hasn't planned on staying long. But when human remains wash up on the freezing beach, the police close the town. Unable to leave, Lucy is forced to rekindle old friendships – and examine old truths – she has long ago tried to forget.
As long-buried secrets start to surface, Lucy must decide. Will she confront the past and tell the truth? Or will she still do anything to protect the people she loves?
Dead Tide by Fiona McIntosh
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Pub Date: 5 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Police Procedural
Series: 4th book in the DCI Jack Hawksworth series
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Newly promoted Detective Superintendent Jack Hawksworth has headed up three major serial operations in England and in each of these cases he has lost a part of himself. While on sabbatical as guest lecturer in a London university, one of his female students dies under highly suspicious circumstances, and he finds himself drawn into a chilling new case that reaches across the world.
Jack’s investigations lead him to Adelaide where he identifies a cynical international crime consortium that preys on the anguish of childless couples and vulnerable women. Together with local major crime officers, he follows his leads to the windswept Yorke Peninsula, and becomes caught up in an intoxicating private drama.
With his personal and professional business entangled once again, Jack must put his own life on the line to bring justice to those who are grieving.
From the bestselling author of Mirror Man comes a heart-stopping new novel of greed and corruption that questions the price people are willing to pay for a human life.
The House of Now and Then by Jo Dixon
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pub Date: 4 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Mystery
Series: stand alone (debut)
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After a humiliating public scandal, Olivia is hiding from the press in a remote Tasmanian house when an unknown man knocks on her door, seeking Pippa, a woman who once lived there. His father, Jeremy, has died, leaving behind a letter for this mysterious woman. Olivia wants to help, but can she risk revealing her own sordid past?
Thirty years earlier, bohemian wild-child Pippa and her best friend Jeremy spend a perfect summer in the house. Pippa falls deeply in love with local boy Leo, and they begin to plan a life of adventure together, much to the displeasure of his conservative and controlling family. One night Leo leaves the house to confront his parents ... and is never seen again.
As Olivia is drawn into solving the mystery, the unexpected and tragic story of Pippa, Jeremy and Leo is slowly uncovered. At the same time, a path to reclaiming her own life opens, if only she has the courage to take it.
Seven Sisters by Katherine Kovacic
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Pub Date: 4 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Naomi started grief counselling prepared to run for cover as soon as her therapist, Mia, pulled out a crystal or tried to align her chakras. Mia's practice, The Pleiades, is named for the seven sisters from Greek mythology - sisters that in some versions of the myth die of grief or are killed to be saved from attackers. Mia explains that it is her intention to subvert the traditional narratives where harm befalls women.
When Mia suggests that Naomi joins a support group, she is sceptical: how could she begin to describe what it felt like to lose her sister, Jo? How could she possibly share her loss and rage to a room full of people? How could she express her helplessness that Jo's killer walks free on a suspended sentence?
And how could she share her deepest desire to see Jo's killer dead by her hand?
In the group sessions, Naomi finds that her experiences and her anger are shared between the other members: Gabrielle, Brooke, Katy, Olivia and Amy. Under the enigmatic leadership of Mia, a plan begins to take shape.
I'll kill yours if you kill mine ...
The Stay-At-Home Mother by Nicole Trope
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: 3 January 2023
Sub-Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: stand alone
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Her chest tightens, her heart speeding up. The kitchen is chaos. She steps on something hard, and looks down. Toy dinosaurs are scattered everywhere. But her son is nowhere – her baby boy is gone.
The police arrive. She can’t look at her husband. Instead, she studies the network of lines on her shaking hands.
Then her phone beeps with a voice message. ‘Listen to it on speaker,’ says the detective.
A woman’s voice fills the air.
‘I’m assuming this is the Andrea Gately listed as a contact on the Missing Children of the World website. I’m calling to let you know that I’ve given your details to the police. Why are you using a picture of my son on a missing children’s website? Why are you using it and where did you get it?’