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Black Ice by Sandy Curtis


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The Good Daughter


Honey Brown - 2010
    When Zach's wealthy mother goes missing, Rebecca – the truckie's daughter – is implicated in her disappearance. In the weeks that follow, Rebecca and Zach are drawn into a treacherous, adult world. Eager to please, Rebecca finds herself in danger of living up to the schoolyard taunts she so hates, while Zach channels his feelings through the sights of his gun.In the fading summer light, grudges are nursed and tempers fray, and as old lies unravel it seems nobody can be relied on. But beyond the fallout, the hard lessons in love and betrayal have not been wasted. Rebecca and Zach realise that judgements can be flawed – and that trust is better earnt than given.Original, unsettling and compelling, The Good Daughter is the much-anticipated second novel from Honey Brown.

Dead Letters


Michael Brissenden - 2021
    Politician Dan LeRoi, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, has been shot. Four bullets to the head. The crime scene is chaotic. Homicide. Counter Terrorism. Media. And for Sid, hunting the killer is going to get complicated.Journalist Zephyr Wilde is complicated. She's tenacious and she's got Sid's number. Sid knows the gossip: how Zephyr's mother was murdered when Zephyr was a kid. He doesn't know that Zephyr is still getting letters from her long-dead mother. But when he learns that Dan LeRoi was helping Zephyr look into her mother's death, he realises that lines are going to be crossed. A cop should not be talking to a journalist.As they both ask too many questions, Sid and Zephyr stir up a hornet's nest of corruption. Knowing who to trust is going to mean the difference between solving a crime and being a victim. The question is, which side will they end up on.

The Last Thread


Michael Sala - 2012
    From his early years in the Netherlands to growing up in Australia during the 1980s, Michael recalls the secret surrounding his estranged Greek father and how scandalous events from the past fractured his family. This is a moving chronicle of a boy’s turbulent relationship with his bullying stepfather, aloof older brother and adored mother, whose cheerful apathy has devastating consequences. As his life unfolds, Michael – now a father – must decide if he can free himself from the dark pull of the past.Reminiscent of the great autobiographical novels of JM Coetzee and Michael Ondaatje, The Last Thread is a beautifully crafted work from an exceptional new writer.

Dear Ruth


Bronwyn Parry - 2013
    A touching short story of love (1500 words) from bestselling author Bronwyn Parry that spans the decades and is set in the small outback town of Dungirri.Included are previews of Bronwyn's four full-length novels, As Darkness Falls, Dark Country, Dead Heat and her new book Darkening Skies.

We Were Never Friends


Margaret Bearman - 2020
    What is art? What’s true courage? I could not put it down.’ —Melissa Ashley,bestselling author of THE BIRDMAN’S WIFELotti lives under the shadow of a genius: her father George Coates is a brilliant and celebrated Australian painter.When Lotti meets the outcast waif Kyla at a suburban Canberra school, two worlds are set to collide. Slowly Kyla is drawn into the orbit of the Coates family. Or is it the other way around?As Lotti and Kyla navigate their way towards adulthood, dark secrets start to unravel, with devastating consequences …WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS is unforgettable novel about friendship, the pursuit of a creative life and the legacies we leave behind.‘Margaret Bearman’s intimate, unsettling novel of family dysfunction perfectly captures the ambivalent passions of girlhood while offering an incisive critiqueof the cult of artistic genius. Sharp and subtle at the same time, refusing any easy certainties, WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS is a haunting portrait of the humancapacity for cruelty and love in equal measure.’ —Kirsten Tranter, bestselling author of THE LEGACY

Some Girls Do


Amy Andrews - 2015
    Her three older brothers are adamant she’s not. They made a death bed promise to their mother that Lacey would stay the distance at design school and Ethan, the oldest, takes this responsibility very seriously. But Lacey is deeply homesick and determined not to be dissuaded again. She’s also impulsive enough to try anything - even faking a pregnancy. Ex-cop turned mechanic, Cooper Grainger - one of Ethan’s oldest friends - agrees to watch out for Lacey in the city even though he has a history with her he’d rather forget. How hard could it be, right? But a couple of years later, Coop is over pulling Lacey out of scrapes and cleaning up her messes as she tries to outrun her grief and sense of dislocation. He takes her back to Jumbuck Springs so she can persuade her brothers to let her come home. But things don’t go according to plan. Before Coop knows it Lacey’s pregnant and he’s putting his hand up as the fake baby daddy, filling in for the town mechanic and moving in with her at the local pub. Lacey is thrilled to have won a reprieve but nothing about the situation sits well with Coop. Least of all having sweet little Lacey Weston as his new roomie…

Indigo Storm


Fleur McDonald - 2016
    The only way to escape is to disappear and reinvent herself.Changing her name to Eliza and driving by night, she is drawn to the tiny rural town of Blinman. There she begins the long road to healing and regaining her self-confidence.Then one day, on an excursion to a ruined homestead in the area, Eliza becomes fascinated by a family who lived there during the nineteenth century. But just as she begins to unlock the secrets of her own past, Dominic arrives in town, determined to punish her ...With its fast-moving plot and nail-biting suspense, Indigo Storm is the story of a courageous woman fiercely determined to reclaim her life and her belief in herself.

The Crossing


B. Michael Radburn - 2011
    Taylor is the only ranger in this isolated town adjoining a national park... a town dying a slow death as the rising waters of the new dam project slowly flood it.Struggling with the guilt of Claire's disappearance, Taylor is a chronic sleepwalker. When another young girl the same age goes missing, Taylor begins to question himself... uncertain of what happens when he sleepwalks.It's a race against time not just to find the missing girl, but in Taylor's search for redemption and a past better left lying at the bottom of the new lake.

The Long Paddock


Alissa Callen - 2017
     A captivating love story about community and second chances. Country–girl Cressida Knight fills her days with her farm, a mischievous pet bull called Reggie and her volunteer emergency services work. The busier she keeps, the less she thinks about the cowboy who left her behind. She's convinced the small–town Woodlea grapevine that she's moved on, but now it's time to move on for real.  Champion bull rider Denham Rigby shares Cressy's deep love for the land and all he's ever wanted was to stand shoulder–to–shoulder with Cressy through life. But three years ago a dark family secret left him no choice but to run. Now family duty gives him no choice but to return to the bush. What Denham hasn't come home to do is to hurt Cressy by rekindling their relationship. He's nothing but a liability and the beautiful, self–reliant cowgirl has to stay off limits. But when faced with Cressy's desperation to save her drought–stricken farm, he can't keep his distance. He joins her out droving on the long paddock. Then when Woodlea is hit by more than just rodeo fever, they are further thrown together and Denham loses the battle to lock down his emotions.But has he left it too late to stop running? And will the woman he's always loved be prepared to risk her heart for a second time?

The Build Up


Phillip Gwynne - 2008
    To Dusty it's the chance she's been looking for: a spectacular case to revive her flagging career.

Beautiful Malice


Rebecca James - 2010
    To erase her past, Katherine has moved to a new city, enrolled in a new school, and even changed her name. She’s done the next best thing to disappearing altogether. Now, wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.Even more unlikely, Katherine’s new friend is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not and doesn’t want to be: the center of attention. Yet Alice’s enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and Katherine, in spite of her guarded caution, finds herself drawn into Alice’s private circle. But Alice has secrets, too—darker than anyone can begin to imagine. And when she lets her guard down at last, Katherine discovers the darkest of them all. For there will be no escaping the past for Katherine Patterson—only a descent into a trap far more sinister . . . and infinitely more seductive.

The House on Hill Street


Judy Nunn - 2012
    But the neighbours are becoming concerned. Eileen Jameson and the boys haven't been seen for quite some time...When a gruesome discovery points the finger, quite literally, at the Professor's house, Inspector Max Carruthers and Detective Sergeant Lucas Matthews come knocking at the door. It's a day they will never forget ...

Alice to Nowhere


Evan Green - 1984
    Two vicious murderers, fleeing Alice Springs, hide on a battered truck carrying mail, food and supplies on its fortnightly journey to remote cattle stations.

Hello from the Gillespies


Monica McInerney - 2014
    This year, Angela surprises herself—she tells the truth....The Gillespies are far from the perfect family that Angela has made them out to be. Her husband is coping badly with retirement. Her thirty-two-year-old twins are having career meltdowns. Her third daughter, badly in debt, can’t stop crying. And her ten-year-old son spends more time talking to his imaginary friend than to real ones.Without Angela, the family would fall apart. But when a bump on the head leaves Angela with temporary amnesia, the Gillespies pull together—and pull themselves together—in wonderfully surprising ways....

Headland


Ged Gillmore - 2017
     Murdoch’s doing just fine, thanks for not asking. He’s dealing drugs for a crime syndicate in Sydney and saving for a house by the sea. But what does he think life is, a fairy tale? As the syndicate puts pressure on him to fill the shoes of his murdered boss, Murdoch is cornered by an equally formidable foe: the Australian Tax Office demanding an explanation for his sizeable cash income. Murdoch spins a beautiful lie, telling tax inspector, Hannah Simms, he’s a private detective. When Simms asks him to investigate the mystery of her niece's disappearance, Murdoch grabs what he thinks is a golden opportunity to outrun the syndicate. But his arrival in the missing girl's small coastal home town causes an unexpected stir and the reluctant PI soon realises his troubles are only just beginning. HEADLAND is crime fiction at its best, a small town murder mystery to keep you guessing until the very end. ** THIS IS NOT THE AUSTRALIA YOU’VE SEEN ADVERTISED ** HEADLAND is the first book in the Bill Murdoch Mystery series. Set in Sydney, and small town Australia, this series will appeal to fans of Mick Herron, Peter Temple, Barry Maitland, Ragnar Jonasson, Erik Hamre, Jane Harper, Garry Disher, Mari Hannah, Dave Warner, Jock Serong, Pete Brassett, and Iain Rankin's Rebus novels. Tense and taut. Smart and sharply-observed. This is a cracking new addition to the Aussie crime genre. Bad-boy-turned-local-hero, Bill Murdoch, is back to solve more murder mysteries in the sequels CLASS ACT, and BASE NATURE. Out now!