AustLit

'An acquitted cop-killer is executed in a St Kilda backstreet. Suspicion soon falls on Rubens McCauley, a maverick detective with a lot of motive and plenty of enemies. With a team of internal investigators hot on his heels, McCauley needs answers … fast.

'His hunt for the killer draws him deep into an underworld of new age bikie gangsters, old school hitmen and drug syndicates … and a past he’ll do anything to forget.' (Publication summary)

'When a young runaway is found dead in St Kilda one morning, a syringe hanging out of his arm, no one is terribly shocked. A known junkie, the kid's criminal record was as long as the Scenic Railway. Even local detective Rubens McCauley is quick to conclude Dallas Boyd died of an accidental overdose.

'But anomalies in the boy's death - and the haunting memory of a childhood friend - continue to nag at McCauley. Unable to shake his unease, he fights to revive the investigation. Case re-opened, he soon finds himself enmeshed in a secret network of paedophiles, child abusers and underage prostitutes.

'Forced to look evil in the eye, McCauley must conquer his own demons as he battles to find justice for a young boy he never met but has come to know intimately in death ...' (Publisher's blurb)

'After a series of harrowing and life-changing cases in St Kilda—Head Shot & Blood Sunset—DS Rubens McCauley is burnt out and on the edge. Addicted to prescription medication, running away from too many years on the front line, he finds himself wandering the shores of Jutt Rock—a small town on Victoria’s south-western coastline—in search for the quiet life. And, for a while, he finds it. Every day, as the sun sets over the ocean, the brilliant wash of colour reflects on the shoreline—a Pink Tide. A picture-perfect respite; no crime, no stress.

'But after McCauley’s nephew and his mate are brutally bashed while walking home from a party, McCauley realises that the Pink Tide has another meaning. With one victim dead and his nephew clinging to life in hospital, he kno ws he must act. In hunting down the attackers, his faith in the criminal justice system and in human decency itself is severely tested.' (Publication summary)