AustLit

'When Dimitri Telegonus is promoted to the Serious Unsolved Crime Unit to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful blonde escort, he thinks he’s finally made the big time. He’d always wanted to do detective work; thought it was his destiny.

'But things quickly start to unravel. His assigned partner is a disinterested dinosaur and when progress in the investigation is slow, the bosses threaten to pull the plug.

'Desperate to crack his first cold case, Dimitri tracks the prime suspect down – only to find there are forces at play a naïve young detective will never fully understand.' (Publication summary)

'Lotti Coates lives in the shadow of a genius: her father George 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 a story of friendship, the pursuit of a creative life and the legacies we leave behind.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Jonelle Baxter is a young woman in a man's world - a tough, hardworking motor mechanic from an idyllic country family. But lately things in her perfect life have been changing, and her workshop isn't the only local business that's struggling.

'Daniel Tyler is new in town, posted from the city to manage the community bank. As he tries to rein in the spiralling debts of Bundara, he uncovers all sorts of personal dramas and challenges.

'The last thing Jonny and Dan need is an unwanted attraction to each other. She has enough problems just keeping her livelihood going and he's fighting pressures that stretch all the way to Perth. It's going to take more than a good drop of rain to break the drought and bring change in love and in life.

'A moving and heartwarming story about the beauty that's found in the bush, especially in the most trying of times.' (Publisher's blurb)

'It's September 1957, two days before the VFL grand final, and Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin finally has some time off. But there's no rest for this decent if damaged man, still troubled by his wartime experience as a bomber pilot and POW. A recently widowed friend asks a favour and he's dropped into something much bigger than he bargained for. When he uncovers dubious practices at a Melbourne funeral parlour, it's quickly obvious that anyone asking questions is also asking for trouble. His offsider is beaten and left for dead, witnesses are warned off, Special Branch is on his case, and even Berlin's young family may be at risk. His pursuit of the truth leads him to Blackwattle Creek, once an asylum for the criminally insane and now home to even darker evils. And if Berlin thought government machinations during World War II were devious, those of the Cold War leave them for dead . . . ' (Source: publisher website)

'When your life is at a crossroads, how do you find the road home?

'Lara Turner has a boyfriend, a nice house in the city and a chance at a big promotion. So when her brother calls asking her to come home, she hesitates. Can she face the memoires that inhabit the beloved place of her childhood? And how does she feel with the news it's to be sold? Could she be the answer to saving the family farm?

'Jack Morgan has memoires of his own to contend with. A falling out with his family and a bitter end to a past relationship have left a big chip on his shoulder. When his best mate's beautiful sister arrives on the scene, he finds himself deeply conflicted.

'Lara and Jack have a powerful attraction but are constantly at odds. Will their love of the same land keep them apart, or grow into a love of a different kind?' (From the publisher's website.)

'Catherine-Jean Wishart - or CJ as she prefers - is a hardworking young country girl with a heart of gold but a tough and challenging life. She works long, strenuous days in the male-dominated world of the shearing sheds, but at home things are even harder. Her father has never recovered from a car accident years earlier and his violence is tearing the family apart.

'When strong, handsome Lindsay arrives on the scene, he brings fun and laughter into CJ's life. He even teaches her to shear, and they look set for a bright future together. But then tragedy strikes again, and CJ has to dig deeper than ever before. With help from her best mate Irene and a dear old farmer called Burt, CJ learns that when you stay true to yourself and open your heart, anything can happen.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Isabelle Simpson longs to take over the family farm, but her ailing father is locked in a tragedy of the past and won't give her the chance she deserves. The stand-off between them threatens to tear the family apart.

Izzy decides to break free and make a new start for herself - even though that means leaving the handsome Will Timmins and all her mixed emotions about him behind.

But when hardship falls on the farm again, Izzy returns with an even greater determination to resolve the family feud. As she gathers with her friends in the close community under the shade of the gum-tree tavern, confessions are made, long-held secrets are revealed and hearts are set free.' (From the publisher's website.)

'From the author of 'Shadows Of Power' and 'Everything To Lose', comes an unputdownable new novel of three women friends and their choices in life.

'Marnie's building company is under siege from a rival and there's a danger she could lose everything. Then her father becomes seriously ill and Marnie is forced to confront feelings she's buried deep in the past.

'Tina finally finds the strength to end her love affair with a married man, but is unprepared for the loneliness that engulfs her. When her flat is burgled, she takes in a lodger and discovers that friendship can blossom in the most unlikely circumstances.' (Publication summary) 

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'Four old friends meet at a school reunion - Cate, the single successful television producer, Leith, the happily married society wife, Rory, the brilliant editor who makes a late decision to have a child, and Judith, the devoted wife and mother. The meeting prompts each woman to face the lie her life has become and sets in motion a roller-coaster of events. As each woman confronts a major turning point in her life, she risks losing all that is safe and familiar, and wonders if the price of chasing her dreams is too high. When the four friends find themselves together again in a packed courtroom, one of them will be facing a terrible ordeal.' (Publication summary)

 (Publication summary)

'Kim Richards is a creative woman of the land, a rural ambassador who’s renowned for her contribution to her community. But deep down, she’s lonely. She’s already watched the man she loves falls for someone else, and her dream of starting her own family feels like it’s slipping through her fingers.

'Enter Charlie McNamara, an older man who’s arrived in Lake Grace on business. Sparks fly between Kim and Charlie, but he seems to have a hidden agenda and a past life he’s trying to hide.

'They’re both drawn to local hermit Harry, a Vietnam veteran who’s haunted by memories from the war. What ties these three lost souls together? Can they solve a long-held family mystery and heal fractures of the heart?' (Publication summary)

'Michael, an aspiring writer who has recently finished his PhD, takes a job as the secretary to his literary hero, Lucian Clarke, a reclusive novelist with a mysterious cosmopolitan past, who lives in a cottage in a village on a mountain outside Hobart which gives the book its title, Wood Green. Peopled by an ensemble cast, the local publican, the single mother who manages the pub’s kitchen, the unhappily married couple that runs the corner store, a newcomer from Johannesburg with a murky past, a snivelling B&B proprietor and a determined ex-girlfriend, Wood Green artfully evokes the claustrophobia of small-town life. While Michael believes he is making a new life for himself, Lucian has other plans. Rabin writes with wit and intelligence – and deftly executes an unsuspected plot twist – in his exploration of the perils of literary ambition and the elusive prospect of artistic legacy.' (Source: Publisher's website)

'School teacher Natalie has always been a city girl. She has a handsome boyfriend and a family who give her only the best. But she craves her own space, and her own classroom, before settling down into the life she is expected to lead.

'When Nat takes up a posting at a tiny school in remote Western Australia, it proves quite the culture shock, but she is soon welcomed by the inquisitive locals, particularly young student Billy and his intriguing single father, Drew.

'As Nat's school comes under threat of closure, and Billy's estranged mother turns up out of the blue, Nat finds herself fighting for the township and battling with her heart. Torn between her society life in Perth and the rural community that needs her, Nat must risk losing it all to find out what she's really made of – and where she truly belongs. ' (Publication summary)

'Three generations of Stewart women share a deep connection to their family farm, but a secret from the past threatens to tear them apart.

'Widowed matriarch Maggie remembers a time when the Italian prisoners of war came to work on their land, changing her heart and her home forever. Single mum Toni has been tied to the place for as long as she can recall, although farming was never her dream. And Flick is as passionate about the farm as a young girl could be, despite the limited opportunities for love.

'When a letter from 1946 is unearthed in an old cottage on the property, the Sunnyvale girls find themselves on a journey deep into their own hearts and all the way across the world to Italy. Their quest to solve a mystery leads to incredible discoveries about each other, and about themselves. ' (Publication summary)

'Melbourne's first serial killer is at work and only one man can stop him.

'It's 1967, the summer of love, and in swinging Melbourne Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin has been hauled out of exile in the Fraud Squad to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl, the daughter of a powerful and politically connected property developer. As Berlin's inquiries uncover more missing girls he gets an uneasy feeling he may be dealing with the city's first serial killer.

'Berlin's investigation leads him through inner-city discothèques, hip photographic studios, the emerging drug culture and into the seedy back streets of St Kilda. The investigation also brings up ghosts of Berlin's past, disturbing memories of the casual murder of a young woman he witnessed in dying days of WW11.

'As in war, some victories come at a terrible cost and Berlin will have to face an awful truth and endure an unimaginable loss before his investigation is over.

'St Kilda Blues is the third novel in the Charlie Berlin series. Both previous novels, The Diggers Rest Hotel and Blackwattle Creek, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Fiction in 2011 and 2013 respectively.' (Publication summary)

'The most heartfelt and moving novel yet from favourite Australian rural romance writer and bestselling author of The Family Farm.

'Indianna Wilson is a country girl through and through. She'll do anything she can to save her beloved home town from disappearing off the map – even if she has to die trying. She brings Troy Mitchell to her tiny outback town, with hopes that he can bring a breath of fresh air to the Saints football club and lift the wider farming community.

'He's just the spark they need in Hyden but it's the fire that he ignites in Indi's heart that takes her by surprise. She knows he's feeling something too – why, then, does he insist on pushing her away? What is it from his dark past that's preventing them from sharing a future?

'As the town rallies together and their fighting spirit returns, Indi and Troy discover that sometimes life offers up a second chance – you just have to be brave enough to take it. ' (Publisher's blurb)

'New York Times bestselling author Chantal Fernando brings you Fast & Fury: A sexy new series fully loaded with intense emotions and edge-of-your-seat suspense.

'After losing her job, saying goodbye to a lifelong dream and having an all-around cruddy year, Bronte Pierce needs a break. A job at Fast & Fury might be just the thing to reset her life, even though she knows nothing about custom motorcycles. But taking a job isn’t the same as keeping it, and her fresh start quickly turns into a fresh nightmare.

'Starting with her boss. Crow is hardheaded, stubborn and brutally honest. He may be easy on the eyes, but he runs with an MC and he’s anything but friendly to Bronte. She suspects he has a softer side—just not for her.

'Her whole life, Bronte has known that the only person she can truly count on to save the day is herself. But when a single murder turns into a conspiracy and the threat to her life is more than she can handle alone, it’s Crow who comes through—and her newfound family might just become her greatest strength.'

Source : publisher's blurb