AustLit

'She needs to write the ending ... before she meets hers.

'Theo has one dream – to become a bestselling author. Determined to make her mark in the literary world, she heads to the US on a whim to stay with her brother Gus and focus on her writing. But her plans take an unexpected turn when she befriends a famous author, Dan Murdoch, at a local bar – and then he turns up dead. Suddenly, Theo finds herself as the prime suspect.

'As Theo grapples with the shocking turn of events, she realizes that Dan may not have been the person he seemed to be, and there is something sinister going on in the world of publishing. Desperate to clear her name and uncover the truth, Theo sets out on a quest to find out who killed Dan and why.

'As she digs deeper, Theo uncovers a web of deceit, conspiracy, and hidden motives, with clues leading her to a shadowy online platform called The Shield. With her own life in danger, Theo must unravel the mystery before she becomes the next victim.' (Publication summary)

'In every person's story, there is something to hide...

'The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman's terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers sitting at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When his friend Daniel Cartwright dies and names Rowland as his executor, Rowland must divert his plans to return home to Australia and travel to America. Daniel was vastly wealthy but appears to have disinherited his family in favour of a man called James Meredith, whom no one can find. Rowland and his troupe of friends embark on a journey that takes them through New York, Warwick and Baltimore as they track down answers to the questions that surround Daniel's death and the mysterious disappearance of James Meredith.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Shanghai 1935. An expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself. Rowland Sinclair arrives into this cultural melting pot, from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. The black sheep of the family, Rowland is under strict instructions to commit to nothing . . . but a brutal murder makes that impossible.

'All the Tears in China throws a classic murder mystery into a glitzy, glamorous, tawdry and dangerous world, entrancing both new and old readers.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Volunteering his services as a pilot to fly renowned international peace advocate Egon Kisch between Fremantle and Melbourne, Rowland is unaware how hard Australia 's new attorney-general will fight to keep the raging reporter off Australian soil.

'In this, it seems, the government is not alone, as clandestine right-wing militias reconstitute into deadly strike forces.

'A disgraced minister, an unidentified corpse and an old flame all bring their own special bedlam. Once again Rowland Sinclair stands against the unthinkable, with an artist, a poet and a brazen sculptress by his side.' (Synopsis)

'When Madeleine d’Leon conjures Ned McGinnity as the hero in her latest crime novel, she makes him a serious writer simply because the irony of a protagonist who’d never lower himself to read the story in which he stars, amuses her. When Ned McGinnity creates Madeleine d’Leon, she is his literary device, a writer of detective fiction who is herself a mystery to be unravelled. As Ned and Madeleine play out their own lives while writing the other’s story, they find themselves crossing the lines that divide the real and the imagined. This is a story about two people trying to hold onto each other beyond reality.' (Publication summary)

Set in near-future Australia, 'Catch a Fallen Star' traces a country that has swung far to the political right, where conservatism is used to quell any resistance.

Source:

'Story behind the Story', Feathers of the Firebird, 10 January 2017. (https://firebirdfeathers.com/2017/01/10/story-behind-the-story-4-and-then-authors-on-their-contribution/)

1928

After eight years abroad, Rowland Sinclair has come home to a house he hates, and a city which seems conservative... and dull.

He longs to return to the bright lights of Europe. Until an old friend persuades him to join Sydney Art School.

There, under the tutelage of the renowned Julian Ashton, Rowland learns to paint and finds himself drawn into the avant-garde world of Sydney’s artistic set.

But murder rears its ugly head and Rowland must decide who his friends really are.

Source: Publisher's Blurb

'When Rowland Sinclair is invited to take his yellow Mercedes onto the Maroubra Speedway, renamed the Killer Track for the lives it has claimed, he agrees without caution or reserve.

'But then people start to die.

'The body of a journalist covering the race is found in a House of Horrors, an English blueblood with Blackshirt affiliations is killed on the race track. and it seems that someone has Rowland in their sights.

'A strange young reporter preoccupied with black magic, a mysterious vagabond, an up-and-coming actor by the name of Flynn, and ruthless bookmakers all add mayhem to the mix.

'With danger presenting at every turn, and the brakes long since disengaged, Rowland Sinclair hurtles towards disaster with an artist, a poet and brazen sculptress along for the ride.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The black sheep of a wealthy grazier dynasty, gentleman artist Rowland Sinclair often takes matters into his own hands. When the matter is murder, there are consequences.

'For nearly fourteen years, Rowland has tried to forget, but now the past has returned.

'A newly-discovered gun casts light on a family secret long kept... a murder the Sinclairs would prefer stayed unsolved.

'As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland's inappropriate companions is all that stands between him and the consequences of a brutal murder... one he simply failed to mention.' (Publication summary)

'As empires fall and are founded anew, the Herdsmen of Ida join the refugees of Troy in search of a vague destiny promised by fickle gods. Amidst disaster, monsters, heresy and war they risk not only their lives, but their hearts, to twist the treacherous threads of fate and deny the desperate demands of blood.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.