AustLit

'Set in a fictional Riverina town at the height of a devastating drought, Scrublands is one of the most powerful, compelling and original crime novels to be written in Australia

'In an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself.

'A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don't fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can't ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest's deadly rampage.

'Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking new development rocks the town, which becomes the biggest story in Australia. The media descends on Riversend and Martin is now the one in the spotlight. His reasons for investigating the shooting have suddenly become very personal.

'Wrestling with his own demons, Martin finds himself risking everything to discover a truth that becomes darker and more complex with every twist. But there are powerful forces determined to stop him, and he has no idea how far they will go to make sure the town's secrets stay buried.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)

'Trisha Kent, by inheritance a silent partner in a Queensland (Australia) furniture firm owned by distant relatives-by-marriage, leaves Melbourne to meet the family she's never seen, and to decide how she should vote in a proposed takeover. Awaiting her in Queensland: a brace of brothers at the firm's helm; the firm's attractive accountant, who'll teach Trisha to ride horseback, and then some; a paraplegic craftsman, as bitter as his wife is loving; and the aggrieved wife of Cousin Julian–who had not only dipped into the till and skipped off for distant parts, but had actually tried to murder his spouse. Before the sort-out, there'll be a murder and an attempted one, arson, a gun-barrel confrontation and the work of an exceptional mare who earns her oats.'

Source: Kirkus Reviews.

'High-school teacher Philip Blair is blind, so when a nice teenage girl befriends him at the bus stop and then gets into a man's car–and is later found murdered–Philip can't identify the man in the car. Frustrated, he insists on sleuthing, with some aid from his estranged girlfriend and his policeman buddy, and it soon seems that another teenage girl's recent death may be connected. And is yet another girl, who perhaps saw what the other two saw, slated for murder? Not only does Philip solve the crime and triumph over the killer in a Wait Until Dark-style duel; he also learns to accept his blindness and the love of his loyal lady.'

Source: Kirkus Reviews

'Francine, and her brother Tony, about to be 5, see their uncle shoot and kill an unknown woman but Fran, unsure if Uncle Hilton has seen them, decides to guard Tony against disclosures, keeps her secret from her widow mother, and is almost destroyed by tormenting fears. Her mother's desperate efforts to get a successful crop from the orchard, the advent of a new neighbor, Hugh Ryland, whom Fran trusts, the easing of her watchfulness when Uncle Hilton displays no wariness, and the final crisis ten months later when Tony shatters her little complacency by a chance remark to their uncle, bring about a dangerous climax. It is Ryland and the detective Collings who are responsible for the children's safety, for Hilton's apprehension – and for the complete dissipation of Fran's nightmares. The orchard country bush life of Australia, the impact on young Fran of watchful waiting, and the incidents that make up the ten months period combine to make this more than a routine suspense novel and give it a special interest.'

Source: Kirkus Reviews.

'Forcibly taken from their remote one-room schoolhouse and held captive by three grotesquely masked kidnappers, Sally James and her young charges wage a fierce and violent battle for their lives.' 

Source: ABE Books https://bit.ly/3grE136