AustLit

'On her twin daughters’ twenty-first birthday, Joy Moody – proprietor of Bayside’s premier laundromat – is found dead. Yet that is not the strangest thing happening behind the bright pink facade of Joyful Suds.

'For much of their lives, Joy has been telling Cassie and Andie one big, fat lie: that they are from the future, and that when they turn twenty-one they will travel back to the year 2050.

'What started as a colourful tale to explain how the girls came to live with her has now become a decades-long deception.

'Worse still, Joy has started to believe it herself.

'The big lie is certainly preferable to the truth she just can’t face – about what happened to the girls’ real mother, Britney, and how far Joy's gone to keep them 'safe' . . .

'With the twins’ twenty-first birthday fast approaching, and with Andie starting to have doubts - particularly when she discovers her ‘future’ is eerily similar to one of her mother's favourite books – time is fast running out for Joy Moody.' (Publication summary)

'Old loyalties and decades-long feuds rise to the surface in this stunning crime novel, set in a spectacular Australian landscape known for its jagged cliffs and hidden caves.

'Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy.

'Renowned cave-diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark’s boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation.

'But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before . . .

'Suddenly Mark is diving deep into the town’s history - and in particular the simmering rivalry between its two most prominent families, the Doyles and Sinclairs.

'Then Cherie Swinson, a former actress, is murdered in the Sinclairs’ old home – and Mark is left wondering which is more dangerous: Broken Bay’s hidden subterranean world or the secretive town above it . . .' (Publication summary)

'On a hot November morning, the first body lies in a cattle trough . . . It will be another two hours before rigor mortis sets in. Until then, the slim fingers will float below the water's surface, gently bobbing, beckoning Detective Giles to come and find her.

'Detective Rebecca Giles has just finished interviewing aging petty crim Sticky Pete over a spate of break-and-enters when a disturbing new report comes in. Twelve-year-old Kayleen Ellis has vanished from her home in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley.

'Hours later, Giles is a local hero, having apparently solved Kayleen's case and the spate of jewellery thefts.

'Yet the hangover from her celebrations has barely kicked in when the body of young jillaroo Ava Emmerson is discovered in gruesome circumstances on a nearby farm.

'Giles is convinced the link between all three cases lies in the town's tragic history, perhaps even in her own mother's mysterious drowning thirty years ago.

'In a place where nothing much changes, suddenly a great deal is happening - and Giles's life and career are now on the line.' (Publication summary)

'Lenny Marks is good at not remembering.

She has spent the last twenty years not thinking about the day her mother left her when she was still a child. Her stepfather’s parting words, however, remain annoyingly unforgettable: 'You did this.'ow thirty-seven, Lenny prefers contentment and order over the unreliability of happiness and the messiness of relationships. She fills her days teaching at the local primary school, and her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemate, watching reruns of Friends and rearranging her thirty-six copies of The Hobbit.

'Recently though, if only to appease her beloved foster-mum, Lenny has set herself the goal of ‘getting a life’.

'Then, out of the blue, a letter arrives from the Adult Parole Board. And when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel.' (Publication summary)

'An uplifting and heart-warming novel about a family reunited, second chances and the power of forgiveness, from the critically acclaimed author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman.

'Danny Mulberry is the definition of a man who 'could do better'. He hasn't spoken to his sister in sixteen years, spends most of his spare time in the local pub and currently lives in his best friend's garden shed.

'But when the consequences of one drunken evening draw the attention of the press, a misleading article appears depicting Danny's less-than-perfect lifestyle as something covetable and wise. People start to think this apparently enlightened man could be the one with all the answers, and letters begin to flood in from strangers seeking his guidance.

'Wolfie is the teenage daughter of Danny's estranged sister, Lou. She's never met her uncle. But her mother needs help, so when Wolfie sees Danny's picture in the paper, she sets out to find him.

'Within a week, Danny goes from being responsibility-free to a big brother, an uncle and an unwitting existential 'guru' to some very lost souls.

'Can he become the man they all need him to be?' (Publication summary)

'Stone Town is captivating new rural crime drama from the author of the bestselling Cutters End.

'With its gold-rush history long in the past, Stone Town has seen better days. And it’s now in the headlines for all the wrong reasons . . .

'When three teenagers stumble upon a body in dense bushland one rainy Friday night, Senior Sergeant Mark Ariti’s hopes for a quiet posting in his old home town are shattered. The victim is Aidan Sleeth, a property developer, whose controversial plan to buy up local land means few are surprised he ended up dead.

'However, his gruesome murder is overshadowed by a mystery consuming the entire nation: the disappearance of Detective Sergeant Natalie Whitsed.

'Natalie had been investigating the celebrity wife of crime boss Tony ‘The Hook’ Scopelliti when she vanished. What did she uncover? Has it cost her her life? And why are the two Homicide detectives, sent from the city to run the Sleeth case, so obsessed with Natalie’s fate?

'Following a late-night call from his former boss, Mark is sure of one thing: he’s now in the middle of a deadly game . . .'  (Publication summary)

'The Making of Her is a page-turning mother-daughter love story, spanning the 1960s to 1990s, charting one woman's journey to escape the legacy of the society that shaped her.

''An absorbing, brilliantly paced book; I didn't want it to end.' Roddy Doyle

'People were forever telling her how lucky she was. But what did people know?'

'Dublin 1966. When Joan Quinn, a factory girl from the Cranmore Estate, marries Martin Egan, it looks like her dreams have come true. But all is not as it seems.

'Joan lives in the shadow of a secret - the couple's decision to give up their first daughter for adoption only months before.

'For the next three decades, Joan's marriage and her relationship with her second child Carmel suffer as a consequence.

'Then one day in 1996, a letter arrives from their eldest daughter. Emma needs her birth parents' help; it's a matter of life and death. And the fragile facade of Joan's life finally begins to crack.'  (Publication summary)

'With the riverboat trade along the Darling River slowly dying, a once-prosperous pastoralist family fights to survive - and discovers there is a cost to love . . .

'In nineteenth-century New South Wales, the name Dalhunty stood for prosperity and prestige. The family's vast station was home to more than 80 people, and each year their premium wool was shipped down the bustling Darling River to be sold in South Australia.

'Yet, just decades later, Dalhunty Station is on the brink of ruin . . .

'In the summer of 1909, eccentric Benjamin Dalhunty and his son Julian anxiously await the arrival of the Lady Matilda, the first paddle-steamer to navigate the river in more than two years. It will transport their very last wool clip to market.

'Twenty-year-old Julian wants more from life than the crumbling station, but as the eldest son his future has been set since birth.

'Until the day his mother invites a streetwise young man from Sydney into their home ...

'Ethan Harris's arrival shines a light on a family at breaking point. But he also unwittingly offers Julian an escape, as the young men embark on a perilous journey down the Darling and west into untamed lands.

'The Last Station is a captivating story of heritage, heartbreak and hope, set during the dying days of the riverboat trade along the Darling River.' (Publication summary) 

'Wild Dogs is a page-turning action thriller set in the WA outback, introducing Australia's answer to Jack Reacher

'In the drought-ridden rangelands of Western Australia, Gabe Ahern makes his living trapping wild dogs for local station owners.

'Still coming to terms with his wife's death - and the part he played in it - the old bushman leads a solitary life. Until one morning, when he rescues a young Afghan man, Altair, from certain execution.

'Now, with a gang of people smugglers on his tail and the lives of Altair's family on the line, Gabe is drawn into a ruthless game of cat and mouse. His main opponent is Chase Hunter, a kangaroo hunter with bush skills as wily and sharp as his own.

'As the old dogger and roo-shooter go head to head, Gabe will need all his cunning to come out of this alive...' (Publication summary)

'A scintillating crime thriller, set in the South Australian outback town of Cutters End. A mysterious death on New Year’s Eve 1989 leads to a shocking murder investigation 32 years later . . .

'A desert highway. A remote town. A murder that won’t stay hidden.

'New Year’s Eve, 1989. Eighteen-year-old Ingrid Mathers is hitchhiking her way to Alice Springs. Bored, hungover and separated from her friend Joanne, she accepts a lift to the remote town of Cutters End.

'July 2021. Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti is seconded to a recently reopened case, one in which he has a personal connection. Three decades ago, a burnt and broken body was discovered in scrub off the Stuart Highway, 300km south of Cutters End. Though ultimately ruled an accidental death, many people - including a high-profile celebrity - are convinced it was murder.

'When Mark’s interviews with the witnesses in the old case files go nowhere, he has no choice but to make the long journey up the highway to Cutters End.

'And with the help of local Senior Constable Jagdeep Kaur, he soon learns that this death isn’t the only unsolved case that hangs over the town...' (Publication summary)

'The new novel by New York Times #1 bestselling author Candice Fox is an electrifying cat-and-mouse thriller set in the Nevada Desert.

'Candice Fox has been described by the Sydney Morning Herald as 'one of Australia’s finest new gen crime writers' and her latest novel is another thrilling ride, as a mass prison breakout lets loose 650 of the country's most dangerous prisoners.‘Are you listening, Warden?’‘What do you want?’‘I want you to let them out.’‘Which inmates are we talking about?’‘All of them.’

'When 650 of the world’s most violent human beings pour out from Pronghorn Correctional Facility into the Nevada Desert, the biggest manhunt in US history begins.

'But for John Kradle, this is his one chance to prove his innocence, twenty-six years after the murder of his wife and child.

'He just needs to stay one step ahead of the teams of law enforcement officers he knows will be chasing the escapees down.

'Death Row Supervisor turned fugitive-hunter Celine Osbourne is single-minded in her mission to catch Kradle. She has very personal reasons for hating him – and she knows exactly where he’s heading . . .' (Publication summary)

'What do you get when you cross a painfully awkward boy, some lofty comedic ambition and a dead best friend? Answer- Norman Foreman.

'Norman and Jax are a legendary comedy duo in the making, with a five-year plan to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe by the time they're fifteen. But then Jax dies before they even turn twelve.

'Norman's mum Sadie knows she won't win Mother of the Year anytime soon, and she really doesn't know, or care, who Norman's father is. But her heart is broken when she discovers her grieving son's revised plan- 'Find Dad' and 'Get to the Edinburgh Fringe'.

'If meeting his dad and performing at the Festival are the two things that will help Norman through this devastating time, then Sadie is going to make them happen.

'So mother and son set off from Cornwall, with their friend Leonard in his vintage Austin Maxi, on a pilgrimage to Edinburgh - to honour Jax and to track down a few maybe-fathers on the way . . .' (Publication summary)

'From Australia's most exciting and original crime writer comes another electrifying thriller, set in Los Angeles, introducing a new – and decidedly unconventional – team of 'detectives'.

'A convicted killer. A gifted thief. A vicious crime boss. A disillusioned cop.
Together they’re a missing girl's only hope.

'Blair Harbour, once a wealthy, respected surgeon in Los Angeles, is now an ex-con down on her luck. She’s determined to keep her nose clean to win back custody of her son.

'But when her former cellmate, Sneak Lawlor, begs for help to find her missing daughter, Blair is compelled to put her new-found freedom on the line. Joined by LA’s most feared underworld figure, Ada Maverick, the crew of criminals bring outlaw tactics to the search for Dayly.

'Detective Jessica Sanchez has always had a difficult relationship with the LAPD. And her inheritance of a $7 million mansion as a reward for catching a killer has just made her police enemy number one.

'It’s been ten years since Jessica arrested Blair for the cold-blooded murder of her neighbour. So when Jessica opens the door to the disgraced doctor and her friends early one morning she expects abuse, maybe even violence.

'What comes instead is a plea for help.' (Publication summary)

'One bad decision can tear your world apart . . .

'December 1974. Abby Campbell and her brother Charlie are driving to their father's farm on a dark country road when they swerve into the path of another car, forcing it into a tree. The pregnant driver is killed instantly.

'In the heat of the moment, Abby and Charlie make a fateful decision. They flee, hoping heavy rain will erase the fact they were there. They both have too much to lose.

'But they have no idea who they've just killed or how many lives will be affected by her death. Soon the truth is like a riptide they can't escape, as their terrible secret pulls them down deeper by the day.'   (Publication summary)

'A scandalous secret. A deadly fire. An agonizing choice.

'Australia 1948. As a young woman running Amiens, a sizeable sheep station in New South Wales, Kate Dowd knows she’s expected to fail. And her grazier neighbour is doing his best to ensure she does, attacking her method of burning off to repel a bushfire.

'But fire risk is just one of her problems. Kate cannot lose Amiens, or give in to her estranged husband Jack’s demands to sell: the farm is her livelihood and the only protection she can offer her half-sister Pearl, as the Aborigines Welfare Board threatens to take her away.

'Ostracised by the local community for even acknowledging Pearl, Kate cannot risk another scandal. Which means turning her back on her wartime lover, Luca Canali ...

'Then Jack drops a bombshell. He wants a divorce. He’ll protect what’s left of Kate’s reputation, and keep Luca out of it – but for an extortionate price.

'Soon Kate is putting out fires on all fronts to save her farm, keep her family together and protect the man she loves. Then a catastrophic real fire threatens everything ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'South Australia, 1919. Ross Grant has always felt like the black sheep of his wealthy Scottish family. An explorer at heart, he dreams of life on Waybell, their remote cattle station in Australia’s last remaining wilderness, the Northern Territory.

'Then his brother Alastair is branded a deserter after going missing during the Great War. To help restore the Grants’ damaged reputation, Ross is coerced into marrying Darcey Thomas, a woman he has never met.

'Disgusted by his manipulative family, he turns his back on his unwanted wife just hours after the ceremony, and heads to Waybell with no plans to return. He carries with him the hope of carving his own empire in the far north.

'But Ross has not counted on Darcey’s determination to be his wife in more than just name. Nor did he anticipate meeting Maria, a young, part-Chinese woman who will capture his heart. And he certainly wasn’t prepared for how this beautiful yet savage land will both captivate and destroy his soul . . .

'From nineteenth-century Adelaide and the red dirt of mid-north South Australia, to the cattle stations and buffalo plains of the far north Ross’s journey is one of anger and desire, adventure and determination, to the heart of stone country and beyond.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The breaktaking new thriller from the author of Hades, winner of the Ned Kelly award for Best Debut Crime Novel. 'I fool myself that Eden has a heart – that she would at least have trouble killing me...'

'Most police duos run on trust, loyalty, and the desire to see killers in court. But Detective Frank Bennett's partner, the enigmatic Eden Archer, has nothing to offer him but darkness and danger. She doesn't mind catching killers – but it's not the courthouse where her justice is served.

'And now Eden is about to head undercover to find three missing girls. The only link between the victims is a remote farm where the desperate go to hide and blood falls more often than rain. For Frank, the priority is to keep his partner monitored 24/7 while she's there – but is it for Eden's protection, or to protect their suspects from her?

Across the city at the Utulla Tip, someone is watching Hades Archer, a man whose criminal reputation is the stuff of legend. Unmasking the stalker for him might be just what Frank needs to stay out of trouble while Eden's away.

'But it's going to take a trip into Hades's past to discover the answers - and what Frank uncovers may well put everyone in danger . . .' (Publication summary)

'Single mum Grace has no plans - and no spare time - to fall in love again. Until she moves to her ex-husband's secret vineyard . . .

'Grace Middleton knew that her ex-husband Jake was a lying, cheating, wife-abandoning bastard.

'What she didn’t know – until his untimely death – was that he was also the owner of a secret vineyard in the heart of the Margaret River wine region. And, much to the chagrin of his new wife, he’s left the property to Grace's three young sons.

'With the intention of putting it up for sale, Grace takes the boys to view Gum Leaf Grove. And immediately finds herself embroiled in mysteries from Jake's past and the accidental target of the resident ‘ghost’.

'Nowadays Grace believes in love even less than she believes in ghosts. So no one is more surprised than her when she finds herself caught between two very different men - with secrets of their own . . .' (Publication summary)