Cirrus@Austlit

'On a stormy Halloween night, Stella gets a call from her best friend, Detective Phuong Nguyen. Phuong has a problem. Or rather her lover, Bruce Copeland, does. Copeland, fearing being falsely accused of involvement in a police corruption investigation, knows that only one person can prove that he is the only innocent cop in his unit - but this saviour-to-be has gone missing. So it's up to Stella to find the missing man, and convince him to testify for Copeland. Easy. Meanwhile, Stella finds herself drawn to the mysterious Cuong - Phuong's eccentric cousin - a gambling addict with a crippling obsession with the supernatural. Cuong has been mixing with some unsavoury types at the race track, and with the Melbourne Cup only days away, Cuong is desperate to find the money he owes - before his ghosts come back to haunt him. When the fascinators and fake tan are on, the big money is out and the horses are off - and the race for Stella to get her man to a police station, and Cuong out of the country alive, is on. Easy? Too Easy.' (Publication summary)