Cirrus@Austlit

'An engrossing and provocative exploration of privilege, hypocrisy and justice by the bestselling author of The Cane.

'Leah has a good life. She lives on the Drove, an inner-city cul-de-sac, with her husband, Moses, and their two children. She and her neighbours - the drovers - look out for each other. Theirs is a safe, community-oriented enclave and that's the way it's going to stay.

'When itinerants set up camp in 'their' park, some of the drovers are unsettled, some are outraged, and all of them want the campers to move on. Not even Sholto, the campers' charismatic leader, can put their fears to rest.

'Why is Sholto - handsome, charming and apparently with other options - living in a tent, and why has he chosen to pitch it beside the Drove? And why is Leah tempted to put her family and her comfortable life at risk when Sholto turns his wolf-like gaze towards her?

'A compelling and revealing novel, The Campers shows what neighbours will do when anarchy and misrule threaten their cosy community.' (Publication summary)

'Nail-biting, atmospheric, and unputdownable, the brilliant new thriller for fans of Wimmera and The Dry.

'ONE MISSING GIRL.

'NO SUSPECTS.

'A TOWN ABOUT TO IGNITE.

'Quala, a North Queensland sugar town, the 1970s.

'Barbara McClymont walks the cane fields searching for Janet, her sixteen-year-old daughter, who has been missing for weeks. The police have no leads. The people of Quala are divided by dread and distrust. But the sugar crush is underway and the cane must be burned.

'Meanwhile, children dream of a malevolent presence, a schoolteacher yearns to escape, and history keeps returning to remind Quala that the past is always present.

'As the smoke rises and tensions come to a head, the dark heart of Quala will be revealed, affecting the lives of all those who dwell beyond the cane.

'The Cane is an evocative and atmospheric thriller, and announces an exciting new voice in Australian crime writing.' 

Source : publisher's blurb

'One fine Wednesday evening, 65-year-old Ian Jamieson secured a hunting knife in a sheath to his belt and climbed through the wire fence separating his property from that of his much younger neighbour Greg Holmes. Less than 30 minutes later, Holmes was dead, stabbed more than 25 times. Jamieson returned home and took two shotguns from his gun safe. He walked across the road and shot Holmes' mother, Mary Lockhart, and her husband Peter multiple times before calling the police.

'In this compelling book, Maryrose Cuskelly gets to the core of this small Australian town and the people within it. Much like the successful podcast S-Town, things aren't always as they seem: Wedderburn begins with an outwardly simple murder but expands to probe the dark secrets that fester within small towns. Is murder something that lives next door to us all?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.