Cirrus@Austlit

'Two estranged sisters reunite to solve the harrowing mystery of their missing mother.

'In 1998, the American Jorgenson family had been on a year-long road trip in Australia. One humid, storming night, the mother - Elsa Jorgenson - vanished in an isolated stretch of Australian everglades. Elsa was never seen again.

'That night, twelve-year-old Lily Jorgenson was left alone and terrified in the family camper—even her teenage sister Iris is missing. When Iris comes racing back through the rain, she refuses to tell where she’s been. Lily is certain her sister is hiding a dark secret.

'24 years later, Lily is a travel writer living a settled life with her son in Pennsylvania, USA. Lily and Iris are estranged, with Iris’s secret having torn them apart. When floods dredge up their mother’s backpack from the everglades, tantalising clues are uncovered, and the police reopen the cold case.

'Lily returns to Australia, determined to force Iris to finally tell her secret, and to do that, she'll have to reunite with her. But when Lily unlocks the gut-wrenching events of the past, she finds that everything she thought was true about her family is about to shatter.' (Publication summary)

'For some time, Senior Detective Kate Wakeland has sensed dark undercurrents swimming in the depths of her beloved small town, Tallman's Valley.

'She is determined to find answers to the questions that no one is asking and find out what lies beneath the surface.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A decade ago, The Lullaby Man preyed upon young girls in Tallman's Valley. He stole into their lives, whispered in their ears, spoke of love.

'Abby Wakeland was fourteen then. Now twenty-four, she's found the courage to tell her mother--Senior Detective Kate Wakeland--about what happened.

'The Lullaby Man was her teacher.

'What Abby reveals next will lead Kate down dark, twisting tunnels of discoveries that will blow this small town apart.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'It was summer in the mountains when five small children vanished from their nursery school picnic. The heat was stifling that day, the tinkle of an ice-cream van in the air.

'Three and a half years later, in the dead of winter, the children are returned to their families... one by one.

'All except for Ivy - the granddaughter of homicide detective Kate Wakeland. The other four children say Ivy is dead.

'Speculation grows that the kidnappings were revenge for an offender that Detective Wakeland put in jail years before.

'She engages in a battle of wits between herself, the kidnapper and the cold, vast expanse of mountains in between.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Photographer Isla Wilson is thrilled she's landed her dream job, but the clients who hired her are getting stranger by the day.

'It sounded so perfect - a month's assignment at the misty, sprawling Scottish Highlands property of brilliant architect Alban McGregor, and his wife, Jessica.

'But deep in the woods, there is a chilling playhouse. Two years ago, the McGregors' daughter, Elodie, died after being abducted and taken there. Alban refuses to knock the playhouse down, and he keeps a picture of it on his wall.

'Isla senses that both Alban and Jessica are keeping terrible secrets. The closer Isla comes to getting answers about Elodie, the more the danger mounts. And with a dense cover of snow now blanketing the town, all chance of escape might already be gone.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Evie is in the grip of a gambling addiction. Ashamed and desperate, she's terrified she'll destroy the lives of her husband and two small daughters. She grabs onto a lifeline - the offer of a program that promises to heal addictions and give her a fresh start. Evie and 27 others from around the world travel to a monastery on a tiny Greek island to begin the program.

'IN THE END, JUST SIX OF THEM WILL BE LEFT.

'Evie's husband Gray is gutted to find the note that Evie left behind. Why did she leave and where did she go? And is she ever coming back? His anger turns to alarm as he begins to put together the pieces of his wife's disappearance. When Evie's car is found burned out in woodland, the police suspect him of murdering Evie. Gray has one chance to fly to Greece to try to find Evie - before he's arrested for something he didn't do.

'Too late, Evie discovers the chilling truth about the monastery and the island. And the closer she gets to finding an escape, the closer the danger gets to her.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Little Boy Blue, where did you go? Who led you away? Only I know ...

'Two-year-old Tommy Basko goes missing from a popular inner-city playground. Six months later, his parents begin receiving cryptic messages in rhyme about Tommy. The police don't believe the messages are from the abductor, but Tommy's mother Phoebe is certain they're a game meant for her.

'Against the advice of the police, Phoebe decides to play the game.

'She begins a frantic search for the writer of the rhymes, at the cost of causing her marriage to shatter.

'When the shocking identity of the message-writer is discovered, Phoebe's desperate race for the truth has only just begun.

'Who took Tommy? And why?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.