Cirrus@Austlit

'The latest stunning thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands and The Seven.

'Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic are back – as Nell is thrown into her most emotionally fraught investigation yet.

'A controversial entrepreneur is murdered in a remote mountain valley, but this is no ordinary case. Ivan and Nell are soon contending with cowboy lawyers, conmen, bullion thieves and grave robbers.

'But it's when Nell discovers the victim is a close blood relative that the past begins to take on a looming significance.

'What did take place in The Valley all those years ago? What was Nell's mother doing there, and what was her connection to troubled young police officer Simmons Burnside? And why do the police hierarchy insist Ivan and Nell stay with the case despite an obvious conflict of interest?

'The Valley features a page-turning plot, intriguing characters, and an evocative sense of place—where nothing is ever quite what it seems. Chris Hammer, the acclaimed author of the international bestsellers Scrublands, Treasure & Dirt, The Tilt and The Seven, presents another immersive and emotionally rewarding thriller.' (Publication summary)

'Candice Fox's breathtaking new thriller is quite literally the bomb! A high-octane race through outback Australia.

'You only take the High Wire if you're desperate - or up to no good.

'A notorious unmarked track through outback Australia, the 'Wire' crosses slabs of lawless land, body dumping grounds and mobile phone blackspots.

'Harvey Buck is certainly desperate. Racing to be with his dying girlfriend, he encounters Clare Holland, whose car has broken down. He offers the hapless traveller a ride . . . and then their nightmare begins.

'The pair are ambushed by a vengeful crew - and strapped into bomb vests. As part of a deadly game, Harvey and Clare are forced to commit a series of increasingly murderous missions, or else be blown to smithereens.

'Senior Sergeant Edna Norris is dealing with a runaway teenager; not an unusual job in a place where people go to disappear. But an unfolding crime spree turns this outback cop's night into a fight for survival. Hot on Harvey and Clare's trail, Edna finds a burnt-out car, a missing woman, a bank robbery and a bullet-riddled body.

'And this road trip from hell has only just begun . . .'  (Publication summary)

'Yuwonderie's seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful. But now, in startling circumstances, one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate.

'Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim's friend thirty years ago—another member of The Seven—or even the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War? What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden?

'With the killer still on the loose, and events spiraling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die?

'The Seven is a compelling thriller filled with intrigue, emotional depth and an evocative sense of place—where nothing is ever quite what it seems.' (Publication summary)

'From the acclaimed author of Cooper Not Out comes a delightfully comic novel set in the Melbourne Goldrush era that reimagines the running of the inaugural Melbourne Cup.

'Some stories are too good to be true ...

'In the year 1861, there were three campfires burning outside the gold mining town of Mull Creek, in the British colony of Victoria.

'At the first is Jesus Whitetree, an escaped orphan with no knowledge of his new world, not even his age or real name. He only knows he wants to find gold. Gold makes everything good.

'At the second fire is the Jack Pink Gang. Jack is a little-known bushranger who is a violent criminal by day and a nervous wreck by night. His mother - a notorious criminal known throughout the colony as Mother Pink - engages the services of a bush poet to get Jack's name in the newspapers and make him feared and famous.

'And at the third fire is Mary, a young Aboriginal girl, and police constable Harry Logan. Harry has a good heart, but he also has Mary in chains. Despite her hard life and current circumstances, Mary remains smart, cheeky and troublesome to the struggling policeman.

'With the announcement of the first Melbourne Cup, all three parties descend upon Melbourne town. And the thrilling horserace offers something different for each of them - a new beginning, a chance to be written into history, or a prize bigger than they could imagine.

But only one can take the gold.

'GOOD AS GOLD is a reimagining of the very first 'race that stops a nation', and a heartwarming story about triumph and the things that mean more than gold.' (Publication summary)

'A coastal town is evacuated after record floods. Three young police officers are left behind. With a killer.

'The small beachside town of Gloster is on the edge of disaster. After constant rain, floodwaters are rising fast.

'Detective Constable Craig Watson, exiled to Gloster from Sydney, is a young man with a damaged past and an uncertain future.

'Constables Ellie Cameron and Larissa Brookes are young women struggling to show their worth as police officers under a misogynistic sergeant.

'The drowning town holds a secret that someone is prepared to murder for, and as the floodwaters cut Gloster off from the world the three young police officers begin to understand that it's not just them left stranded. Somewhere out there in the floodwaters is a killer. And he needs them dead.

'Taut, compelling and visceral, John Byrnes' Headland announces a major new voice in Australian crime fiction.' (Publication summary)

'A man runs for his life in a forest.
A woman plans sabotage.
A body is unearthed.

'Newly-minted homicide detective Nell Buchanan returns to her home town, annoyed at being assigned a decades-old murder - a 'file and forget'.

'But this is no ordinary cold case, as the discovery of more bodies triggers a chain of escalating events in the present day. As Nell starts to join the pieces together, she begins to question how well she truly knows those closest to her. Could her own family be implicated in the crimes?

'The nearer Nell comes to uncovering the secrets of the past, the more dangerous the present becomes for her, as she battles shadowy assailants and sinister forces. Can she survive this harrowing investigation and what price will she have to pay for the truth?

'Gripping and atmospheric, The Tilt is a stunning multi-layered novel by the acclaimed and award- inning author of the international bestsellers Scrublands, Silver, Trust and Treasure & Dirt.' (Publication summary)

'An unputdownable standalone thriller from the bestselling author of Scrublands.

'In the desolate outback town of Finnigans Gap, police struggle to maintain law and order. Thieves pillage opal mines, religious fanatics recruit vulnerable young people and billionaires do as they please.

'Then an opal miner is found crucified and left to rot down his mine. Nothing about the miner's death is straightforward, not even who found the body. Sydney homicide detective Ivan Lucic is sent to investigate, assisted by inexperienced young investigator Nell Buchanan.

'But Finnigans Gap has already ended one police career and damaged others, and soon both officers face damning allegations and internal investigations. Have Ivan and Nell been set up and, if so, by whom?

'As time runs out, their only chance at redemption is to find the killer. But the more secrets they uncover, the more harrowing the mystery becomes, as events from years ago take on a startling new significance.

'For in Finnigans Gap, opals, bodies and secrets don't stay buried forever.

'A superb standalone thriller from the acclaimed and award-winning author of the international bestsellers Scrublands, Silver and Trust.' (Publication summary)

'The gripping new Martin Scarsden novel.

'She breathes deeply, trying to quell the rising sense of panic. A detective came to her home, drugged her and kidnapped her. She tries to make sense of it, to imagine alternatives, but only one conclusion is possible: it's the past, come to claim her.

'Martin Scarsden's new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it's shattered by a voicemail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner Mandalay Blonde.

'Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who, and why?

'So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life so deep she has never mentioned it.

'And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a mystery man has been discovered, a man whose name she doesn't know, a man she was engaged to marry when he died. It's time to face her demons once and for all; it's time she learned how to trust.

'Set in a Sydney riven with corruption and nepotism, privilege and power, Trust is the third riveting novel from award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer Chris Hammer.' (Publication summary)

'Martin Scarsden returns in the sequel to the bestselling Scrublands.

'For half a lifetime, journalist Martin Scarsden has run from his past. But now there is no escaping.

'He'd vowed never to return to his hometown, Port Silver, and its traumatic memories. But now his new partner, Mandy Blonde, has inherited an old house in the seaside town and Martin knows their chance of a new life together won't come again.

'Martin arrives to find his best friend from school days brutally murdered, and Mandy the chief suspect. With the police curiously reluctant to pursue other suspects, Martin goes searching for the killer. And finds the past waiting for him.

'He's making little progress when a terrible new crime starts to reveal the truth. The media descend on Port Silver, attracted by a story that has it all: sex, drugs, celebrity and religion. Once again, Martin finds himself in the front line of reporting.

'Yet the demands of deadlines and his desire to clear Mandy are not enough: the past is ever present.

'An enthralling and propulsive thriller from the acclaimed and bestselling author of Scrublands.' (Publication summary)