Australian Crime Fiction

When Detective Maya Thorne is summoned back to Warragulla—the rural Australian hometown she swore never to revisit—she expects a routine investigation. Skeletal remains have been discovered in a drought-exposed creek bed at Billabong Station, likely from the bushfires that ravaged the region three years ago. But as the parched earth gives up its secrets, Maya finds herself excavating more than just bones. The remains belong to Cameron Lockhart, a local landowner who disappeared during the fires, and someone put a bullet in his head before burying him where the flames would erase the ...

A powerful vigilante hell-bent on cleansing society. A dogged detective struggling for justice. Whose vision for the future will prevail? The horrific murder of a prominent businessman plunges D.I.Mahoney and his squad into a race against time to apprehend a killer determined to eradicate any 'dead wood' in the Tasmanian economy. John Mahoney must call upon all his fortitude, analytical skill, and investigative resources if he is to stop the assassin before this barbaric vision is fully enacted. DEAD WOOD is the second instalment in the D.I.Mahoney crime fiction mystery series. If your ...

Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction, Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake. There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer.

Something is very rotten in the state of Tasmania. Brad Finch, the marquee player of the Tassie Devils Football Club, is the victim at the heart of a new murder mystery. Intense media interest, interfering superior officers and corrupt business interests all threaten to derail the homicide investigation conducted by the Serious Crimes Squad. Forensic analysis, dogged detective work and inspiration may prove insufficient in the search for the true perpetrators. The team must face unpalatable truths about the nature of professional sport and the exercise of power in modern Australian society....

Ryan and Sophie are a golden couple in Melbourne, the charming, salt-of-the-earth country boy and the charismatic, gorgeous social butterfly. When Ryan’s father dies, leaving them the family farm, it seems like a chance for Ryan to get back to his roots and for Sophie to embrace the bucolic country life she always dreamed of. But reality proves very different, and years spent struggling against an implacable drought have pushed their marriage – and finances – to the absolute limit.

When a savage winter storm batters the South Australian coast, Detective Jodi Brennan expects to deal with the usual aftermath—damaged boats, blocked roads, and power outages. What she doesn't expect is for the tempest to expose human remains embedded in Wirramurra Bay's protective breakwater. What begins as a routine investigation into old bones quickly evolves into something far more sinister when forensic examination reveals the victim as Melissa Hartley, a young woman who disappeared in 1987. The case that was once dismissed as a missing person becomes a murder investigation—one ...

Freya thought she could relax when Ryan's best mate Jamie got engaged to her best friend Hannah. Two couples, four friends – what could be better than that? But a day before the wedding, Freya is torn between keeping the peace or blowing it up. Hannah's perfect wedding is hours away and she's daydreaming of a honeymoon in Tahiti and starting the family she longs for when she hears the first-responder sirens. Is it a grass fire? Worse? And why aren't Ryan or Jamie answering their phones?

In the mountains of Bhutan, a dark secret has been concealed from the rest of the world. Deep in the underbelly of an ancient, abandoned monastery, a collection of sinister individuals slave away at their workstations in an attempt to concoct a virus. A terrifying pathogen. The Chimera. Colt Griffin, an ambitious special forces operative, is contacted by a mysterious organisation known as Black Force. Alone in Bhutan, soul searching in the Paro Valley before diving into a career in government black operations, Colt has no idea what hell awaits him in the mountains.

Nursing the mother of all hangovers, Will Slater skydives into the Taklamakan Desert in western China under cover of darkness. He’s searching for three American college dropouts, believed to have been kidnapped by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. And then, all at once, he finds himself in a no-holds-barred war with both the jihadists and China’s secret police. Because the hostages are lined up for the most painful demise imaginable, and Slater sure as hell isn’t going to let that happen.

Lagos, Nigeria. A city with a population pushing twenty million, but government black ops agent James Xu is only interested in one man. In a rundown seaside bar damp with humidity he confronts Jimmy Neak, a lowly deckhand set to make a voyage on an international freighter across the Gulf of Guinea in a few short hours. Time is of the essence; U.S. military intelligence fears the Cambodian American has been radicalised in the aftermath of his brother’s violent death. They task Xu with finding out why.

Sam Rollins thought he was done with the world of government black operations. Embracing an early retirement in the coastal Italian town of Vernazza, he tries to put what happened deep in the rainforests of Peru behind him. Black Force; Jason King; a world of madness and carnage – all forgotten. Until chaos rears its ugly head. When a gang of crack addicts target Rollins for an extortion plot to fuel their habit, Rollins finds himself right back in the violent world he thought he escaped from, forced to grapple with questions he never wanted to ask.

Sam Rollins has life figured out. Between Black Force operations, he lives in a lavish penthouse in Calabasas, spending the days honing his mind and body into the ultimate human weapon. Paid handsomely, evolving constantly, he’s successfully transitioned from his chaotic early years as a solo warrior. Then, one afternoon, someone sneaks into his apartment as he sleeps. They leave a note behind, threatening to reveal his deepest, darkest secrets.

On a snowy mountainside in the Peruvian Andes, a prisoner withers in his cell. Previously a government agent for a black operations division of the U.S. military, Sam Rollins must accept the fact that his days are numbered. He botched a mission concerning a tribe of Asháninka natives, and now he must pay the price with a lifetime of imprisonment. His government doesn’t officially recognise his actions, and his life is now forfeit.

Sri Lanka, 2009. Decades of civil war and bloodshed are being brought to an end at last – by any means necessary. In the capital, Colombo, tenacious journalist Ameena Fernando is murdered, execution-style, on a busy street near her home, with no witnesses. With pressure growing to find Ameena’s killers, CIA agent Ellie Harper is sent to seek justice for the journalist’s death with strict instructions: Find something, but not too much. It’s her first time returning to the island after her last mission went tragically awry four years prior, and Ellie has more than one ghost to lay to rest.

In the scorching heat of Alice Springs, where temperatures regularly exceed 40°C, Detective Senior Constable Sarah Reeves is called to investigate when gallery owner Maxwell Reid is found dead among his prized Aboriginal artworks. What begins as an apparent poisoning soon reveals a sophisticated art forgery operation exploiting indigenous artists and their cultural heritage. When evidence points to multiple suspects—from rival gallery owners to exploited Aboriginal artists with legitimate grievances—Sarah must navigate both the brutal summer heat and the closed ranks of a town where ...

A small boy and a young girl make a contract to kill. A school girl and her young brother arrive at private detective Jack Hamma's office. They scatter coins over Jacks desk, the contents of their piggy bank, and ask Jack to shoot dead two men. They want to save a forest and take revenge for the murder of their parents. Murder, revenge and retribution combine with Jacks wry humor to make this a great read. ‘The same fast paced action we've come to expect from a Jack Hamma story.’ ‘Flows well as we travel with Jack across the world, from the wilds of Yorkshire to the depths of the ...

The death of Old Joe, a homeless man on Darlinghurst Road, seemed inevitable—until the autopsy revealed it was murder. Darlinghurst Road, once the beating heart of Sydney's red-light district, is where the past lingers in the shadows. However, the city's Eastern Suburbs are not known for bloodshed. When a second victim, an affluent woman from exclusive Point Piper, is found with her throat cut, the divide between Sydney's elite and its outcasts grows more sinister. Detective Gary Haddock has seen it all in Homicide, but even he is baffled by the lack of connection between the murders. ...

In the drought-stricken Kimberley, where water means the difference between survival and ruin, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is called to a sacred waterhole where the body of water project engineer Michael Crawford lies half-submerged, surrounded by poorly staged traditional elements. What begins as a murder investigation evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between ancient underground water systems and generations of deliberate deception. When a second victim—environmental consultant Rebecca Palmer—is found at another sacred site, Odie must ...

The violent slaughter of the Primrose family while they slept shocked the nation. Their young live-in chef, Bill Kareama, was swiftly charged with murder and brought to justice. But the brutal crime scarred the idyllic town of Cambridge forever. Seventeen years later, true-crime podcaster Sloane Abbott tracks down prison psychologist TK Phillips. Once a fierce campaigner for an appeal, TK now lives a quiet life with Bill's case firmly in his past. As Sloane lures a reluctant TK back into the fight, evidence emerges that casts new light on the Primroses—and who might have wanted them dead.

In Broome's tourist-perfect marina, where million-dollar boats promise wilderness adventures to wealthy visitors, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is called to examine what appears to be a robbery gone wrong. What begins as a straightforward marina murder evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between luxury tourism and a sophisticated fraud network targeting elderly investors. When Odie's tracking skills expose crime scene staging, he must navigate both the predatory undercurrents of seasonal tourism and the complex relationships that bind Broome's ...