Australian Crime

"Chris Franklin's writing leaves you clenching your fists and balling your toes until the end. Mick Hunter is the Australian anti-hero we've been waiting for since Jack Reacher appeared on the scene" - The Bulletin "I haven't read a book so quickly in years, I could not put this down until I found out what happened. This has to be coming to a streaming service very soon if a production company hasn't already read this!!!" - The Saturday Times A missing soldier. A link to the past. A deadly secret. Mick Hunter’s life is simple: backbreaking days working construction in North Queensland and...

Son of the renowned Sydney obstetrician, Dr William McBride raised the alarm on the anti-nausea drug thalidomide in the 1960s and was later struck off the medical register for falsifying research results in a bid to challenge the safety of another drug. David chose to study Law, firstly at Sydney University and then at Oxford. There he met some British army officers and decided that soldiering was his calling, going on to train at Sandhurst.

The Lady Vanishes is an engrossing story of how a small team of seasoned investigative journalists and storytellers, a daughter's intuition, and a team of listener super-sleuths uncovered a web of intrigue spanning nine decades and three continents, and how—after 57 episodes, 20 million downloads, and sparking a coronial inquiry—they discovered at the heart of the mystery a stranger-than-fiction international man of mystery who could hold the key to what really happened to Marion.

My name's Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I'd hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

Tessa is a thoroughbred. A brilliant young barrister. She has worked her way up from a working-class background to be at the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and lighting up the shadows of doubt in any case. Her masterful line of questioning in the courtroom has netted Tessa win after win, freeing men accused of rape and sexual assault. As controversial as it is, this is her job - it's just about the facts and who can game the system. Working late one night, Tessa falls into a casual relationship with Julian, a coworker, an attorney who comes from an elite, wealthy family.

A gripping whodunit with an unexpected finale. Jack Hamma, Private Detective, meets the rich and beautiful Katrina de Medici Crest. Jack lives to regret that meeting. He wakes up in a police lock up with no recollection of the night before and under arrest for murder. Jack must untangle a web of intrigue full of twists, turns and jumbled evidence to clear his name. 'So Jack Hamma wakes up in jail where the coffee is disgusting and the inmates worse... and you just know he's going to escape but then it's not what we expect . I'm only up to page 38, but there have already been 3 major plot ...

Detective Superintendent Jack Hawksworth is seconded by counter-terrorism to investigate a spate of domestic events. First it was needles in strawberries, then tampering with lipstick samplers and baby formula. But when toxic mushrooms enter the market system and a death occurs, a wave of terror is set to sweep the country. Breaking news of a possible serial killer only heightens the alarm. There are no leads, no DNA, no witnesses, no CCTV footage.

International Politics with a dirty politician The action begins with a terrorist attack and is quickly followed by an assassination attempt, a pretty girl, a supermarket bombing, a train hijacking and Jack finding himself being circled by a hungry shark. Jack Hamma, ex SAS Commando has to cope with it all and in the end, much like in the beginning Jack finds himself in the drink and swimming for his life. 'A cracking little book, this is definitely one for the fans of Jack Hamma’ ‘Looking forward to Jacks next adventure.' ‘Thorogood just gets better with these larger than life action...

Do you ever really know your neighbours? The safest suburbs often hold the deepest secrets. Such is the case for Essie, a mother of two. In a moment of maternal despair she once made a terrible mistake, one she will always regret. Essie has since recovered, but she fears what may still lurk inside her. Her neighbours in Pleasant Court have their own issues. Driven and organised, Ange appears to have everything under control, except perhaps her husband. Practical, intellectual Fran can't stop running. For exercise, or something else?

Your baby daughter is kidnapped, what do you do? Private Detective Jack Hamma's world falls apart. His wife walks out on him, his business collapses and his baby daughter is kidnapped! Jack needs every bit of his legendary resourcefulness and every inch of his cool head to overcome what fate is about to unleashed. A fast moving Australia outback adventure. ‘ Another cracker with Jack Hamma as the action hero.’ ‘I have read all the Jack Hamma books as they came out and have enjoyed them all.’ ‘Gripped and held my interest from the start.’ ‘Whilst liking all the Jack Hamma books...

In April 2006, fifteen-year-old Oliver went hiking to the lookout on Burning Mountain - and vanished without trace.

In the autumn of 1992, two young women students at Melbourne University went to the police claiming that they had been indecently assaulted at a party. The man they accused was the head of their co-ed residential college. The controversial book that Helen Garner wrote about the resulting Ormond College sexual harassment case caused a social media storm. Prominent feminists were outraged at Garner's perceived support for the man involved, but many saw her approach a necessary and much welcome nuance towards the power dynamic between men and women.

Dead bodies, a complicated love life, a conflict between the local drug cartels, and a favor owed to the local bikies have Tara scrambling to stay ahead of the game.

In 1977, Vera 'Toddie' Hays and Florice 'Beezie' Bessire thought they were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime when Vera's nephew, Vern Todd, offered them a campervan to drive from Germany to India. Little did the women know that Vern and his accomplices would secretly pack two tonnes of hashish into the vehicle along the way. This shocking inside story chronicles Toddie and Beezie's wild ride across continents and oceans to our shores, their arrest by Australian Federal Bureau of Narcotics agents and all that the women faced in the aftermath.

Love him or loathe him, Ned Kelly has been at the heart of Australian culture and identity since he and his gang were tracked down in bushland by the Victorian police and came out fighting, dressed in bulletproof iron armour made from farmers' ploughs. Historians still disagree over virtually every aspect of the eldest Kelly boy's brushes with the law. Did he or did he not shoot Constable Fitzpatrick at their family home?

New Year's Eve, 1989. Eighteen-year-old Ingrid Mathers is hitchhiking her way to Alice Springs. Bored, hungover and separated from her friend, Joanne, she accepts a lift to the remote town of Cutters End. July 2021. Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti is seconded to a recently reopened case, one in which he has a personal connection. Three decades ago, a burnt and broken body was discovered in scrub off the Stuart Highway, 300 kilometres south of Cutters End. Though ultimately ruled an accidental death, many people - including a high-profile celebrity - are convinced it was murder.

For the last decade, the small mountain town of Edenville in Victoria's high country has been haunted by the horrific murders of five hikers up on Jagged Ridge. Also found dead near the scene was Bill 'Creeper' Durant, a bushland loner, expert deer-hunter, and a man with a known reputation for stalking campers . . .Conclusion: murder-suicide. Case closed. But as the ten-year anniversary of the massacre draws near, Detective Constable Sally White - the only officer at Edenville's modest police station - finds herself drawn into the dark world of the notorious Durant family.

Andrea Oliver's mother, Laura, is the perfect small-town mum. Laura lives a quiet but happy life in sleepy beachside Belle Isle. She's a pillar of the community: a speech therapist, business owner, and everybody's friend. And she's never kept a secret from anyone. Or so Andrea thinks. When Andrea is caught in a random violent attack at a shopping mall, Laura intervenes and acts in a way that is unrecognizable to her daughter. It"s like Laura is a completely different person—and that's because she was. Thirty years ago. Before Andrea. Before Belle Isle.

This is a heart-wrenching collection of true stories told through the eyes of family members who have experienced the trauma of a missing loved one. It follows their journeys from the desperate searches in the first days, through the Police investigations and, in many cases, the heartbreak as the years roll by without any news. These stories are just a glimpse into ten of the thousands of missing persons still out there, waiting to be found.

Remote north Queensland has long been a region of Australia that has attracted pioneers, adventurers, eccentrics, and a ragtag assortment of knockabout characters who seek a place to be themselves, to be accepted, and to bypass the rules of modern society – and sometimes to break those rules. Author and investigative journalist, Robert Reid, has chosen 15 fascinating stories selected from his many years of interviews and reporting in Australia’s north.