Australian Fiction Mysteries

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, a local deliveryman makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. Until a phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney.

Prepare yourself for an exhilarating journey through humanity’s most profound questions in this gripping novel. Meet Albert, a boy genetically engineered for unparalleled intelligence, torn from the arms of his parents, and thrust into a world that cannot understand him. As Albert breaks free from his captors in a daring escape, he embarks on a path that challenges conventional notions of right and wrong. Detective Miriam Hunter is hot on his trail, determined to bring him to justice. But could there be more to Albert than meets the eye? Is he merely a victim, desperate to comprehend his ...

The hand of fate, that had torn their lives apart, is now set to make their worlds collide once again. BOUND TO SARAH will set you on a roller-coaster of emotions, graphic in description and action packed. This story is brutal and shockingly unpredictable. In the year 1823, at the height of the British Empire and the colonization of Australia, Pat Roche sits on board a convict ship, sentenced for the term of his natural life to the New Colonies. All hope of ever seeing his wife and child again appeared to be lost. The ship is a fraught with tension under such a strict military guard; with ...

Life's a gamble. If you get on the wrong side of the big players in the high stakes gambling industry it's a gamble that will cost you your life. The chance discovery of the skeleton of a former jockey catapults D.I.Mahoney and his team into the murky terrain of the modern day gambling sector. The brutal slaying of a retired 'bagman' intensifies the search for a killer who will stop at nothing to protect his stake in the game. Can John Mahoney overcome external interference, disloyalty close to home, and a ruthless adversary to close the case? BIG STAKE is the third instalment in the ...

Constable Jenny Williams moved to an outback mining town to find her missing cousin. The cold case is finally warming up, but it appears the remote, desolate desert community is hiding more secrets. When a car crashes into the local motel reception, Jenny jumps in to help dig the owner from the debris—only to find tragedy. A woman’s corpse is discovered hidden in the carnage, turning the crash scene into a crime scene. Jenny starts digging, but quickly discovers the prime suspect is her friend, the woman who’s been her rock since she came to town.

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.

In war-torn Syria, a massacre survivor is pulled from beneath a pile of bodies. She is given one instruction: 'find Jed Walker'. Walker is ex-CIA - a man who thought he was long out of the game. Discovering a terror outfit is running people-smuggling from the Middle East and into the United States, he is drawn back in to fight their evil trade. At first Walker thinks these human traffickers are driven purely by profit and greed. But it is much worse than that - and it has ties to the highest levels of power.

Lenny Marks is good at not remembering. She has spent the last twenty years not thinking about the day her mother left her when she was still a child. Her stepfather's parting words, however, remain annoyingly unforgettable: 'You did this.' Now thirty-seven, Lenny prefers contentment and order over the unreliability of happiness and the messiness of relationships. She fills her days teaching at the local primary school, and her nights playing Scrabble with her pretend housemate, watching reruns of Friends and rearranging her thirty-six copies of The Hobbit.

When an earthquake causes a breach at a super-secret Pharos prison, Kensy and Max must join an urgent assignment to Queenstown, New Zealand. Time is of the essence—the escaped prisoners are two highly dangerous men out for revenge against both Pharos and the Spencer family. The twins head into the wilderness in pursuit. But the mountains are dangerous, and instability brought on by the earthquake is only making things worse. Meanwhile, strange things are happening back in London as one Pharos agent is attacked and another disappears.

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.

Australia has always been a land of mysteries. Some are ancient, some are historical and many continue to perplex us today—and will probably continue to do so tomorrow. More often than most of us would like to think, things simply vanish and people disappear without explanation, leaving a trail of heartbreak across generations. Australia also has its fair share of buried loot and fabulous riches gone missing—somewhere. Master storyteller Graham Seal has gathered mysteries from around Australia.

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.

Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister, Rose, three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life, and disrupting her routine can be...dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot fall pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.

The impeccably dressed Miss Kate Cocks might look more like a schoolmistress than a policewoman, but don't let that fool you. She's a household name, wrangling wayward husbands, seeing through deceptive clairvoyants, and rescuing young women (whether they like it or not) with the help of a five-foot cane and her sassy junior constable, Ethel Bromley. When shop assistant Dora Black is found dead on a city beach, Miss Cocks and Ethel are ordered to stay out of the investigation and leave it to the men. But when Dora's workmate goes missing soon after, the women suspect something sinister.

During a broiling heatwave, the inner circle of a high-profile charity attend a critical meeting at White Ash Ridge, a small hotel nestled in the Australian wilderness. As the temperature rises, a body is found lying in the thick bush, bludgeoned to death. One of the four remaining guests is a murderer - but who, and why, is a mystery. Detective Dana Russo knows the national spotlight will be sharply focused on the case. The charity was formed when the founders' teenage son was killed after intervening in a vicious assault - sparking public outrage and a damning verdict on the investigation.

The only way to save your child is to kidnap another. Listen carefully. Your child has been kidnapped. You must abduct someone else's child to save your own. Disobey. Break the rules. Go to the cops. Your child will die. Your victim's parents must kidnap another child before yours is released. You are now part of the chain.

Detective Rebecca Giles has just finished interviewing aging petty crim Sticky Pete over a spate of break-and-enters when a disturbing new report comes in. Twelve-year-old Kayleen Ellis has vanished from her home in Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter Valley. Hours later, Giles is a local hero, having apparently solved Kayleen's case and the spate of jewellery thefts. Yet the hangover from her celebrations has barely kicked in when the body of young jillaroo Ava Emmerson is discovered in gruesome circumstances on a nearby farm.

For as long as he can remember, it has been Galileo's dream to become a police horse. But when his dream comes true, he soon realises he's not there to solve crimes–he's just a vehicle to carry around the 'real' human detectives. When Galileo witnesses a crime, he decides to take matters into his own hands. He has a lot to learn, but each crime he solves is sure to take him one step closer to becoming a real detective ...

A poacher vanishes into thin air, defying logic and baffling ace tracker Mia Greenaway. Meanwhile Captain Sannie van Rensburg, still reeling from a personal tragedy, is investigating the disappearance of two young girls who locals fear have been abducted for use in sinister traditional medicine practices. But poachers are also employing witchcraft, paying healers for potions they believe will make them invisible and bulletproof.

Christmas is almost here, and Alice-Miranda and her closest friends are celebrating early at Highton Hall. But it's not all gingerbread, parties and present shopping. There are mysteries to be solved! Why are Christmas decorations disappearing and local stores empty of festive treats? What long-kept family secret does Alice-Miranda discover? More importantly, what will she do about it?