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This page lists crime novels and short story collections set wholly or partly in regions and cities of Australia that are not included in more geographically specific lists.

A Twig is Bent

Estelle Thompson

1961

The Lawyer and the Carpenter

Estelle Thompson

1963

The Edge of Nowhere

Estelle Thompson

1965

The Glass Houses

Estelle Thompson

1967

The Wrong Saturday

Estelle Thompson

1968

Find a Crooked Sixpence

Estelle Thompson

1970

"To help our old friends, Dr. Jacqueline Freeman agrees to take over a small practice in the Australian town of Willowbank for one year. Outwardly, conditions are pleasant enough, but Jackie soon finds out that the townspeople have far from forgotten the unsolved murder, which happened one year before, of the beautiful wife of one Carl Shrader. The young doctor is unwittingly drawn into the mystery, partly from a natural curiosity to know the truth and partly because of an immediate attraction to Carl Shrader - the man everyone believes to be the killer."

A Mischief Past

Estelle Thompson

1971

Three Women in the House

Estelle Thompson

1973

Death of an Old Goat

Robert Barnard

1974

"Professor Belville-Smith had bored university audiences in England with the same lecture for fifty years. Now he was crossing the Australian continent, doing precisely the same. Never before had the reaction been so extreme, however, for shortly after an undistinguished appearance at Drummondale University, the doddering old professor is found brutally murdered. As Police Inspector Royle (who had never actually had to solve a crime before) probes the possible motives of the motley crew of academics who drink their was through the dreary days at Drummondale and as he investigates the bizarre behaviour of some worthy locals, a hilarious, highly satirical portrait of life down under emerges."

The Meadows of Tallon

Estelle Thompson

1974

Hunter in the Dark

Estelle Thompson

1978

To Catch a Rainbow

Estelle Thompson

1979

The Marvelous Boy

Peter Corris

1982

A Cliff Hardy novel.

"Lady Catherine presides over the declining fortunes of the Chatterton estate, which is lacking a suitable heir. When she hears of a grandson she never knew, Cliff Hardy takes the job, reluctantly, of finding him. From the run-down boarding houses of Darlinghurst to the social set of Canberra, Hardy finds the case forcing him into some of the strangest roles a private detective has ever had to play."

The Empty Beach

Peter Corris

1983

A Cliff Hardy novel.

"A case in Bondi attracts him as an ex-surfer and admirer of the suburb. It began as a routine investigation into a supposed drowning. But Hardy soon finds himself literally fighting for his life in the murky, violent underworld of Bondi. The truth about John Singer, black marketeer and poker machine king is out there somewhere amidst the drug addicts, prostitutes and alcoholics. Hardy's job is to stay alive long enough in that world of easy death to get to the truth."

The Heir to Fairfield

Estelle Thompson

1983

Heroin Annie and other Cliff Hardy stories

Peter Corris

1984

Cliff Hardy short stories.

"Cliff Hardy is in action again: trying to keep one step ahead of his client's troubles - and his own. He goes from sleazy backstreets to boardrooms in skyscrapers - dealing with everyone from fashion models and teenage junkies to urban developers and crooked funeral directors. Hardy copes, with his guts and his savvy; and all for a hundred and twenty-five dollars a day (plus expenses)."

• Marriages Are Made In Heaven
• Heroin Annie
• The Luck Of Clem Carter
• Silverman
• Stockyards At Jerilderie
• Blood Is Thicker
• Mother's Boy
• Man's Best Friend
• Escort To An Easy Death
• California Dreamland

A Toast to Cousin Julian

Estelle Thompson

1986

The Man in the Shadows

Peter Corris

1988

A Cliff Hardy short novel and six short stories.

"Gareth Greenway wasn't all he seemed, but Cliff Hardy was used to that. What he wasn't used to was the shadowy world Greenway leads him into: neurosurgeons, mental patients, AIDS sufferers, all negotiating a landscape of dreams and delusions. An old friend of Hardy's ends up dead while Hardy chases the shadows, catching some, losing others. The accompanying stories find Hardy on more familiar ground. When organised crime, political corruption and the Australian army are involved, Hardy battles the odds. But when it comes to a man-to- man contest, put your money on Hardy to win."

• Man In The Shadows
• Cloudburst
• High Integrity
• Box On!
• The Deserter
• Byron Kelly's Big Mistake
• Norman Mailer's Christmas

Dead Witness : Best Australian Mystery Stories

Editor: Stephen Knight

1989

"A collection of Australian detective stories and stories of mystery from the late 19th century to modern day."

Death On A Hot Summer Night

Anne Infante

1989

A Micky Douglas novel.

" Popular children’s author Micky Douglas is in trouble. Either he’s incredibly accident prone or someone is trying to kill him. Returning home one hot and sticky Brisbane afternoon, intent on relaxing in a tub of cold water, he finds his bath already occupied by his illustrator Owen Pendleton. Owen isn’t trying to beat the heat. Owen is very dead. Micky’s old friend Richard Jordan, an investigative journalist, turns up on the trail of a Chinese Triad organisation, hoping to link the laundering of drug money to casino owner Eric Saunders. Hearing about the spate of accidents, Jordan is instantly suspicious. Not only is Saunders up to his neck in shady deals, he is also having an affair with Micky’s ex-wife and trying to buy Micky’s house. Micky has no intention of selling, but that’s hardly a motive for attempted murder. After all, there are other houses on the market. But it’s Pendleton’s death that is the really bad news for Jordan, for the drug-addict artist was just about to lift the lid off a major drug racket and give Jordan the biggest story of his life. As Micky joins forces with Jordan to discover the grim secret of the house the casino boss wants so badly, he finds himself caught in a desperate race to save his ex-wife and others from a ruthless gang."

Death Among the Dunes

Anne Infante

1990

A Micky Douglas novel.

" When popular children’s author Micky Douglas takes his niece and nephew for a caravan holiday on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast, he’s expecting nothing more exciting than three weeks of sun, sand and swimming. And he wouldn’t mind getting to know fellow camper Lorraine Marshall a little better, either. The holiday begins to turn sour when the strangled body of a local teenage girl is uncovered by children digging in a sand dune. The police are confident that, despite an epidemic of summer ’flu, they can solve the murder quickly; until Micky, enjoying an early morning run on the beach, comes across the body of another local teenager. Micky’s friend from Brisbane Homicide, Inspector Reeves, is called in, and it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is at large with two more victims are discovered. Can the murderer really be one of the seemingly innocent holiday-makers? Micky can’t believe it, but he takes up the Inspector’s challenge to solve the murders. He has all the clues, yet he’s almost too late in putting them together as he battles frantically to save himself and his companion Lorraine and bring a dangerous murderer to justice."

Crimes for a Summer Christmas

Editor: Stephen Knight

1990

"An entertaining collection of previously unpublished Australian crime stories, from contributors such as Peter Corris, Marele Day, Garry Disher, Marion Halligan, Mudrooroo Narogin, Kate Stephens and Renate Yates."

• Ladies’ Day (Jennifer Rowe)
• Logan’s Comet (Peter Corris)
• Westralian Lead (Mudrooroo Narogin )
• Neighbourhood Fortress (Marion Halligan)
• The Widder Tree Shadder Murder (Elizabeth Jolley)
• The Caretaker (Ian Moffitt)
• The Stinging Tree (Marele Day)
• The Night of the Eclipse (Martin Long)
• Songs of the Sea (Archie Weller)
• The Perfect Murder (Renate Yatesi)
• Pioneers (Michael Wilding)
• The Manly Shooting (Nigel Krauth)
• Cody’s Art (Garry Disher)
• Tanners End (Kate Stephens)
• Mugger’s Game (Robert Hood)
• Killing Time (John Sligo)

Kickback

Garry Disher

1991

A Wyatt novel.

" Wyatt robs banks, and lifts payrolls. Most men like him are dead or in gaol. But Wyatt stamps a cold, pitiless style on his heists - and makes sure that he never gets caught. Now his funds are low and his luck is running out - until the day Anna Reid explains about the kickback in her partners's safe. Other players are involved: Bauer - who learnt his trade shooting blacks in Southern Africa; Ivan Younger - small-time boss; Sugarfoot Younger - sullen urban cowboy. In the world of Kickback there is no yielding, no redemption. When Wyatt is crossed, the outcome is inevitable."

The Substitute

Estelle Thompson

1991

"Lyn, an artist from Queensland, hires a private detective to trace her father who disappeared after serving a prison sentence. Determined to prove his innocence, she discovers he is living in New South Wales. She moves there and falls for a local policeman and then finds that her life is in danger."

Deathwater

Anne Infante

1991

A Micky Douglas novel.

" Darkwater is a historic home near Brisbane, still owned by the Forrests, the pioneer family whose founder built it in colonial times. Journalist Bob Slater, who is writing an article about the house and family for a local paper, is killed in a car accident on a dark wet night in the steep and dangerous Kaye Street, so children’s author Micky Douglas agrees to finish the article. But Bob’s death bears an uncanny resemblance to that of William, son of the autocratic Eileen Forrest, in the same spot sixteen years previously and, after finding a cryptic message doodled by Bob Slater shortly before he died, Micky begins to wonder just how ‘accidental’ both deaths really were. Driven by curiosity, Micky sets out to investigate and, in spite of being warned by his friend Inspector Reeves uncovers a deadly plot to suppress and old scandal of Government and police corruption, the truth about the supposed suicide of Eileen Forrest’s husband, a horrific crime against the original native tribe which once inhabited the Darkwater land – and a cunning murderer who is determined to remove Micky before he discovers the truth."

More Crimes for a Summer Christmas

Editor: Stephen Knight

1991

"The second collection of stories by Australian writers of crime, mystery and psychic violence, including Alex Juniper, Peter Corris, Claire McNab, Marele Day and Jennifer Rowe."

• The Icecream Bursts (Marion Halligan)
• Old Ground (Garry Disher)
• For Mr Voss or Occupant (Janette Turner Hospital)
• The Big Lie (Peter Corris)
• The Long Way Home (Kate Stephens)
• Australian-American Collaboration in the Fight Against World Terrorism (Richard Hall)
• The Vanishing of Jock McHale’s Hat (Kerry Greenwood)
• Follow Me (Marele Day)
• The Merchant of Parramatta (Martin Long)
• White Christmas (Jennifer Rowe)
• The Healer (Mudrooroo Narogin )
• An Old Husbands’ Tale (Susan Geason)
• Hitmen on Holidays (Robert Hood)
• High-Rating Death (Claire McNab)
• Winston Goes Straight (Steve Wright)
• The Amateur Hangman (Kel Richards)

Murder on the Ballarat Train

Kerry Greenwood

1991

A Phryne Fisher novel.

"When Phryne Fisher arranges to go to Ballarat for a week, she eschews the excitement of her Hispano-Suiza for the sedate safety of the train. But as the passengers sleep, they are all overcome by chloroform poisoning. In the morning Phryne is left to piece together all the clues: a young girl suffering from amnesia, the body of an old woman missing her emerald rings and rumours of white slavery and black magic... the last thing Phryne was expecting of this train journey was that she will have to use her trusty Beretta .32 to save lives!."

Paydirt

Garry Disher

1992

A Wyatt novel.

"Wyatt is back in a new adventure set on the far side of morality. Introduced in Kickback, Garry Disher's fast-selling, widely praised crime novel, Wyatt reappears in the South Australian outback, intent on snatching a payroll. But Wyatt is not the only one eyeing the funds. The Outfit has business with Wyatt. It will only be finished when he faces the hitman's gun."

Death In Green

Anne Infante

1992

A Micky Douglas novel.

" Mitchell Island, a rare sand island off the Queensland coast, has become the focus of conflict between timber workers who want to continue to log its abundant forests and conservationists who seek to ban logging. Into this potential battleground comes Damien White, ecologist and presenter of a popular TV series, to film a documentary on the island at the invitation of Hugh Grant, head of the anti-logging campaign. Before White arrives, there is an attempt on Grant’s life, seemingly by someone in Eversleigh, the mainland town which owes its existence to logging, followed by an attack by ‘Greenies’ on the manager of the timber mill. Then White’s scriptwriter is found drowned in suspicious circumstances. Children’s author Micky Douglas agrees to step in to complete the script but is torn between his allegiance to White, his friendship with Inspector Reeves who is investigating the scriptwriter’s death, his love for Annie Mason, also working for White, and his loyalty to his friend, journalist Duke Jordan, with whom he sets out to investigate the possibility that the warring groups are being secretly manipulated by someone with quite different plans for the island."

Death Launch

Anne Infante

1993

A Micky Douglas novel.

" When children’s author Micky Douglas invites Maddy Grey to launch his latest book, he has no idea he’s inviting trouble. Maddy, well-known hostess of the successful children’s TV show Kids’ World isn’t as popular with her colleagues as she is with her adoring young audience. In fact, she’s managed to alienate quite a number of her acquaintances, some of whom are finding their very livelihood and future happiness threatened by her vindictive behaviour. It seems a lot of people have very good reason for wishing Maddy Grey dead. So when her body turns up after the launch, the police have quite a list of suspects. But who killed Maddy Grey? Was it her ex-lover and co-host? Or her own daughter? The Kids’ World producer – or his wife? The over-emotional writer of teenage novels whom Maddy threatened to destroy? Or perhaps the journalist whose lover Maddy seduced from her? It might be her agent, or the TV newsreader, or one of the family who runs the bookshop where the launch took place. The killer is determined to cover any tracks and Micky, realising that he himself has been responsible for one of the following deaths, is determined to bring a murderer to justice."

Deathdeal

Garry Disher

1993

A Wyatt novel.

"On the run after the payroll heist that went horribly wrong in Paydirt, wanted by the police and contract hitmen, he discovers that a shadowy third player has joined the hunt. Enter Stolle. Stolle specialises in finding people who don't want to be found. But who is his Brisbane client? Is this a trap Wyatt's walking into? And what of the score itself, the suburban bank with two million in the vault? It looks easy enough - if you don't count a bank manager who owes favours to the wrong people, a gun-running pilot, grifters, bent cops and punks with ambition...There's death in a deal like that."

The Second Death

Kel Richards

1993

A Mark Roman novel.

"On Mark Roman's late night talk show, the hour creeps towards midnight. He argues with callers, amuses them, berates them, comforts them - and gets involved in their private lives... An urgent plea for help from a caller named Liz takes him one step further. This is when Roman discovers the body! After the police question him for many hours, he sets out to solve a murder."

A Corpse At The Opera House: Crimes for a Summer Christmas No. 3

Editor: Stephen Knight

1993

"The third collection in the Crimes for a Summer Christmas series, featuring stories by 14 Australian writers."

• Ghost Writer (Peter Corris)
• Portfolio (Brian Castro)
• Lady Meredith's Jam (Elizabeth Jolley)
• Dead Roses (Archie Weller)
• Critical Differences (Marion Halligan)
• The Three Of Spades (Steve Wright)
• Cousin To Death (Jean Bedford)
• Bloody Hide (Robert Hood)
• First Victim (Kate Stephens)
• Bee Sting (Robert Wallace)
• Unpleasantness At The Big Boys Club (Marele Day)
• The Tarpeian Way (Martin Long)
• Threshold (Garry Disher)
• A Corpse At The Opera House (Janette Turner Hospital)

Crosstown Traffic: Romance, Horror, Fantasy, SF, Western Invade Crime Fiction

Editor: Stuart Coup, Julie Ogden & Robert Hood

1993

"Twelve adventurous Australian writers respond to the challenge of creating a hybrid crime story. Murder, mayhem and malice intercept with science fiction, fantasy, horror, western, fairy tale and romance writing to create an unholy miasma, the likes of which you have never encountered before. Expect the unexpected. Prepare for the confrontation. The crime fiction story has been invaded by marauding genres. The boundaries have been blurred. You have been warned. A cross genre crime anthology featuring Australia's best writers of crime playing with genre boundaries."

• Introduction (Stuart Coupe)
• The Kid and the Man from Pinkertons Marele (Marele Day)
• My Brother Jack ( Garry Disher)
• Finding Fire (Jean Bedford)
• And Then She Kissed Him (Steve Wright)
• Voyeur Night (Robert Hood)
• Arizona Dawn (Peter Corris)
• Blue Groper (Robert Wallace)
• The Big Fairy Tale Sleep (Domenic Cadden)
• Fear-Me-Now (Terry Dowling)
• I Am My Father's Daughter (Bill Congreve)
• I Am Dying Egypt, Dying (Kerry Greenwood)
• Sensible Shoes (Jan McKemmish)

The Childstone Cycle

Kerry Greenwood

1994

"Rebecca you must find the Childstones & give them back. My mother told me to find them. She had the dream too. But I never had the time. I never did get back to the quest. They were sacred relics of the local Aborigines. There'll be no peace for us until they're returned to their rightful home. The trail meanders back through the interwoven lives of the seven daughters, back through Rebecca's ancestors: the unloved schoolgirl encountering the '60s sexual revolution; the cynical Second World War concert pianist; the older woman wandering the desert; the nurse at the time of the influenza epidemic; the deserting soldier killed on the Somme; the brilliant Jenny Wren, the music hall diva; betrayed Mary, the settler's wife, and her first encounter with the Aborigines; winding finally to the vengeful Poll McPherson on the Ballarat goldfields in the 1850s. For Rebecca, lost in the past, finding the Childstones is only the beginning of her story."

Stiff

Shane Maloney

1994

A Murray Whelan novel.

"The fiddle at the Pacific Pastoral meat-packing works was a nice little earner for all concerned until Herb Gardiner reported finding a body in number 3 chiller. An accident, of course, but just the excuse a devious political operator might grab to stir up trouble with the unions. Enter Murray Whelan, minder, fixer and general dogsbody for the Minister of Industry. Between playing of party factions and pursuing the kohl-eyed Ayisha, it's all in a day's work for Murray to hose down the situation at Pacific Pastoral. Then the lairy V8 turns up. And after that, it gets personal. Because don't you just hate it when somebody tries to kill you and you don't know who or why? "

Murder At Home: Crimes for a Summer Christmas No. 4

Editor: Stephen Knight

1994

"Into this fourth anthology, crime-writer Stephen Knight has lured 13 crime and literary writers, offering as irresistible bait the chance to bring the complications of violent death back to where it belongs - at home."

• Home On The Range (Mudrooroo)
• Back (John Baxter)
• Seascape (Gillian Mears)
• Sand Trap (Peter Corris)
• I Love New York (Marion Halligan)
• Trusthouse (Garry Disher)
• Twisty Turny Bertie Twine (Elizabeth Stead)
• A Family Affair (John Sligo)
• Inheritance (Robert Wallace)
• Mavis Levack’s One Night Stand (Marele Day)
• The Merrys (Penelope Rowe)
• Poet’s Ridge (Brian Castro)
• The Voice Is Jacob’s Voice (Kerry Greenwood)
• The True Artist (Michael Stephens)
• All The Pretty Little Horses (Archie Weller)
• The Monster Regiment (Lucy Sussex)

Love Lies Bleeding: Crimes for a Summer Christmas No. 5

Editor: Jennifer Rowe

1995

"In this anthology, dark tales of 'crime passionel', of romantic love, of love within families and the intimacy of friendships are woven. These stories reveal the rivalries of love with more than a touch of humour as even the best of intentions usually result in the verdict of death-by-love."

• Introduction (Jennifer Rowe)
• Cameron And The Mother (Elizabeth Stead)
• Take My Aching Heart (Jean Bedford)
• The Light (Robert English)
• Sunday Drive (Caroline Macdonald)
• Scrapings (Garry Disher)
• Whatever Happened To Love? (Barbara Yates Rothwell)
• Who Killed Cock Robin? (Lucy Sussex)
• Cat's Paw (Valerie Parv)
• The Valley Murders (Jamie Grant)
• See Nikko And Die (G.M. Hanson)
• Marple Syrup (Marele Day)
• The Substance Of Things Hoped For, The Evidence Of Things Not Seen (Robert Wallace)
• The Man From Croweatia (Alex Buzo)

Urn Burial

Kerry Greenwood

1996

A Phryne Fisher novel.

"The redoubtable Phryne Fisher is holidaying at Cave House, a Gothic mansion in the heart of Australia's Victorian mountain country. But the peaceful surroundings mask danger. Her host is receiving death threats, lethal traps are set without explanation, and the parlour maid is found strangled to death. What with the reappearance of mysterious funerary urns, a pair of young lovers, an extremely eccentric swagman, an angry outcast heir, and the luscious Lin Chung, Phryne's attention has definitely been caught. Her search for answers takes her deep into the dungeons of the house and into the limestone Buchan caves. But what will she find this time?"

Bad Debts

Peter Temple

1996

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish doesn't spook too easy. He's had guns pointed at him too many times - more often since he started hiring himself out as a debt collector - and he saves his nerves for the racetrack. So when he receives a phone message from an ex-client begging for help, he's inclined to ignore it. It's not an acquaintance he's looking to renew. Some-time lawyer, part-time private eye, he has some old memories - and old friends - he'd do better to forget. But then the caller turns up dead. And Jack has no choice but to take a trip down memory lane - into dangerous territories. There are some old debts that need chasing."

Port Vila Blues

Garry Disher

1996

A Wyatt novel.

"Wyatt, the cool, ever-evasive thief, snatches the cash easily enough. He bypasses the alarm system, eludes the cops, makes it safely back to his hideout in Hobart. It's the diamond-studded Tiffany brooch--and perhaps the girl--that undoes him. Now some very hard people want to put Wyatt and that brooch out of circulation. But this is Wyatt's game and Wyatt sets the rules--even if it means a reckoning somewhere far from home. In a murky world where the cops are robbers, old-style criminal Wyatt positively shines."

The Brush-Off

Shane Maloney

1996

A Murray Whelan novel.

"Murray Whelan, hero of Stiff, is back at his richly futile best in The Brush-Off. When the body of an artist is fished from the moat outside the National Gallery, Murray - political minder, brushed-off lover and art buff on the make—goes looking for the big picture. If he can put the fix in, he might have a chance of staying employed. The second adventure in Shane Maloney’s series brilliantly mixes high art with low blows."

Moonlight Becomes You: Crimes for a Summer 6

Editor: Jean Bedford

1996

"Strange and terrible things can happen in the light of the moon - crimes of passion; crimes of the heart; crimes of madness and lust. The glamour of moonlight can cast its glow - transforming the mundane, tricking the eye of the beholder, leading common sense astray. In this collection, Australia's foremost crime writers take the moon as their inspiration. Some of the stories are saturated in its grisly ambience; others use it lightly as a motif or to set a mood."

• A Helping Hand (Marele Day)
• TV (Peter Corris)
• "You Can't Take The Moon Away From You" Duet (Dorothy Porter)
• Stalking Moon (Garry Disher)
• Nightshade (Jennifer Rowe)
• Romeo Becomes Moonlight (Venero Armanno)
• Release (J.R. Carroll)
• Dead In The Glamour Of Moonlight (Robert Hood)
• I Know Where You Go To, My Lovely (Jean Bedford)
• Masks (Gabrielle Lord)
• Conflict Of Interest (Susan Geason)

Forget Me If You Can: Cliff Hardy Stories

Peter Corris

1997

Cliff Hardy short stories.

"In these stories a whistleblower is himself betrayed, a son turns against his father, brothers feud, men are harassed by women, and things are never quite what they seem. Whether on the familiar streets of Sydney or out of town, Hardy's cases don't always have tidy endings - and sometimes he has to take the law into his own hands."

• The Hearing
• Copper
• The Brothers
• Lucky Jim
• Forget Me If You Can
• Close Enough
• Archie's Last Case
• Gone Fishing
• Cross My heart
• Christmas Visit
• Meeting At Mascot
• TV
• Treasure Trove

The Fallout

Garry Disher

1997

A Wyatt novel.

"Australian jewel thief Wyatt has a bounty of stolen jewels and a yacht, but nothing can stop him from returning to his life of crime. He drugs his lover, police officer Liz Redding, and escapes into the night only to discover the gems he lifted are fakes. With his luck and his resources rapidly running out, Wyatt begrudgingly joins forces with Raymond, his estranged nephew and an established criminal himself, to lift some expensive artwork. It should be an easy job--the gallery is under construction and Wyatt has performed similar heists before. But it isn't long before things go south, leaving Wyatt with some tough choices. Will the young and eager Raymond prove to be a worthy pupil or is he nothing but deadweight? For Wyatt, putting faith in other people has never been as tempting... or as dangerous."

Straight, Bent and Barbara Vine

Garry Disher

1997

A short story collection.

"The straight stories in this collection are traditional, the bent are subversive, making fun of the crime genre and the craft. The Barbara Vine stories are psychological."

• Straight
  Old Ground
  Wyatt's Art
  The Two-Hundred-Dollar Picasso
  Threshold
• Bent
  My Brother Jack
  Love and Grudges
  Cockeyed at High Noon
• Barbara Vine
  Stalking Moon
  Scrapings
  Airship
  Early Warning
  Trusthouse

Escape From the Past

Anne Infante

1997

Revised Edition by Zeus Publications in 2010.

" On the way to the ruins at St Helena, once an island prison for men off the Queensland coast, Sally Cooper browses through a booklet on the island’s dark history. A story on one of the prison’s most famous inmates William O’Meally, sentenced to life imprisonment for manslaughter, captures Sally’s interest. As she reads of William’s several escape attempts and of his suicide by hanging, Sally find herself strangely affected by his photograph; the young man’s hypnotic eyes are filled with intense desperation. For Sally Cooper past and present are about to fuse. Haunted by William’s peal of innocence, she begins to delve into a mystery that has been buried for a hundred years. Through her freakish connection to the past, where William is living out his last days, Sally is drawn into a race against time. While piecing together the facts regarding William’s sad plight of heartbreak and betrayal, Sally begins to explore her own past lives, to discover the sad truth about her own relationship. Can she make one final link with the past to disclose the truth about William and clear his name before he is driven to take his own life?."

Murder Under The Mangoes

Editors: Garrett Russell

1997

"Sizzling new stories of dark deeds in a warm place."

• A Necessary Murder (Cheryl Jorgensen)
• The Sweet Life (Joy Loggie)
• Bones of Contention (Helen Noad)
• Shooting Script (Garrett Russell)
• Necessity (Helen Bowers)
• Vengeance is Mine (Marion McVey)
• D.I.Y. (Alison Preston)
• Stanson's Last Case (Ian Callinan)
• A Secretive Woman (P. M. Richardson)
• Ice Age (Stephen M. Irwin)
• Nice Evening Out (Gloria B. Yates)
• Suffer the Children (Anne Infante)
• Stabbing in the Dark (Angela Le Mare)
• Tea with Aunty Bea (Joy Loggie)
• Dead on Track (Cheryl Jorgensen)
• Dead Ringer (Garrett Russell)
• The Spirit of Murder (Adrienne Richardson)

An Iron Rose

Peter Temple

1998

"A regular at the local pub, a mainstay of the footy team, Mac Faraday is a man with a past living the quiet life of a country blacksmith. But when his best friend Ned Lowey is found hanged, Mac - who has learned the hard way never to accept things at face value - isn't convinced he committed suicide and starts asking questions. .... As Mac's search for answers pushes deeper into the past, it resurrects the terrifying spectre of what he calls his 'old life', forcing him to turn to long-discarded skills not only to discover why his best friend died, but also to save his own life."

The Last Days: The Apocryphon Of Joe Panther

Andrew Masterson

1998

"I am thoroughly dislikeable. I know that. I am obnoxious, obscene, violent, lustful in my thoughts and bitter in my memories. I am untrustworthy, deceitful, opportunist, sly, brutal, usurious, unstable, uncharitable, and vengeance, always, is mine. I am capricious and heretic, appalling and cruel. I am the Son of Man. - Joe Panther is a man with many dangerous secrets. He is a private investigator. He is a drug-dealer. He is a killer. And, most notably, he is the Messiah, fallen on hard times. When a young woman is murdered in an inner-city church, the police suspect the local priest, who hires Panther to clear his name. Soon, he becomes both hunter and hunted. Nothing is as it seems - not even, perhaps, Panther's own sense of self."

The Dogs are Barking

John Dale

1998

"Who can you trust when even the investigators are under investigation? When a young Asian student is strangled, Nickie Taroney is determined to do everything to help the police. On the case is Detective Terry Dedovic, a man with a messy past looking for redemption. But there is something about Dedovic that Nickie doesn't trust. Why is he running errands for a group of ex-drug squad police? Where exactly do his loyalties lie? When Nickie becomes involved in a risky sexual relationship, her worst suspicions are confirmed."

Nice Try

Shane Maloney

1998

A Murray Whelan novel.

"When Murray Whelan, lovelorn political minder and part-time fitness fanatic, is recruited to massage Australia's bid for the Olympics he has no idea how tough the going will get. Not even the sight of the gorgeous Holly Deloite in her taut blue leotard at the City Club can stop him diving head first into trouble. And, when the death of the young Aboriginal athlete Darcy Anderson proves that murder is a contact sport, Murray is soon breaking all the rules. Mixing it with a savvy black activist, a body-building psychopath and the enigmatic Dr Phillipa Knox, Murray jumps the gun every time."

Come Home to Danger

Estelle Thompson

1998

Crime & Tide: Brisbane River Mysteries

Editors: Jean Bedford

1998

"The second sizzling collection of dark deeds in a warm place."

• Introduction (Jean Bedford)
• Hit The Silk (Garrett Russell)
• Teresa Tempestuous (Cheryl Jorgensen)
• River Rising (Anne Infante)
• Obsessed (Nancy Cox-Millner)
• In The Family (Robert D Ferguson)
• Poor Pussy (Helen Bowers)
• The Day The Bridge Fell Down (Joy Loggie)
• Murky Waters (Pat Noad)
• Mia's Turn (Alison Preston)
• Framed (Helen Noad)
• When Bouncer Ball Nudged Karma (Angela Le Mare)
• Poker Face (Sandra Hodgson Moore)
• Deceptive Passions (Jocelyn Hawes)
• The Wivenhoe Affair (Ian Callinan)
• Rat Trapped (Maureen Whitehead)
• Final Shot (Garrett Russell)
• Taken At The Flood (Pat Noad)

Black Tide

Peter Temple

1999

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish has no shortage of friends. Jockeys and journos, lawyers and standover men, people in nameless occupations who aren't in the phone book. These days, though, the only family he sees are Irish men in faded football team photographs on the pub wall. So when Des Connors, the last link to his father, calls to ask for help in the matter of his missing son, Gary, Jack is happy to lend a hand. But sometimes prodigal sons go missing for a reason. And Jack soon discovers Gary Connors was a man with something to hide."

Cop This!

Chris Nyst

1999

"In 1969 a home-made bomb explodes in the sleazy heart of Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, killing eleven people and igniting a controversy that could threaten the government itself. When small time criminal Johnny Arnold is charged, his fight for justice sets two men - father, then son - on a collision course with the state's most powerful men. Nyst's powerful tale of corruption, idealism and personal courage, spans two decades of dark political intrigue and sensational courtroom drama."

Shooting Star

Peter Temple

1999

"Anne Carson: fifteen, beautiful, wayward. Abducted. Her rich family has closed ranks and summoned Frank Calder, ex-soldier and sacked police hostage negotiator. They want him to deliver the ransom money to the kidnappers. Frank wants them to call in the law, but the family refuses, since police bungling nearly cost the life of another Carson child kidnapped years before. But are the two kidnappings connected? And is greed the motivation? Revenge? Or could it be something else? To find out, Frank Calder must go beyond his brief."

The Letter Girl

Andrew Masterson

1999

"Jet Black has left her barmaid duties behind to run some valuable merchandise to the next city. The merchandise? Drugs? Stolen Goods? Nope, something much much better. She's managed to get hold of the world's only copy of Julius Caesar's long-lost masterpiece, Dr Analogia. All she has to do is deliver it to a black market dealer known as the Polymath and she'll finally have made herself a fortune. But there's a catch or two along the way. You see, books are banned and if Jet is caught with it - well, death would be the best way out. Another catch is that there's some unpleasant thugs on her tail. There's the insane head of a huge corporation that spans the world and his trusty deputy, two head-kickers in a red sports car and an all-male singing group. They all want to get their hands on Jet ASAP. Can Jet make it to the next city in her clapped-out old van with only her laptop computer for company? She's determined to reach the other side where her fortune awaits, but she'll have to enlist the help of an old man who has spent 20 years living in a telephone box, gun-toting Ferals and a pilot who just happens to be blind."

Peril Under The Pandanus

Editors: Jean Bedford

1999

"Stories of sun, surf, sand … and sin."

Dead Point

Peter Temple

2000

A Jack Irish novel.

"Jack Irish has a lot on his mind. His woman has an old flame, his champion horse has been put down and his gambling has left him broke. No wonder then, that he's a bit distracted from the work he is getting paid for - looking for the elusive Robbie Colburne, occasional barman. He's not the only one. Robbie's caught the interest not only of the police, but also certain dealers from the city's criminal class. So when Robbie finally shows up - in the morgue - Jack thinks he'd better start taking his job seriously. But there are those who would prefer him not to. Who don't like it when Jack begins asking questions. Who would do anything to make sure Jack Irish stays off the case - for good."

Gone

Chris Nyst

2000

"In 1966, two children, nine-year-old Michael McCabe and his four-year-old sister, Catherine, disappear from a beachside suburb in northern New South Wales. Junior Constable Bill Kelliher has the privilege of working on the team assigned to the case, but the mystery is never solved. The file is put aside, but it's never closed. And Bill Kelliher never forgets."

The Second Coming: The Passion Of Joe Panther

Andrew Masterson

2000

"There is no god,' I told him. Then I drove the syringe up into his nostril and straight through the side of his nose. 'Joe Panther is a psychotic, alcoholic, violent, substance-abusing heroin dealer. He is also, he believes, Joshua Ben Pantera, born two thousand years ago, the son of Mary and the Lord God Yaweh Himself, not dead yet, the crucified Jesus: still around, abandoned by his Father, abused by the world, and as pissed off as hell."

The Road to Seven-Thirty

Estelle Thompson

2000

"When Brooke Hardwick's handsome and popular young clergyman husband is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect in the eyes of both the police and the residents of the small country town where she lives. But when two balaclava-clad strangers break into her home violently demanding something her husband had, she realizes the danger."

The Big Ask

Shane Maloney

2000

A Murray Whelan novel.

"Murray is in serious trouble. With a disastrous election result looming, his days as a political minder seem numbered. But when his boss Angelo Agnelli picks a fight with the trucking industry and Murray finds himself on the receiving end of a fist at a city nightclub, his employment prospects are the least of his problems. And that's before he finds himself in the back of a truck at the fruit and vegetable market at five in the morning, sampling Heather Maitland's melons. With a runaway son on his hands, the police at his heels and a gun buried in the backyard, Murray faces his toughest test yet."

Menace In The Mulga

Editors: Peter Corris

2000

The contents are:

• Grave Consequences (Brenda Cross)
• With His Boots On (Rose Williams)
• Double Or Nothing (Garrett Russell)
• A Gentlemanly Hobby (Coral Hartley)
• 'Unsolved' Crimes (Cheryl Jorgensen)
• The Croc And The Blue Dreaming (Joy Loggie)
• The Thorn Apple (Maureen Whitehead)
• The Weeping Madonna (Antonia Hildebrand)
• Crime And Deduction (Ian Callinan)
• Deeds And Descendants (Pat Noad)
• Roo Kill (Garrett Rusell)
• The Colonial's Apprentice (M.A. Gallagher)
• A Long Time Waiting (Brenda Cross)
• Asking For It (Angela De La Mare)
• Shooting Through (Duncan Richardson)
• Women Of The West (Alison Mclevie)
• Macbeth Revisited (Allison Ovenden)

Death of the Author

Andrew Masterson

2001

"Australian poet and academic Rick Harding has a good life, until he discovers someone is stealing his poems and publishing them under another name. Who is Jason Schwartze and why has he selected Rick as his victim? Unable to get anyone to take his distress seriously, Rick determines to track down the plagiarist poet himself. Then someone starts stalking him and his wife Mandy, and things get out of control. Suddenly a happy marriage is plunged into suspicion and paranoia - and who can you trust if not the person you love most? Clever, witty and challenging, this is a story about the bloodshed that can ensue when literary theory and reality collide."

Something Fishy

Shane Maloney

2002

A Murray Whelan novel.

"Even in the political wilderness, hope springs eternal for the Honourable Murray Whelan MP. He has found true love, with the salty-tongued Lyndal Luscombe, and there is a baby on the way. But dreams of domestic bliss are shattered when a jail fugitive kills his beloved, then eludes recapture. Obsessed and bitter, Murray refuses to let the matter lie. When a chance encounter at a beach resort sets him on the killer's trail, he finds himself in very deep water indeed. In a world of abalone poaching, shady restaurateurs, tree-hugging ferals and teenage romance, you can depend on Murray Whelan to stumble upon Something Fishy."

Bad To The Bones

Editor: Kerry Greenwood

2002

The contents are:

• Pelican Pocket (Coral Hartley)
• Along the Line (Pat Noad)
• Buried in Bulimba (Joy Loggie)
• The Troubled Tobacconist (Adrienne Ross)
• Riding (Moonlight (Duncan Richardson)
• Fool's Gold (Kimberley Starr)
• Of Pearls and Swine (Garrett Russell)
• The Kettle of Gold (Nancy Cox-Millner)
• Second Nature (Antonia Hildebrand)
• Murder at Finnisterre (Joan Eacott)
• A Federation Event (Ian Callinan)
• No Remorse (Jocelyn Hawes)
• Rats (Pat Noad)
• Tree of Silence (Margaret Hill)
• If at First (Brenda Cross)
• Herbie Naughton's Nugget (Angela Le Mare)
• Punch Drunk (Garrett Russell)
• Threepenny Pieces (Maureen Whitehead)

Bad To The Bones

Editor: Kerry Greenwood

2002

The contents are:

• Pelican Pocket (Coral Hartley)
• Along the Line (Pat Noad)
• Buried in Bulimba (Joy Loggie)
• The Troubled Tobacconist (Adrienne Ross)
• Riding (Moonlight (Duncan Richardson)
• Fool's Gold (Kimberley Starr)
• Of Pearls and Swine (Garrett Russell)
• The Kettle of Gold (Nancy Cox-Millner)
• Second Nature (Antonia Hildebrand)
• Murder at Finnisterre (Joan Eacott)
• A Federation Event (Ian Callinan)
• No Remorse (Jocelyn Hawes)
• Rats (Pat Noad)
• Tree of Silence (Margaret Hill)
• If at First (Brenda Cross)
• Herbie Naughton's Nugget (Angela Le Mare)
• Punch Drunk (Garrett Russell)
• Threepenny Pieces (Maureen Whitehead)

White Dog

Peter Temple

2003

A Jack Irish novel.

"Mickey Franklin was shot dead in his shower on a Saturday evening. Before long, his girlfriend - Sarah Longmore - was in custody. She had a gun and a key, and a witness placed her at the scene. .... Jack Irish hasn't found much of late. Unless you count the joys of Schubert and home cooking as discoveries, that is. So, when he is asked to take a look into Sarah Longmore's defence, he's more than happy to oblige. After all, it shouldn't take much time and effort: if she seems that guilty, the chances are that she probably is. However, Sarah's case will prove to be far from straightforward, and Jack's investigation far from quick and painless."

Fat, Fifty and F**ked!

Geoffrey McGeachin

2004

"Martin Carter is having a crook day. His home life's a misery, he's been retrenched by the bank and everyone's forgotten his birthday. But a million-dollar payroll, a pistol, and a split-second decision change everything. Hurtling north on a motorcycle with the intriguing Faith, Martin encounters a mysterious hit-man, a new-age bikie gang, a reclusive media mogul, and the booby-trapped mountain hideout of an old schoolmate. With Faith's help he learns about love again, along with some bitter truths about instant coffee, brown suede shoes, and the legendary Great Aussie Truck-stop Breakfast."

The Long Walk

Kerry Greenwood

2004

"What do you do when your mother falls ill and is sent to a rest home, and your father is away working on the Great Ocean Road? How do you survive when the only things you have are the clothes on your back and the promise you made to keep your family together? For Isa Wyatt, there's only one thing she can do. She gathers together her brothers and her sister, packs an old pram with their belongings, and sets off to find her father. It is a long walk, and the children have to face the dangers and hardships of a country suffering the Depression. But on their journey, Isa soon learns that most people will give everything they have to help a small, courageous family survive. And some will do anything to stop them."

Taking Care of Business: Cliff Hardy Cases

Peter Corris

2004

Cliff Hardy short stories.

"Hardy's tasks are many and his clients are from all walks of life. He is minder for Thomas Whitney, the highly strung whistle blower, whose company is siphoning money off through Vanuatu. He is hired by computer genius Charles Marriott, whose shady dot com partner wants control of the business and is letting nothing and no one get in his way. And ever keen for some spare cash, he even takes a case from Spiro, his local florist, whose son seems to be involved in some very dodgy business involving tobacco and big bucks. This collection of stories featuring Australia's favourite PI is fast-paced and entertaining."

• A Gift Horse
• Death Threats
• Whatever it takes
• The Pearl
• Solomon's Solutions
• Cocktails for Two
• Black Andy
• Globalisation
• Christmas Shopping
• Insider
• Chop Chop

D-E-D Dead!

Geoffrey McGeachin

2005

An Alby Murdoch novel.

"From the moment Alby drops his gun on a St Kilda tram he knows he's in for a bad day. Then his partner Harry is gunned down in a Double Bay coffee shop. By lunchtime Alby realises someone wants him dead – and they want him dead now. All Alby wants is some pasta, a good bottle of wine and to know more about the mysterious Grace Goodluck . . . long dark hair, legs up to there, and piercing slate-grey eyes...sniper's eyes. But he also has to figure out who shot Harry and who wants him dead. And why. Unfortunately for Alby, the answer lies over the razor wire and past the anti-personnel mines protecting Bitter Springs, a top-secret US military facility deep in the central Australian desert. Now that can really ruin your day."

The Broken Shore

Peter Temple

2005

"Haunted by his last case, homicide detective Joe Cashin has fled Melbourne and returned to his hometown, running its one-man police station while his wounds heal and his nightmares fade. But when a local man is attacked and left for dead, Cashin's recovery is put on hold. And in a small town where everyone knows everyone, he finds himself standing alone fighting a battle against corruption and prejudice."

Journey to Eureka

Kerry Greenwood

2005

"It is 1854 - Llew Jones swindles his way on board the Great Britain as it sets sail for Australia, anxious to find his mother and uncle who have been sent there. After several long months at sea, Llew finally reaches Australian shores with new friends and the prospect of a new home at the goldfields near Ballarat. But his journey has only just begun. Old enemies are waiting and a violent and bloody battle called the Eureka Stockade threatens to destory his new-found happiness forever."

A Certain Malice

Felicity Young

2005

A Cam Fraser novel. Subsequently published as Flashpoint.

"Three years after a gang brutally murdered his wife and son, Sergeant Cam Fraser has returned with his daughter Ruby to the country town where he was raised - a town too small for trouble. But then a body is found on the school grounds, badly burned and unrecognisable. Who in Glenroyd could possibly be a murderer? And why? This violent crime plunges Cam straight into a baffling and deadly investigation, where nothing is as it seems. From shady cop Vince to the secretive Smithsons who run the school to the local bikie gang who may still want him dead, Cam has his hands full with suspects. Not to mention Jo, his daughter's teacher, whom he can't keep his mind off ... But the danger is coming closer to home, and Cam is running out of time to solve the case. Will he be able to protect Ruby and stop the killer? Or will everything go up in flames?."

Diamond Dove

Adrian Hyland

2006

"Shortly after Emily Tempest returns to Moonlight Downs, the Aboriginal community of her childhood, her best friend's father is murdered. Blame immediately falls upon Blakie, the community's violent renegade, who evades arrest and vanishes into the outback. Only gradually does Emily come to believe that there is more to her old friend's death than anyone else is prepared to consider. Determined to uncover the truth Emily applies her traditional insights and university education and sets upon a course of action that will place her, and possibly her friends and family, in mortal danger."

Scarlet Stiletto. The First Cut

Editor: Lindy Cameron / Sisters In Crime Australia

2007

Published by Clan Destine Press in 2011

"This is a superb collection of crime fiction stories culled from early Scarlet Stiletto Awards (1994–2006). From murder and mayhem to police procedurals, some will have your blood running cold, some will raise gooseflesh as well as a chuckle, but all will have you on the edge of your seat wanting more."

Sucked In

Shane Maloney

2007

A Murray Whelan novel.

"Now pushing fifty, Murray is spinning his wheels in Parliament: a toothless cog in a stalled political machine. The millennium is coming but the prospect of Labor regaining power is utterly remote. But when the remains of a long-dead union official are found in dried-up Lake Nillahcootie, Murray soon gets sucked into murky waters. For a start, it seems that his old mate Charlie Talbot was implicated. But Charlie has just dropped dead of a coronary occlusion in the dining room of the Mildura Grand Hotel, leaving a grieving widow and a lot of unanswered questions. The press is sniffing around and Labor's enemies are lining up for a free kick. And then there's the blackmail attempt. And as if that wasn't enough there's an ALP preselection brawl arcing up."

Chain of Evidence

Garry Disher

2007

An Inspector Hal Challis novel.

"Inspector Hal Challis has been summoned to his boyhood home, Mawson's Bluff in the Australian Outback, where his father is dying. There his past comes back to haunt him... and endanger his life. Meanwhile, a serial pedophile is on the loose on the Mornington Peninsula, and Sergeant Ellen Destry, who is left to head up the area's Crime Investigation Unit, must find a little girl who was abducted from the fairgrounds at the annual Waterloo Show before it is too late."

An Easeful Death

Felicity Young

2007

A Stevie Hooper novel.

"Someone is killing beautiful young women and taking extraordinary risks to carefully pose their painted bodies in public places. The first is bronze, then silver - who will be gold? Detective Sergeant Stevie Hooper, young, hard-edged and newly seconded to the Serious Crime Squad, finds herself haunted by increasingly disturbing flashbacks as the bizarre case unfolds. And, as she closes in on the killer, the carefully drawn line between her professional and personal life becomes increasingly blurred, till she doesn't know who can be trusted."

Smoke And Mirrors

Kel Robertson

2008

A Brad Chen novel.

"Ace detective Brad Chen is lured back to work by the double murder of a Whitlam government minister and the editor of his political memoirs. Solving the murders, while searching for a missing friend, Chen is plunged into the murky worlds of international espionage and organised crime. The body count rises as Chen uncovers the deadly secret behind the most momentous events in Australian political history."

Harum Scarum

Felicity Young

2008

A Stevie Hooper novel.

"When the body of 11-year-old Bianca Webster is found dumped it is soon clear to DS Stevie Hooper that the murder is connected to paedophile Internet site, the Dream Team. Another murder leads her to suspect that she might have a vigilante on her hands. Cyber technology spins at the heart of this thriller; Katy Enigma, Lolita, Harum Scarum; just who or what lies beneath these Internet nicknames? Stevie Hooper finds herself racing against time to discover the identities before another child is taken."

The Anthology of Colonial Australian Crime Fiction

Editor: Kenneth Gelder and Rachael Weaver

2008

"Ex-convicts, bushrangers, ruthless gold prospectors, forgers and impostors, thieves and murderers: they all flow through the stories that make up this collection, challenging colonial law and order. The landscape itself can seem to stimulate criminal activity, where identities change at will and people suddenly disappear without a trace. In the bush and the tropics, the goldfields and the city streets, colonial Australia is a troubling, bewildering place and almost impossible to control - even for the most vigilant detective. This anthology collects the best examples of colonial Australian crime fiction by authors such as Mary Fortune, James Skipp Borlase, Guy Boothby, Francis Adams, Ernest Favenc, 'Rolf Boldrewood' and Norman Lindsay, among others. It is a unique collection of disturbing mysteries and gruesome tales that tap into the fears and anxieties of Australian life."

• Colonial Australian Crime Fiction (Ken Gelder And Rachel Weaver)
• Barrington (1859) (John Lang)
• Tales Of Adventure By A Log-Fire (1859) (William Burrows)
• The Dead Witness, Or, The Bush Waterhole (1866) (James Skipp Borlase)
• The Major's Case (1895) (W.W.)
• Tale Of A Skull (1867) (James Skipp Borlase)
• In Australian Wilds (1870) (B.L. Farjeon)
• The Trooper's Story Of The Bank Robbery (1872) (R.P. Whitworth)
• The Premier's Secret (1887) (Campbell Mckellar)
• Dr. Fletcher's Love Story (1892) (Francis Adams)
• The Sea Gave Up Its Dead (1892) (Felix Slowboy)
• My Only Murder (1899) (Ernest Favenc)
• One Of The Cloth (1897) (Guy Boothby)
• A Stripe For Trooper Casey (1898) (Roderic Quinn)
• Midnight (1898) ('Coo-Ee' (William Sylvester Walker))
• Le Premier Pas (1899) (E.W. Hornung)
• The Mailman's Yarn (1901) (Rolf Boldrewood)
• The Bardoc Finn (1911) (Randolph Bedford)
• The Strip Of Lining (1912) (Norman Lindsay)
• The Gangster (1933) (Alan Michaelis)

The Seventh Book Of Sins

Editors: Sandy Curtis

2008

The contents are:

• Bete Noire (Margaret Dakin)
• After The Cataclysm (Helen Bowers)
• Are You Scared Yet? (Paul Garrety)
• Menage A Deux (Tracey-Anne Forbes)
• Seventh Heaven (Elli Housden)
• A Murder Of Crows (Joy Loggie)
• Obscene Colour (F.N. Karmatz)
• Pretty Poison (A. Ross)
• Neighbours (Breanda Cross)
• See Monster (Elli Housden)
• Entrapment (Pat Noad)
• The Seventh Director (Ian Callinan)
• Who Killed The Rat (A. Ross)
• Crushed Sugar (Tracey-Anne Forbes)
• Seven Years Hard (Brian Rowell)
• Stake-Out At Number Seven (Joy Loggie)
• Aquarius (Paul Garrety)
• Seventh Love (Garrett Russell)
• Tangled Web (F.N. Karmatz)
• Legwork (Pat Noad)
• The Family Jewels (Garrett Russell)

Truth

Peter Temple

2009

"At the close of a long day, Inspector Stephen Villani stands in the bathroom of a luxury apartment high above the city. In the glass bath, a young woman lies dead. .... Now, over a few sweltering summer days, as fires burn across the state and his superiors and colleagues scheme and jostle, the girl's murder will collide with what seems on the surface to be another brutal gangland slaying and expose the darkness in the city's soul."

Gunshot Road

Adrian Hyland

2010

"Emily has a new job: an Aboriginal Community Police Officer. A cop. Not quite what she had in mind when she returned to Central Australia. But for an Aboriginal woman in a pissant mining and meatworks town, the career options are limited. And there's a car attached. Her new boss, the dour Superintendent Cockburn, sees her role as making tea and rounding up the truants. But when one old friend is murdered out on the Gunshot Road and another one gets the blame, Emily leaps into the investigation feet first, mouth never far behind."

Wyatt

Garry Disher

2010

A Wyatt novel.

"Wyatt has a job--a jewel heist. The kind Wyatt likes. Nothing extravagant, nothing greedy. Stake out the international courier, one Alain Le Page, hold up the goods in transit and get away fast. Wyatt prefers to work alone, but this is Eddie Oberin's job. Eddie's very smart ex-wife Lydia has the inside information. Add Wyatt's planning genius and meticulous preparation, and what could possibly go wrong? Plenty. And when you wrong Wyatt, you don't get to just walk away."

The Diggers Rest Hotel

Geoffrey McGeachin

2010

A Charlie Berlin novel.

"In 1947, two years after witnessing the death of a young Jewish woman in Poland, Charlie Berlin has rejoined the police force a different man. Sent to investigate a spate of robberies in rural Victoria, he soon discovers that World War II has changed even the most ordinary of places and people."

Bereft

Chris Womersley

2010

"Australia, 1919. Quinn Walker returns from the Great War to the New South Wales town of Flint: the birthplace he fled ten years earlier when he was accused of a heinous act. Aware of the townsmen's vow to hang him, Quinn takes to the surrounding hills. Here, deciding upon his plan of action, and questioning just what he has returned for, he meets Sadie Fox. This mysterious girl seems to know, and share, his darkest fear. And, as their bond greatens, Quinn learns what he must do to lay the ghosts of his past, and Sadie's present, to rest."

Take Out

Felicity Young

2010

A Stevie Hooper novel.

"It’s tough being a Detective Senior Sergeant in the Sex Crimes unit. DSS Stevie Hooper is fighting to balance the seamier side of being a cop with her role as a mother. And her latest case is not going to make it any easier. It starts with a deserted house, an abandoned baby and an elderly neighbour who has the answers, but cannot speak. Then the body of a woman turns up in the river – limbs bound, and a shotgun wound to the head. Soon DSS Hooper is on the trail of a human trafficking ring. A ruthless group with international connections that has at its rotten heart a disregard for all human life."

Leaving Suzie Pye

John Dale

2010

"Joe has had a great life, untroubled by career or monogamy. He's convinced that, whatever he's doing, he'd still really rather be having sex - if only middle age hadn't made it so hard to find a woman who will share his enthusiasm. When he meets Suize Pye she seems just the ticket - she even says she only wants a sexual relationship. But nothing is ever that simple..."

Rip Off

Kel Robertson

2011

A Brad Chen novel.

"It's November 2007. There's sewage in the big lake at the heart of the soulless city, Canberra, the TABs have been emptied by a deadly horse virus and the longest Federal election campaign of all time still has a fortnight to run. One-time star detective Brad Chen seems destined for a desk job until someone starts shooting dodgy property developers in Perth and Adelaide. The state coppers he's sent to assist aren't much interested in anything he can do to help out, even when the body counts extends to shonky financial advisers, crooked lawyers and assorted other fraudsters in the eastern capitals. Chen is nonetheless determined to track down the hitman the public is calling a hero."

Colonial Queen

Peter Corris

2011

"1886. Rosa Nightingale, prostitute, Lucas Ramsay, ex-soldier turned bandit, Stanley Stoneham, prizefighter, Alexander McPherson, alcoholic doctor, and Griffith Summerhill, police officer, are aboard the majestic Murray River paddleboat steamer The Colonial Queen. Rosa is fleeing her louche life and opium addiction and searching for her remittance man brother. Ramsay is on the run from the law after robbing a bank. Stoneham's fighting career is drawing to a close as he resorts to stopping off in the river towns for exhibition bouts. McPherson battles his demons and yearns for a life like that of his hero, fellow Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson. Summerhill is on the trail of Ramsay. Their lives collide and intertwine as The Colonial Queen moves down the swift-flowing, ever-changing river."

Play Abandoned

Garry Disher

2011

"Every summer, the country families load the roof racks and motor south to the Bon Accord hotel. They find order here, beside the sea. Constancy in a changeable world. But this time ladders and workmen choke the foyer. There's foreign muck on the menu, posters proclaiming a Summer Festival of Writing. And child abductors are lurking on the sun blasted streets, in the tricky dunes. There's smoke in the hot inland winds. Everything's different this time. This time Marian Parr is not complete. She knows she should not have come. As love fractures, and old certainties crumble, Marian leans grieving against a balcony post, meddling with the cosmos."

Scarlet Stiletto: Second Cut

Editor: Sisters In Crime Australia

2011

"This sequel presents stories by the first-prize winners plus a selection of category winners from 2007 to 2010. It’s a superb collection of mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes. Featuring cops, killers, PIs, crooks and amateur sleuths, these award-winning stories will keep you in suspense, chill your blood and sometimes make you laugh out loud."

Blackwattle Creek

Geoffrey McGeachin

2012

A Charlie Berlin novel.

"When a recently widowed friend asks a favour, ex-bomber pilot and former POW Detective Charlie Berlin is dropped into something much bigger than he bargained for. What starts with body parts disappearing from funeral parlours leads to Blackwattle Creek, once an asylum for the criminally insane and now home to even darker evils. If Berlin thought government machinations during World War 11 were devious, those of the Cold War leave them for dead."

Hard Labour

Editor: Cameron Ashley, Andrew Nette, Liam Jose

2012

"An all-Australian anthology of noir, hardboiled and pulp. .... From the Land Down Under comes seventeen dark criminal tales, including Garry Disher’s first ever Wyatt story, unpublished for over a decade, and new fiction by Peter Corris, Leigh Redhead, David Whish-Wilson, Adrian McKinty, Angela Savage, Helen Fitzgerald and more."

Scarlet Stiletto: Third Cut: 2011

Editor: Tanya King-Carmichael

2012

"A superb collection of page-turning mysteries in which fabulous female protagonists solve – and sometimes perpetrate – all kinds of crimes."

• Teardrop Tattoo (Angela Savage)
• Crime Traveller (Liz Filleul)
• The Barleymint Corpse (Carmela Saloman)
• The Ugly Thing (Vicky Daddo)
• Interview (Marguerite Johnson)
• Out of the Dark (Anne Cost)
• The Detail (Fiona Drury)
• Cock-a-Hoop (Sarah Evans)
• Trouble in Nine Acts (Kim Westwood)
• Stage Fright (Mary Evans)
• Revenge is Never the Bets Answer (Sarah Robinson-Hatch)

Plenty

John Dale

2013

A novella.

"Seventeen-year-old Jed White lives with his mum and dad behind the Ampol service station in the small coastal town of Plenty. His girlfriend Chrissy works in the local fish cannery. When a foreign trawler crashes on the rocks one night, Jed and Chrissy figure from the rolls of stained bedding below deck that the boat must have been carrying a lot of people. They soon discover dozens of refugees are sheltering at a nearby property. At first the townsfolk accept the new arrivals, but gradually Plenty becomes divided as more and more boat people are relocated there. Jed is torn between his feelings for Chrissy and his fascination for Ashley Page who lives with her father on the property and is helping the new arrivals move in and adapt. As external pressures build, Jed is forced to make a choice about where he belongs and what he believes."

Bitter Wash Road

Garry Disher

2013

Published in the US as Hell to Pay.

"When Hirsch heads up Bitter Wash Road in rural South Australia to investigate reports of gunfire, he finds himself cut off without back-up. A pair of thrill killers has been targeting isolated farmhouses on lonely backroads, but Hirsch's first thought is maybe "back-up" is nearby - and about to put a bullet in him. That's because Hirsch is a whistleblower. Formerly a promising metropolitan officer, he has now been demoted and exiled to a one-cop station in South Australia's wheatbelt. He is called a dog by his fellow officers. Threats come through, in the form of a pistol cartridge in the mailbox. But the shots on Bitter Wash Road don't tally with Hirsch's assumptions. The truth turns out to be a lot more mundane. And the events that unfold subsequently are a hell of a lot more sinister."

Cairo

Chris Womersley

2013

"Tom always imagined he was adopted. At seventeen, he flees ordinariness in small-town Australia for the city and a run-down block named Cairo. There he meets Max Cheever. Enigmatic, artistic, anarchic: he liberates Tom from the bourgeois aspiration of university and draws him into his circle of dropouts and dreamers. Through the haze of parties and politics, Tom glimpses a darker side to their vie bohème. Falling under Max's spell - and in love with his wife - he is offered an extraordinary chance: to join them in the greatest art heist of the twentieth century. Among art dealers, thieves and forgers, Tom trusts only in Max. This is his family now. But of all this summer's lessons, the cruellest will be telling what is real from what is fake."

Scarlet Stiletto: Fourth Cut: 2012

Editor: Moraig Kisler

2013

"The Fourth Cut features: strong political themes – from the environment, to terrorism, to corrupt politicians; some innovative 'body in the library’ stories; yarns with the classic twist in the tale; and stories that bravely delve into diverse and interesting new areas."

• Shadows (Josephine Pennicott)
• A Clean Job (Emilie Collyer)
• The Dog of Autumn Cannot Live to Spring (Claire McKenna)
• Fish for Freedom (Sarah Evans)
• Fallen Angel (Candice Graham)
• Nursing a Suspicion (Robyn McWilliam)
• Much Ado About Nunning (Iles)
• Perspective (Ebony Franzmann)
• Quit (Aoife Clifford)
• Brought to Book (Kath Harper)

Scarlet Stiletto: Fifth Cut: 2013

Editor: Phyllis King

2014

"The Fifth Cut features tales filled with history, bigotry and revenge, car chases, dead blondes and PIs, tears, chills and laughter, from 12 talented women writers from across Australia."

• Bunyip's Last Wish (Candice Graham)
• Mary's Colours (Vicky Daddo)
• A Lovely Face (Kylie Fox)
• Milko (Moraig Kisler)
• Blonde Number Thirteen (Shannon Todd)
• Silk Versus Sierra (Sandi Wallace)
• Service With A Smile (Emilie Collyer)
• Stiff Luck (Loren Order)
• Just One Touch (Sarah Robinson-Hatch)
• Aunt Bob Decides (Alison Manthorpe )
• The Case of the Missing Husband (Aoife Clifford)
• The Body in the Library (Dawn Farnham)

Detective Work

John Dale

2015

"When Dimitri Telegonus is promoted to the Serious Unsolved Crime Unit to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful blonde escort, he thinks he’s finally made the big time. He’d always wanted to do detective work; thought it was his destiny. But things quickly start to unravel. His assigned partner is an uninterested dinosaur and when progress in the investigation is slow, the bosses threaten to pull the plug. Desperate to crack his first cold case, Dimitri tracks the prime suspect down – only to find there are forces at play a naïve young detective will never fully understand."

The Heat

Garry Disher

2015

A Wyatt novel.

"Wyatt needs a job. A bank job would be nice, or a security van hold-up. As long as he doesn't have to work with cocky idiots and strung-out meth-heads like the Pepper brothers. That's the sort of miscalculation that buys you the wrong kind of time. So he contacts a man who in the past put him on the right kind of heist. And finds himself in Noosa, stealing a painting for Hannah Sten. He knows how it's done: case the premises, set up escape routes and failsafes, get in and get out with the goods unrecognised. Make a good plan; back it up with another. And be very, very careful. But who is his client? Who else wants that painting? Sometimes, being very careful is not enough."

Ash Island: A Belltree Mystery

Barry Maitland

2015

A Harry Belltree novel.

"Detective Sergeant Harry Belltree, back on the job after a near-fatal confrontation with corrupt colleagues, has become a departmental embarrassment. The solution is a posting away from Sydney and a quiet life up the coast in Newcastle. Or maybe not so quiet. A body's been found buried just offshore on Ash Island; there may be more. There's also Harry's unfinished business. The car crash that killed his parents and blinded his wife happened not far from Newcastle. And Harry knows it was no accident."

Scarlet Stiletto: Sixth Cut: 2014

Editor: Moraig Kisler

2015

"The Sixth Cut features gold nugget wielding daughters, killer scrabble players, crooked cops, blue-tongued husbands and the dirty little secrets of librarians. Revenge is always a steady theme in the history of the Scarlet Stilettos, but in the 2014 anthology not only husbands and significant others but also bullying colleagues and statue-stealing weirdos were targeted. This delicious array of stories offers excellent advice on how to be rid of bothersome people, and a satisfying and at times comic treat for lovers of all things criminal."

• Amy’s Sandal (Judith Bridge)
• #hitandrun (Julianne Negri)
• What’s a Girl to Do (Fin J Ross)
• Death on a Triple Score (Frances Sutherland)
• The Island (Suzanne Frankham)
• Statuary Offence (Katie Mills)
• The Sixth Sense (Richenda Rudman)
• Savage Women (Melanie Myers)
• Ball and Chain (Sandi Wallace)
• Prussian Blue (Vicky Daddo)
• Out Came the Sun (Anna Snoekstra)
• Dorothy Gale P.I. (Bridey Carmel)
• The VOTOS Solution (Fin J Ross)
• The Book Club (Natalie Conyer)

Crime Scenes: Stories

Editor: Zane Lovitt

2016

"Crime Scenes is short crime fiction at its best stories filled with deceptions and misdirections, high-stakes action and characters facing difficult moral choices."

• The Turn (Amanda O'Callaghan)
• Three-Pan Creek Gift (Peter Corris)
• The Mango Tree (PM Newton)
• Thirteen Miles (Michael Caleb Tasker)
• Postcard From Cambodia (Andrew Nette)
• Swimming Pool Girls (Melanie Napthine)
• Death Star (Tony Birch)
• The Teardrop Tattoos (Angela Savage)
• The Good Butler (Carmel Bird)
• The Drover (Leigh Redhead)
• Saying Goodbye (David Whish-Wilson)
• I Had Crime Fiction (Eddy Burger)

Flare Up

Felicity Young

2016

A Cam Fraser novel.

"Sergeant Cam Fraser's letter of resignation is signed sealed but as yet undelivered. It's sitting in the car when he travels out to help the wife of an old acquaintance with a bit of shearing. Rita's husband Pizzle has gone missing so Cam is lending a hand, but there's a stench around the shearing shed that he can't ignore. What Cam finds when he searches inside will derail his plans for retirement and set a rural community - already on alert for an arsonist lighting bushfires - on edge."

Scarlet Stiletto: Seventh Cut: 2015

Editor: Tanya King-Carmichael

2016

The contents are:

• Hard Knox (T.J. Hamilton)
• Anna Parker: Here Comes the PI (Kate Olivieri)
• New Start (Natalie Conyer)
• Hitting the Roof (Kath Harper)
• Echo Wren (Fin J Ross)
• Airborne (Crime is Catching) (Ellen Vickerman)
• Guilt (Kylie Fox)
• Washerteria (Annie Hauxwell)
• Mental Blank (Amanda Coleman)
• To Drive Out Evil Spirits (Katie Mills)
• Caught on Camera (Jenny Spence)

Under the Cold Bright Lights

Garry Disher

2017

"The young detectives call Alan Auhl a retread, but that doesn't faze him. He does things his own way - and gets results. He still lives with his ex-wife, off and on, in a big house full of random boarders and hard-luck stories. And he's still a cop, even though he retired from Homicide some years ago. He works cold cases now. Like the death of John Elphick - his daughters still convinced he was murdered, the coroner not so sure. Or the skeleton that's just been found under a concrete slab. Or the doctor who killed two wives and a girlfriend, and left no evidence at all. Auhl will stick with these cases until justice is done. One way or another."

Scarlet Stiletto: Eighth Cut: 2016

Editor: Moraig Kisler

2017

The contents are:

• Stone Cold (Ruth Wykes)
• Foul Play (Liz Filleul)
• Cooking Up a Murder (Jenny Blackford)
• Four Hundred Acres of Nothing (Fin J Ross)
• He Was Hers (Leisl Egan)
• A Good Night’s Sleep (Katie Mills)
• Busted (Sandi Wallace)
• Where Yellow Ends (Ellen Vickerman)
• The Team from Information Services (Catherine Moffat)
• Diving for Pearls (Jacqui Horwood)

Kill Shot

Garry Disher

2018

A Wyatt novel.

" Some people just work better alone. Wyatt’s one of them. He’s been getting by on nice quiet little burglaries—one-man jobs—when he gets wind of something bigger. A corporate crook, notorious Ponzi schemer, set to face court and certain jail time. He’s about to skip bail the old-fashioned way: on a luxury yacht with a million dollars in cash. Wyatt thinks it sounds like something he should get into. He’s not alone."

Scarlet Stiletto: Ninth Cut: 2017

Editor: Phyllis King

2018

Slaughter Park: A Belltree Mystery

Barry Maitland

2018

A Harry Belltree novel.

"In this, the final book of the Belltree Trilogy, DS Harry Belltree's obsessive pursuit of justice has cost him everything - his job, his marriage and his newborn child - but then his estranged wife disappears, leaving their baby daughter behind. The police think Jenny has murdered a man. Harry thinks she's in danger. When body parts are found maimed and strewn around a suburban park, his former colleagues are distracted by this apparently unrelated case. Harry is left to track Jenny down on his own - and to lay bare, at last, the extraordinary conspiracy that led to his parents' murder."