Australian Fiction Mysteries

Melanie Hale is a devoted mother to her two children, a diligent caregiver to her ailing mother-in-law and a trusted neighbor in their wealthy Louisiana community. Above all, she’s a loving partner to her wonderful husband, Collin. Then there are the parts of herself that Mel keeps hidden. She’s exhausted, worried and unfulfilled. So much so that one night, after a writers’ group meeting, Mel begins an affair with a successful local author named Luke.

When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned. At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger.

On the evening of September 22, 1998, three teenage girls venture out for a night of mischief in the coastal town of Blairgowrie. But only two return. For over 20 years the disappearance of 15-year-old Cecilia May remains a baffling cold case - until human bones are discovered on an isolated beach. Now it's up to Detective Emmett Corban and his team to dig up decades of trauma, and find the missing piece of an investigation that's as complex as it is tragic.

As the resourceful, relentless Li tracks her lost daughter across a disintegrating country, the journey will test the limits of her trust, her hope and her love. Unsheltered will leave you wrung out and gasping.

Death follows Tommy McBride everywhere. Five years ago, his family was murdered; now a freak accident sends him fleeing into the wilderness of the Australian outback with a man lying dead in his wake. But Tommy is haunted by even worse - as children, he and his brother, Billy, witnessed the state-sanctioned massacre of the Kurrong people, and they haven't seen each other since. When an official enquiry is launched into the massacre, the successful life that Billy has built for himself comes under threat.

Robin Goodfellow. Puck. Prankster, joker, raven, fool...King Oberon’s right-hand jester from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The legends are many, but the truth will now be known as never before, as Puck finally tells his own story and faces a threat to the lands of Faery and the human world unlike any before.

Oxford 1863: young Samuel Speed sets a barley stack alight in the hope it will earn him a bed in prison for the night. He wants nothing more than a morsel of food in his belly and a warm place to sleep off the streets. What he receives is a sentence of seven years' servitude, to be served half a world away in the penal colony of Fremantle, Western Australia.

Low Morrison is not your average teen. You could blame her hippie parents or her dreary, isolated island hometown. Whatever the reason, Low just doesn’t fit in—and neither does newcomer Freya, an ethereal beauty and once-famous social media influencer. After signing up for Freya’s pottery class, Low quickly falls under her spell. Buoyed by Low’s adoration, Freya is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, Low feels a sense of belonging ... until Jamie walks through the studio door. Freya, Jamie and their husbands become fast friends, leaving Low alone once again.

Ming Qong is convinced that girls have changed the world throughout history. So when Ming is thrust back in time to Belgium during WWI, only to be rescued from a burning cellar by Marie -- an experienced spy at only twelve years of age -- she finally has her proof. Marie is involved with a female secret resistance group who risk their lives to outwit the German troops. But Ming now faces a tough choice: will she send coded messages and risk her own life in this war on which the future depends?

Liora has shone from within ever since a star collided with her house when she was a child. Since that day, she has spent her life indoors, only venturing out on the brightest days when her magic can’t be detected. For discovery could mean falling prey to the king’s warlock, Darius, who uses mages’ magic to grow his own power. But when her worst nightmare comes to pass, and Darius discovers her, she’s not the one taken. Instead, he demands that her younger sister return to the capital with him to work under his watchful eye.

Ex-Boston homicide detective Billy Robinson has retreated to a quiet life on the New England coast. Struggling to cope following the death of his beloved wife, he must now run the inn that Siobhan took care of so well. The inn's quirky residents help keep Billy on solid ground as he grieves, and the group soon become an unconventional family. But this small town is in the grips of a growing opioid epidemic, and when a young resident gets hooked into the crisis, Billy knows he must act to save the people in the inn that he has grown to care so much about.

It's funny how quick it happens and without you really noticing. Anton said once that it's like walking out into the sea, and you think everything's fine and the water's warm, but when you turn back you're suddenly miles from shore. I've never been much of a swimmer, but I get what he means. Like being caught in a current or something. A rip.

On his 11th birthday, Jacob's father gives him a diary. To write about things that happen. About what he and his father do on their farm. About the sheep, the crop, the fox and the dam. But Jacob knows some things should not be written down. Some things should not be remembered. The only things he knows for sure are what his father has taught him. Sheltered, protected, isolated. But who is his father protecting him from? And how far will his father go to keep the world at bay?

Broken by his last case, homicide detective Joe Cashin has fled the city and returned to his hometown in South Eastern Australia, while his wounds heal and the nightmares fade. His recovery is interrupted when a local man is brutally attacked and left for dead. In the small town, suspicion quickly falls on three young men from the local Aboriginal community - but Cashin's not so sure.

Eleven-year-old Bella has a terrible guilty secret: something she did three years ago, when her English relatives were visiting. Now, in the last week in December, they were returning to Australia and Bella fears the worst: that they are coming to confront her; that they suspected her all along.

England, 1961. Samuel's mother has been away for 113 days. Now it's just Samuel and Ruth, the housekeeper, alone in the once-great house. His mother is abroad, purportedly tending to her late husband's faltering business. Samuel yearns for her return but knows she must have had her reasons for leaving in the middle of the night, without saying good-bye. Although Samuel receives occasional postcards from his mother, her absence weighs heavily on his mind.

Mim’s husband is missing. No one knows where Ben is, but everyone wants to find him—especially the Department. And they should know, the all-seeing government body has fitted the entire population with a universal tracking chip to keep them ‘safe’. But suddenly Ben can’t be tracked. And Mim is questioned, made to surrender her passport and threatened with the unthinkable—her two children being taken into care at the notorious BestLife.

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 ...

It’s hot. It’s windy. It’s dusty. It’s the Australian outback. Wendy Lee arrives from California. She’s lucky to meet Chloe Taylor, who invites Wendy to their sheep station. It sounds like fun, except that someone is stealing the sheep. And the thief just might be something as crazy as a UFO.

Eddie Woo Super Sleuth is ready for action and mystery. With a mind for maths and a nose for adventure, he is about to skateboard into...danger. When Eddie receives a cryptic message from Mr Appleby, a Woo family friend and resident of Sunny Side Aged Care, he is soon on a mission to thwart the evil plans of smugglers. It's up to Eddie to crack the clues and improve his skateboarding so that he can enter the annual school Triple Threat Quest with his best friends Rusty and DT.