Australian Thrillers

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.

“A vivid, action-packed story that is based as much on confrontation and problem-solving as it is on Theo’s evolution and courage.” Midwest Book Review praise for The Last Hunter Theo might ride a dragon, but is he strong enough to face the Orc King? While the magical society huddles within Sanctuary, Wolvere’s armies ravage the outside world. Theo holds the mantle of Hunter, but his tenuous grasp on magic continues to elude him. He needs more if he hopes to fight Wolvere. An immortal stranger promises him the answers lie with the fabled Storm Riders, who wield electricity and move ...

The small seaside town of River’s End is abuzz with the upcoming wedding of Christie Ryan and local artist Martin to be held at historic Palmerston House. Once home to Christie’s ancestors but lost in a poker game in the 1850s, it’s now an inviting bed-and-breakfast. When a stranger arrives to stay at Palmerston House and starts asking questions around town, Christie begins to wonder about the history of the house. Do the locals know more than they are letting on, and is someone hiding something?

Maine, 1789: When a man is found entombed in the frozen Kennebec River, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth, death and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she has also documented the details of an alleged rape committed by one of the town’s most esteemed gentlemen – the same man who has now been found dead in the ice.

Under the fierce heat of the Australian outback, the laws of nature serve a rough justice. When a man vanishes deep in the Northern Territory, local police write it off. But his family suspect otherwise—and when the call for help goes out, Ben Hope and Jeff Decker are there to hear it. Ben’s instincts, honed by years of Special Forces missions, soon see the story told by a trail of bullet casings, rumours of a missing map and a lethal cocktail of greed, power and money.

Caleb Carmichael's star studded boxing career came to a screeching halt the day he ended up flat on his back in hospital. If he fights again, he risks becoming permanently paralysed from the waist down. Professional Boxing is his whole life and he's lost without it, but he doesn't have a choice. Reluctantly, he cuts his losses and takes a job running the infamous Melbourne boxing studio, Beat. But when a frightened woman turns up at the studio looking for a way to take her life back, Caleb realises there might be something out there for him after all. From Amity Cross comes Quake, a ...

In the wake of a global conflict, foreign forces occupy part of Australia, quashing all but a few pockets of local resistance. The tense stalemate ends in 2034, when Jack Dunne reignites the war. Dunne is an Outrider, one of the last elite special operations soldiers in the Resistance. As the enemy prepare to eliminate the freedom fighters once and for all, he is tasked with his final mission. If Dunne and his eleven-year-old son achieve the impossible, and survive, they'll secure their future across the border in Free Australia. But the road to victory will be bloody.

CeCe D’Aplièse, in her mid-twenties, has never felt she fitted in anywhere. Following the death of her father, the elusive billionaire Pa Salt – so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe – she finds herself at breaking point. Dropping out of art college, CeCe watches as Star, her beloved sister, distances herself to follow her new love, leaving her completely alone. In desperation, CeCe decides to flee England and discover her past; the only clues she has are a black-and-white photograph and the name of a woman pioneer who lived in Australia over one hundred years ago.

Reid left the small town of Manson a decade ago, promising his former Chief of Police boss he'd never return. He made a new life in the city, became a PI and turned his back on his old life for good. Now an insurance firm has offered him good money to look into a suspicious car crash, and he finds himself back in the place he grew up—home to his complicated family history, a scarring relationship breakdown and a very public career-ending incident. As Reid's investigation unfolds, nothing is as it seems.

Meet Jack Irish, criminal lawyer, debt collector, football lover, turf watcher, trainee cabinetmaker, and the best Australian crime character we've seen in years. When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client, he's too deep in misery over Fitzroy's latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client's dead and he's been drawn into a life-threatening investigation involving high-level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals and murder.

Sydney, 1946. Though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be home, for her the heady postwar days are tarnished by the loss of her father and the disappearance in Europe of her husband, Jack. To make matters worse, now that the war is over, the newspapers are sidelining her reporting talents to prioritize jobs for returning soldiers. But Billie is a survivor and she's determined to take control of her own future. So, she reopens her late father's business, a private investigation agency, and, slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking.

Constable Jenny Williams took a job in a remote opal mining town for answers. When the case surrounding her missing cousin goes cold, she embraces an invitation to party with the locals. But the night is cut short when the live music event turns into a crowded crime scene. A high-pitched scream and the smell of burning flesh has left a woman burned to death. No one saw the perpetrator, not even Jenny. Now it’s her job to catch the psychopath before they kill again. With no ID, no witnesses and no one coming forward who knows the woman, her case has no leads—not even a motive.

Jaxie Clackton is a brutalized rural youth who flees from the scene of his father's violent death and strikes out for the vast wilds of Western Australia. All he carries with him is a rifle and a waterjug. All he wants is peace and freedom. But surviving in the harsh saltlands alone is a savage business. And once he discovers he's not alone out there, all Jaxie's plans go awry. He meets a fellow exile, the ruined priest Fintan MacGillis, a man he's never certain he can trust, but on whom his life will soon depend.

Neal Stephenson's sweeping, prescient new novel transports listeners to a near-future world where the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.

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.

In the remote cattle country of Western Australia's Kimberley, where seasonal flooding transforms the landscape into a vast inland sea, Special Investigator Odysseus "Odie" Kalaris is summoned when rising waters uncover human remains near Warrigal Creek Station. What begins as the discovery of decades-old bones evolves into something far more sinister, revealing connections between historical water rights manipulation and powerful interests still operating today. When a station hand researching the same water dispute goes missing in suspiciously similar circumstances, Odie must navigate ...

Thanks to a nomadic childhood, Revelle Lee is fluent in ten languages, which she puts to use at crime scenes and in courtrooms across London. Being a court interpreter is a stressful job, one that makes her privy to the most personal and often dark details of others’ lives. In the meantime, she’s close to adopting a six-year-old boy named Elliot from foster care. Revelle is determined to be the mother she never had, and to make up for a terrible mistake she made years ago.

In the small, sleepy town of Gattan, population 7448, it happened at eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning. At the local soccer field, only one boy, aged ten years and one week, remained standing as the brothers, sisters and parents of his teammates realised the horror they were witnessing.

When Jenny Williams took a job as the new constable in an outback opal mining town, she thought she’d be hunting down clues to find her missing aunt and cousin. But when a young woman’s body is found at the bottom of a mine shaft, a possible murder forces her personal agenda to take a back seat. Jenny goes head to head with her new commanding officer. He doesn’t want to ruffle feathers in town and rules the case Death By Misadventure. But Jenny is sure the dead woman met with foul play.

What’s Beneath the Red Dust Can Kill Deep beneath the Australian Outback, a forgotten bacteria lies dormant—forgotten by humanity and the ones who swore to remember it. Hidden for centuries, it’s about to resurface, and the world isn’t ready. Poppy Geordanis thought her new job as head chef at a remote research station would be a dream come true: a chance to escape family pressure, explore her culinary passion, and live off the grid. But twenty floors underground, her dream turns into a nightmare. When an armed mercenary force invades the station, Poppy is thrown into a deadly game ...