Australian Crime

If you thought you knew the story of The Teacher's Pet, get ready to be shocked. Hedley Thomas takes you behind the scenes with a blow-by-blow account of one of the most intriguing and enduring murder mysteries of our time - the crime, the podcast investigation, the sexual exploitation of...

Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction, Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake. There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer.

For more than thirty years, Mark Dapin has been hanging out with crooks, and both types of cop. In this gripping, often funny and always surprising book, he sorts the tall stories from the truth about true crime, showing us what some of Australia’s most famous felons are really like. Mark...

Four young boys are left alone in a hotel room while their parents dine downstairs. When Sara Farrow checks on the children at midnight, her son is missing. Distrustful of the police, Sara turns to Crimson Lake’s unlikeliest private investigators - disgraced cop Ted Conkaffey and convicted killer Amanda Pharrell. For Ted, the case couldn’t have come at a worse time. Two years ago, a false accusation robbed him of his career, his reputation, and most importantly, his family. But now, Lillian, the daughter he barely knows, is coming to stay in his ramshackle cottage by the lake.

“Heath’s boundless imagination and singular voice have produced a truly unique thriller.” —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author, on Hangman The shocking, fast-paced and queasily funny follow-up to Jack Heath’s international bestselling thriller, Hangman Timothy Blake...

When the King calls, you answer. An old ally resurfaces in the final book in a pulse-pounding series from Matt Rogers, a million-copy bestseller and 'a bright new talent shaking up the genre' (Candice Fox). In the neon-drenched alleys of Budapest, Will Slater comes face to face with his past...

A raw fight for vengeance on Zimbabwe’s desolate plains. The fifth book in a pulse-pounding series from Matt Rogers, a million-copy bestseller and 'a bright new talent shaking up the genre' (Candice Fox). Will Slater needs to lay low. With the whole U.S. government antagonised by his recent...

With wicked humor, genuine poignancy, and clever insight, this is an unforgettable novel about murder, secrets, and memory that is perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Fredrik Backman, and “will be loved by readers wanting to have their heart strings plucked” (The Guardian). Rose may be in...

Freya thought she could relax when Ryan's best mate Jamie got engaged to her best friend Hannah. Two couples, four friends – what could be better than that? But a day before the wedding, Freya is torn between keeping the peace or blowing it up. Hannah's perfect wedding is hours away and she's daydreaming of a honeymoon in Tahiti and starting the family she longs for when she hears the first-responder sirens. Is it a grass fire? Worse? And why aren't Ryan or Jamie answering their phones?

When Princess Ingrid is kidnapped, along with her fianc�, Binky Pelly, it's all over the international news. The King of Norway is distraught. The people of Norway are bewildered. And Ingrid's bodyguard is fired. So, he calls on his least favourite Interpol agent for help - Friday Barnes. The...

Now with three new chapters, author Stuart Mullins and former South Australian police detective Bill Hayes expose Harry Phipps as the prime suspect in the abduction, disappearance, and likely murder of the Beaumont children, one of Australia’s most notorious cold cases since 1966. On Australia...

A much-loved mother, teacher and friend steps on a plane for an overseas adventure and is never seen again. When Marion Barter disappeared in 1997, police initially dismissed it as the actions of a divorced mother abandoning her family. In this book, the creators of the addictive global hit...

"McFarlane’s skill in evoking individual inner lives and Jones’s deftness in capturing their spirit make every character distinct." —The Washington Post on The Sun Walks Down, one of The Washington Post's 10 Best Audiobooks of 2023 A gripping, enigmatic collection of linked short stories...

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.

Most homicide detective teams run on trust, loyalty, and the shared desire to put killers behind bars. Frank Bennett's partner, Eden Archer, thrives on darkness and danger. She has a rare talent for catching killers - but her idea of justice has little to do with courtrooms. Now three girls are missing, and Eden is going undercover to a remote farm where the troubled hide and blood falls more often than rain. Frank’s job is to keep an eye on his partner while she's there - but is it for Eden's protection, or to protect others from her?

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.

Jason King has proved his worth and saved Black Force – now it’s time to recruit. But has the division set its sights on the right target? The second book in The Jason King Files series from Matt Rogers, million-copy bestseller and ‘the most successful writer you’ve never heard of’...

The biggest, baddest Slater novel yet and the third book in a pulse-pounding series from Matt Rogers, a million-copy bestseller and 'a bright new talent shaking up the genre' (Candice Fox). Aboard a luxury passenger train in the desolate Russian Far East, Slater heads for the port city of...

Friday's Mum, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, has been accused of espionage. The police think she's been selling secrets about the CERN Hadron Super Collider. Friday knows her mother isn't capable of such a thing - this is a woman who can't even operate a dishwasher. She's got to smuggle...

With over 55,000 disappearances annually in Australia, each story is a heart-wrenching account of unanswered questions and shattered lives. The narrative spans decades, from the 1980s to present-day mysteries, including the puzzling case of a gentle Greenpeace worker vanishing amidst inner-city Melbourne, the suspicious disappearance of a 21-year-old, and the grim discovery of scattered remains in Queensland, unravelling a harrowing tale of violence and tragedy. And then there is the perplexing case of a man who went missing over and over again.