Showing results by publisher "Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd" in Crime Fiction

My time is here. The beast knows my blood, it knows my name, and the invisible messenger of my death from the sky is on its way now. I have but a few breaths left. Heed me. You must seek the beast in this place of evil and you MUST destroy it. I pray you find it.

Two Australian police officers travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the summer of 1967 in search of a missing young man, only to find themselves fully immersed in the world of music, free love, drugs and hippie counterculture. They soon realise this isn't just any ordinary missing person investigation. A big gig is the perfect place to get away with murder, and their search becomes a thrilling journey through the seamy side of the 1960s counterculture.

One Thursday morning, Lexie Parker dashes to the shop for biscuits, leaving Bella in the safe care of the other mums in the playgroup. Six minutes later, Bella is gone. Police and media descend on the tiny village of Merrigang on the edge of Canberra. Locals unite to search the dense bushland. But as the investigation continues, relationships start to fracture, online hate messages target Lexie and the community is engulfed by fear.

Deaf PI Caleb Zelic has always been an outsider, estranged from family and friends. But when he receives a message that his brother, Anton, is in danger, Caleb sees it as a chance at redemption. He tracks Anton down to a small, wind-punished island, where secrets run deep and resentments deeper. When a sniper starts terrorising the isolated community, the brothers must rely on each other like never before. But trust comes at a deadly price …

In a secret laboratory in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, scientists, under the auspices of the group who calls themselves The Sword of Cyrus, have just developed a nanotech nuclear weapon so small it could fit into a mobile phone, yet it has the destructive power of 7 Hiroshima bombs. This is the world’s most powerful and technologically advanced weapon, developed with the explicit goal to wipe out Western civilization.

Disgraced former lawyer Clementine Jones is on the shores of paradise - Queensland’s Great Sandy Straits - trying to outrun her past. Bored with her house-sitting gig, she becomes a reluctant recruit to the local environmental group, campaigning to save an endangered turtle as developers close in. Then a body is found at the base of a quarry, and Clem’s world is turned upside down.

It's 1930, and the Great Depression is taking hold. In Melbourne, thirteen-year-old Morris Turner, a little anxious by nature, feels more at home gazing at the stars than spending time with his detached father Jude, a detective, and older sister, Lottie. When a young woman is murdered in Jude's home town of Gemini, he is assigned to solve the case. With fear and polio rising in the city, Jude reluctantly takes Morris and Lottie to the small town he left long ago. At the family farm in Gemini, Morris is drawn into a community reeling from a murder and a financial crash.

Jack Harris, the disgraced son of Australia's most powerful business tycoon, has just been exiled to Byron Bay as a junior journalist at his father's smallest regional newspaper, The Beacon. His arrival coincides with the disappearance of the newspaper's editor, Patrick O'Shaughnessy, while out on his morning surf. When Patrick's body is discovered in the ocean, with a severed leg, it appears certain that he's fallen victim to a shark attack.

Natalie King has been hired to do a psychiatric evaluation for the children’s court. A simple custody dispute. But nothing is ever simple. Malik claims his ex-wife, Jenna, is crazy and compulsive; Jenna claims Malik has been abusing their daughter, Chelsea. But what if all the claims are true? Or none? How can Natalie protect the child? And with both parents saying they’re desperate to keep their daughter safe - what if one of them is desperate enough to kill?

For nearly 14 years, Rowland has tried to forget, but now the past has returned. A newly discovered gun casts light on a family secret long kept...a murder the Sinclairs would prefer stayed unsolved. As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland’s inappropriate companions is all that stands between him and the consequences of a brutal murder...one he simply failed to mention.

When a high-profile murder lands literally at her feet, Detective Emilia Hart sees a chance to expand her caseload beyond the endless succession of domestic violence she is forced to investigate. But this is no simple investigation. Another body, turns up, then another. Then more - a lot more. All men, all shot with a similar MO. It's not until a manifesto taking credit for the crimes is published by a group calling themselves Daughters of Eve that Hart confirms a link between the victims.

A young African boy has been murdered in a back alley. Despite running low on empathy, social worker Stella Hardy heads into the night to comfort the grieving mother. But when she gets there, she makes a discovery that has the potential to uncover something terrible from her past. Enlisting the help of Senior Constable Phuong Nguyen, Stella's investigation draws her further and further into a dark world of drug dealers, sociopaths and killers.

Every evening, Allison watches her husband’s new house, desperate to find some answers. Every morning, she puts on a brave face to teach kindergarten. She’s a good teacher, everyone says so - this stalking is just a tiny crack in her usual self-control. A late enrolment into her class brings little Gracie. Allison takes the sick girl under her wing, smothering Gracie with the love she can’t give her own son. When Gracie has a chance to go to America for treatment, Allison whips up the community into a frenzied fundraising drive.

Rachael Schlank is a straight-talking detective who’s always felt like a fish out of water, bouncing between departments over the years. Now she’s finally found a home in Victoria Police's Cold Case Unit. When a vigilante starts targeting hunters, leaving clues about a long-ago cold case, Rachael is asked to join a task force investigating the crimes...along with a former colleague whose dangerous temper has already made an impact on her life.

All it took was a lapse...a momentary lapse...to bring Clementine Jones’ world crashing down. Now she’s living like a hermit in small-town Katinga, coaching the local footy club. She’s supposed to be lying low, but here she is, with her team on the cusp of their first premiership in 50 years - and the whole bloody town counting on her, cheering her on.

Profoundly deaf since early childhood, Caleb has always lived on the outside - watching and picking up tell-tale signs people hide in a smile, a cough or a kiss. When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a hunt for the killer. But he can’t do it alone....

Stacey was trying to live her best life, but now she's dead. But why hasn't she passed on? Could it be her fatal car accident is actually murder? Detectives Ed Beaufontaine and Rose Garafino have a long list of suspects, chief among them Stacey's fiancé, Liam. His business dealings and new relationship with Emily Jackson are raising a few eyebrows. As the detectives dig deeper, so does Stacey. With nothing but time on her hands, she forensically examines her past relationships realising she might have been better off without them.

Trainee private investigator Lee Southern finds himself drawn into a web of danger and deceit as he investigates a series of bribery attempts targeting a wealthy entrepreneur. Under the expert tutelage of retiring PI Frank Swann, Lee uses all of his developing skills, instincts and cunning to get to the heart of a sordid mystery. As Lee delves deeper into the case and questions the intentions of those he's working for, he finds himself the target of increasingly ominous threats and several attempts on his life.

Forensic psychiatrist Natalie King works with victims and perpetrators of violent crimes. She rides a Ducati a size too big and wears a tank top a size too small. Likes men but doesn't want to keep one. And really needs to stay on her medication. Now she's being stalked. Anonymous notes, threats, strangers loitering outside her house. Natalie doesn't know who it could be. A hostile former patient? Or someone connected with a current case?

A coastal town is evacuated after record floods. Three young police officers are left behind. With a killer. The small beachside town of Gloster is on the edge of disaster. After constant rain, floodwaters are rising fast. Detective Constable Craig Watson, exiled to Gloster from Sydney, is a young man with a damaged past and an uncertain future. Constables Ellie Cameron and Larissa Brookes are young women struggling to show their worth as police officers under a misogynistic sergeant.