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

The calling card of the killer known as ‘The Jeweller' is as elegant as it is gruesome: a pair of ring fingers, separated from their owners, encircled by a band of wire, and delivered directly to Senior Detective Joe Capello. When the Jeweller taunts Joe and his team into meeting him in the diseased grounds of Barren Park, the consequences of that evening will have permanent repercussions for everyone involved. And for Joe, it gets personal.

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.

A serial killer is stalking the streets of Sydney, hell-bent on recreating scenes from the Fabrica, the 16th-century foundation text of modern European anatomy. His cold, methodical attacks have the city on edge, but the serial killer may not even be the darkest player. Desperate for a breakthrough, decorated homicide detective David Murphy draws into the case his art-historian sister, Joanna, and his wife, Sylvia. Unravelling the mystery of who is behind the killings pushes each beyond the limits of what they thought possible.

In 1999, art dealer Alex Clayton stumbles across a lost portrait of Molly Dean, an artist’s muse brutally slain in Melbourne in 1930. Alex buys the painting and sets out to uncover more details, but finds there are strange inconsistencies: Molly’s mother seemed unconcerned by her daughter’s violent death, the main suspect was never brought to trial despite compelling evidence and vital records are missing. Alex enlists the help of her close friend, art conservator John Porter, and together they sift through the clues and deceptions that swirl around the last days of Molly Dean.

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.

Recovering addict Eric Johnstone is turning his life around. Then one small moment changes everything, and Eric is sent down a dark path that leads him towards a life-or-death decision. Just months after he took a job at the retirement village in Point Imlay, the tide goes out on the town’s oyster beds, and Eric’s body is revealed. When Senior Detective John Darken’s business card is discovered in Eric’s pocket, J.D. transfers to Point Imlay to help with the investigation.

In a peaceful coastal town, a young woman is found brutally murdered, a piece of Scripture held tightly in her hand. Local detective Charlotte Callaghan is put on the case, and she’s glad for the distraction - Gull Bay can be a hard place to keep a secret, and she’s holding on to a few. After Charlotte asks her brother, Father Joseph Callaghan, about the verse, her suspicions fall on his parishioners. Then a second victim is found, along with another biblical message.

Eliza Carmody is working on the biggest law case of her career. But this time she’s on the ‘wrong side’ - defending a large corporation against a bushfire class action by her own hometown of Kinsale. On her first day back in town she witnesses an old friend, Luke Tyrell, commit an act of lethal violence, and as police investigate the crime and hunt for Luke they uncover bones at an a historic homestead in the district. Eliza is convinced that they belong to someone from her past and finds herself entangled in the investigation.

In top-secret talks in Barcelona, ex-spy Dr Tori Swyft seals a landmark Arctic deal with Beijing that sends Washington, DC, and Moscow reeling. The next morning, she wakes beside two dead bodies. A nameless voice phones her, taunting her and revealing a shocking video that shows Tori as the murderer. Yet she has no memory of what happened. With Spanish police converging at her door, Tori flees, in a race against time to find The Voice and prove her innocence - before it’s too late.

A small town has been devastated by a bushfire, and Primary School Principal Phoebe Warton can't sleep. She's the single mother of 18-year-old Caleb, who is accused of starting the fire - on purpose. Twelve people are dead, students from her school among them; only a monster would cause such carnage. But where was her son was that day? No one knows but Caleb, and he's not talking.

After years away from his hometown of Melbourne, Luke Harris is back on track. All he wants is a normal job, his own house and a dog. But Luke is a man with a past, where life was anything but peaceful and his skills ran to the dark side. A past not easily forgotten - or forgiven. When he crosses paths with Gus Alberici—the brutal criminal he worked for as a teenager—he's dragged reluctantly back to his old life. Luke's father has vanished, along with a chunk of Gus's cash. And something is up with his new girlfriend's father ...

Newly returned to Western Australia, journalist Amy Rhinehart pitches a crime podcast to increase her radio station's ratings. Her idea: to use the listeners of the show as its co-creators, with live-time calls and suggestion boards. The case: Jonah Scott, charged and imprisoned for life for the murder of his girlfriend, transgender woman Casey Williams.

In Darkwater, being female doesn't amount to much. But Chelsea's luckier than most. She's the young lover of the town's feared leader, which she keeps telling herself is a good thing, what with food getting scarce and the wells drying up. She's secure and safe and can almost believe she's happy. But when a stranger rides into town, gun on one hip, whip on the other, Chelsea can't look away. Especially when it turns out this stranger is a woman. Nobody can say what the stranger is there for. But she brings talk of an outside perhaps no longer so chaotic, no longer something to hide away from.

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.

Art dealer Alex Clayton and conservator John Porter are thrilled to be previewing the Melbourne International Museum of Art’s (MIMA) newest exhibition, until they witness a museum worker collapse and badly damage a reportedly cursed painting. Belief in the curse is strengthened when MIMA’s senior conservator, Meredith Buchanan, dies less than 24 hours later while repairing the work. But Alex and John are convinced there is a decidedly human element at work in the museum.

For five years, Australian Doctor Sofia Raso has lived in Kabul’s vibrant Shaahir Square, working with Dr Jabril Aziz to support the local women. She knows that living peacefully in Kabul requires following two simple rules: keep a low profile; and keep out of local affairs. Yet when threatening night letters from the Taliban taunt the town and young boys disappear from Jamal Mina, Kabul’s largest slum, Sofia can no longer remain silent. While the square is encased by fear, an elegant former warlord proves an unlikely ally, and a former lover re-emerges with a warning.

Pastor Rick tells us women are created to serve, to be pure, to submit, to be a delight to their husbands. Who are we to deny the very nature our Creator has built within us? When Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church six years ago, she vowed never to go back. Lars, the love of her life, was about to marry local golden girl Eve, author of a popular blog about the church's ‘Noble Wife' teachings. But now Lars is dead, and Del is convinced it couldn't have been an accident. When she returns for the funeral, she discovers the church has taken over the town.

In a hotel room on a sleepy Pacific island, Judy Novak waits. And worries. It isn’t the first time 29-year-old problem child Paulina has kept her mother waiting. But Judy can’t ignore the island’s jagged cliffs and towering pines - or the dread that Paulina has finally acted on her threats to take her own life. When Paulina’s body is discovered, Judy’s worst fears seem confirmed. Only, Paulina didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vernon and Penelope never want to see their son Caleb again. Not after he bashed his wife and ended up in gaol. A lifetime of careful parental love wiped out in a moment. But when Vernon, a retired teacher, hears that Caleb is being regularly visited and savagely beaten by a local criminal as the police stand by, he knows he has to act. What has his life as a father been if he turns his back on his son in his hour of desperate need? He realises with shame that he has grievously failed Caleb. No longer.

Sydney, 1930: In a well-heeled corner of Paddington, just a short distance from the razor gangs of Darlinghurst and Kings Cross, sits Maison des Fleurs, an upscale brothel run by the indomitable Madame. The star of Maison des Fleurs is Violet Kelly—beautiful, clever and determined to make something of herself in a world that has already taken so much. When a former associate of Madame's emerges to claim a long-owed favour involving a kidnapped girl and an ancient curse, Violet is drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.