There were sulphur-crested women with orange skin and hazardous heels, feral businessmen with titanium teeth and statement ties. As the temperature soars, and the ground bakes, the wilderness surrounding Canticle Creek becomes a powder keg waiting to explode. Senior Constable Jesse Redpath is unwelcome and surplus to requirements, as far as Victorian lawmakers are concerned.

While it looks like a nice cheery cover, the story is dark and twisted and the author has created a wonderful mystery set in this remote area of Australia. Later, Jesse’s informed that Adam has murdered a woman, stolen her car, and then crashed it and died near Canticle Creek in Victoria. When Jesse hears that Adam is dead and allegedly killed a woman, she and her dad head to Canticle Creek to find out more because they knew Adam and can't believe that he would commit murder. The story was gripping and believable with a wealth of descriptive passages to build momentum and keep you guessing till the very end. Biography: Adrian Hyland is the award-winning author of Diamond Dove, Gunshot Road and Kinglake-350, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction in 2012.

Like the best small town mysteries, suspects are not short on the ground and the general animosity towards those representing authority add fuel to this outback fire.

I did enjoy this story very much, though I think at times the author got a bit carried away with technical jargon and “big word dropping” which I had no trouble understanding, but felt it was a bit unnecessary and over the top at times. She takes her Dad along with her and so embarks on a mission to seek the truth, which leaves her in danger.The loving description of the countryside and landscape was lyrical and I now feel that I know what a terrifying experience it would be to be trapped in the path of a bushfire. Jesse feels her only course of action is to visit Canticle Creek herself and try to put things right. Hyland places emphasis on his characters and he works hard to zone in on their actions for a good deal of this novel. Jesse Redpath works for NT Police, posted as Leading Senior Constable in the remote, 2-person station at Kulara. It is possible that the author wanted use the opportunity to bring some social messages and to indicate that the community is small and close-knitted.

With her father, Jesse visits Canticle Creek to understand, and unravels many other mysteries and knots of a typical small community. There were so many social messages and I loved how the author focused the whole point on a single factor (which I can’t give out because of spoilers but you’ll know when you know!

When two dead bodies are discovered, the local police are convinced that Adam Lawson, a stranger to town is guilty. A gripping murder mystery at it's heart, with a clever, deftly constructed and extremely believable plot, Hyland uses this opportunity to celebrate natural beauty in the experience of his characters, and through the eyes of the artists he's incorporated in his cast of well-constructed people.

They invite Ben and Jesse to visit the Bluehouse, their home, if they’re ever in the Canticle Creek area. And after experiencing Hyland’s writing and storytelling for the first time, I think it’s very safe to say that I will be reading this author’s work again in the future.Not to mention a missing American hunter who had all the right gear heading into the Outback but was never seen alive again in the dry country. In Jesse Redpath, Adrian Hyland has created a character who is smart, determined and resilient and well able to take care of herself.