Hirsch

Constable Paul Hirschhausen runs a one-cop station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges. He's still new in town but the community work-welfare checks and working bees-is starting to pay off. Now Christmas is here and, apart from a grass fire, two boys stealing a ute and Brenda Flann entering the front bar of the pub without exiting her car, Hirsch's life has been peaceful. Until he's called to a strange, vicious incident in Kitchener Street. And Sydney police ask him to look in on a family living outside town on a forgotten back road… Suddenly, it doesn't look like a season of goodwill at all.

WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST CRIME FICTION Australia's favourite country cop, Hirsch, is back in Consolation, the follow-up to Peace and Bitter Wash Road. Winter in Tiverton. Constable Paul Hirschhausen has a snowdropper on his patch. Someone is stealing women's underwear, and Hirsch knows enough about that kind of crime-how it can escalate-not to take it lightly. But the more immediate concerns are a call from the high school, a teacher worried about a student who may be in danger at home. Another call, a different school: a man enraged about the principal's treatment of his daughter. A little girl in harm's way and an elderly woman in danger. An absent father who isn't where he's supposed to be; another who flees to the back country armed with a rifle. Families under pressure. And the cold, seeping feeling that something is very, very wrong. "This is a book that cannot be praised enough." HERALD SUN "Consolation cements Disher's place as the master of outback noir." CANBERRA WEEKLY "Sheer class." AGE "Rural noir at its best." CANBERRA TIMES

Hirsch's rural beat is wide. Daybreak to day's end, dirt roads and dust. Every problem that besets small towns and isolated properties, from unlicensed driving to arson. In the time of the virus, Hirsch is seeing stresses heightened and social divisions cracking wide open. His own tolerance under strain; people getting close to the edge. Today he's driving an international visitor around: Janne Van Sant, whose backpacker son went missing while the borders were closed. They're checking out his last photo site, his last employer. A feeling that the stories don't quite add up. Then a call comes in: a roadside fire. Nothing much-a suitcase soaked in diesel and set alight. But two noteworthy facts emerge. Janne knows more than Hirsch about forensic evidence. And the body in the suitcase is not her son's. 'Disher is the gold standard for rural noir.' CHRIS HAMMER 'This is storytelling at its best… Another sophisticated and compelling offer from an author at the peak of his powers.' GOOD READING