Our crime specialist shares 10 great crime reads to look out for this month.

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly

The northern Queensland town of Quala is reeling: oneof its own is missing. Young Janet McClymont walked through the cane fields early one evening to go babysit her neighbours’ kids, but never arrived. Her bag was found, and nothing else. Now her parents trawl through the vast expanse of cane, begging their neighbours not to light the fields for the burn that must happen to harvest the sugar. But the farmers need the sugar, and the fire has to burn. Life has to move on, but nobody in the town wants to let it until they find Janet.

This is a searing, unsettling thriller: the story of a whole town holding tight to their children, and realising nothing will ever be the same. There is Essie, the neighbour’s daughter Janet was babysitting, desperate to seem grown- up next to the newly arrived and world-wise Raelene; Essie’s mother Connie Tranter, once progressive and now finding herself becoming fearful and conservative; Eamonn Sullivan, the new teacher, attempting to bring this 1970s town into a socialist future; and Vince Creadie, who lost his daughter too and only wants to help the best he can. Quala simmers with unrest, as the racism, sexism and fear of its inhabitants takes hold and gossip spreads as fast as fire. The truth will come to light, but it will come, as always, at a cost. Cuskelly’s gripping rural historical tale will leave you listening in the night for the sound of the cane rustling – and what it might be hiding.

NEW CRIME FICTION

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

Twelve hours from the moment he is scheduled to die, Texan death row inmate Ansel Packer waits, a trail of carnage behind him. This novel isn’t so much about Ansel as it is about the women around him: his young, desperate mother Lavender; Hazel, his wife’s sister, who knows he’s not what he seems; and Saffy, the detective who will do anything to catch him out after years of watching.

Ansel wants to tell his truth, but this knife-sharp, character- driven suspense thriller tells the stories that deserve to be heard instead, and asks some questions that readers might find tough to answer. A dark, devastating, beautifully written book.

The Gosling Girl by Jacqueline Roy

The Gosling Girl is what the British press named her. Back then, her real name was Michelle Cameron. Now, it’s Samantha Robinson: her new identity after spending most of her childhood in detention for the most heinous of crimes. As Samantha, she has a new job, a new place, a dog. When Samantha reconnects with an old prison acquaintance, she thinks she’s making new friends too, but things are about to go horribly wrong. When her past – that of a ten-year-old girl who killed a four-year-old child – is exposed, the world will not forgive her again.

But what have people missed about what happened all those years ago? Who was Michelle then, and who is she now? This is a complex story about race, the media, the stories people tell about others – and the truth that people ignore.

The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl

For years, Claudia Castro has been part of a famous family: buying expensive art before she hit puberty, peripherally appearing on a reality television show, spending from her vast trust fund, attending an elite college. But then she wakes one morning with injuries all over her face, no phone, and no idea what happened the night before.

She’s blacked out before, but this feels different – and wrong – and she both knows it and wants to run away from it. Claudia had promised her sister Edie she’d be there when Edie gave birth, but she wasn’t, and now Edie hasn’t heard a single word from Claudia. By the time Edie goes to find her, Claudia has vanished. An intense, furious book about wealth, power, and social media.

The Torrent by Dinuka McKenzie

Detective Kate Miles is days away from maternity leave, and just about done with everything. The notion of a soft last week is dispelled swiftly, however, as she grapples with the handover and her replacement, is called to a violent robbery at a McDonald’s, and is then handed another case to deal with before she leaves.

It’s a simple review of an already closed investigation into a man who died in the recent floods. When she sees more to the case than was reported, it would be easy enough for her to walk away from what she’s found, and into the arms of the family she’s been waiting to spend time with. But Kate can’t look away from the truth, no matter what it will cost her. A captivating and original debut from the winner of the 2020 Banjo Prize.

The Girl She Was by Alafair Burke

Fifteen years ago, on a rainy night, Hope Miller was found at the scene of a car accident down a back road. Back then, though, she wasn’t Hope Miller – but nobody knows who she was, including Hope herself. With her memory wiped by amnesia, all she could do after the accident was start again, supported by Lindsay, the defence attorney who found her and saved her life.

When Hope decides to move to the Hamptons on her own, Lindsay is hesitant, but pleased – until Hope vanishes. Not everyone believes Hope’s backstory, and the police are reluctant to investigate, but Lindsay is desperate to find her friend. When the case dovetails with another investigation from years before, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher drops everything to join the hunt for Hope – and the past.

Wild Dogs by Michael Trant

Out in the dry, sparse Western Australia outback, Gabe Ahern traps and catches wild dogs. He’s more than happy to be out there on his own and away from other people and their insufferable, unwanted concern for him. One morning, while laying a trap illegally on Aboriginal land – not for the first time – he hears a gunshot in the distance, and encounters the kind of situation that needs a few bullets of his own.

A man like Gabe knows how to cover his tracks, but when it involves dead bodies, he needs to be more cautious than usual, even while being aided by the injured Afghan man whose life he saved. Because roo hunter Chase Fowler knows as much about this area as Gabe does, and he’s caught the scent of the two men. And he’s not on their side. A gripping tale of rural cat-and-mouse.

A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle

One windy night in 1924, on the cruise liner Endeavour as it sails from Southampton to New York, a man is found at the bottom of a staircase – dead. While the ship’s officer, Timothy Birch, thinks it’s yet another accident in an unjust world, someone else on board disagrees – Scotland Yard inspector James Temple. The ship’s captain, close to retirement and mindful of the terribly inconvenient optics of the situation, agrees with Birch, but allows Temple to search further – as long as Birch doesn’t let him out of his sight.

Soon, two things become apparent: the dead man had a connection to a stolen painting; and his death won’t be the only one onboard before the voyage’s end. A thrilling (and floating) mystery suspense.

The Gallerist by Michael Levitt

For 35 successful years, Mark Lewis was a surgeon who collected art on the side. But the death of his wife shook him so badly he found himself unable to perform surgery, and instead opened a gallery in Perth. When a woman named Jan Bilowski comes by one day with a work gifted to her sister in the early 1970s, Mark immediately identifies it as the work of renowned Melbourne artist James Devlin. The painting, however, is signed by someone called Charlie, and Jan insists he was a friend of her sister’s.

So, is it a Devlin? And if not, who made this artwork? And why is Devlin so notoriously hard to pin down? This is a satisfying, stylish debut from someone with insider knowledge of the art world and an eye for beauty.

Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski

Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club, working in a familiar place with people she understands. At home, she has a boyfriend she likes, and his daughter Rosie, whom she adores with all her heart. When a new girl named Jolene turns up at the club, Samantha can’t help but look after her, offering to drive her home late one night – a choice that leads to a brutal outcome.

One of the detectives on the case, the bereaved Detective Holly Meylin, thinks that to solve the crime, they need the help of somebody in the women’s inner circle – namely Georgia, another dancer at the club. But in a world where women are already treated so badly – something this book pulls no punches with – will this lead to putting more of them in danger? A visceral, authentic and heartfelt read.

Also out this month:

Ajay Chowdhury’s The Waiter; Elizabeth George’s Something to Hide: An Inspector Lynley Novel; Erin Young’s The Fields; Sophie Hannah’s The Couple at the Table; Nita Prose’s The Maid; and Hervé Le Tellier’s The Anomaly (translated by Adriana Hunter).