A country town, a brutal murder, a shameful past, a reckoning to come... The injustices of the past and dangers of the present envelop Aboriginal policewoman Renee Taylor, when her unwilling return to the small outback town of her childhood plunges her into the investigation of a brutal murder.
Renee Taylor is planning to stay the minimum amount of time in her remote hometown - only as long as her mum needs her, then she is fleeing back to her real life in Brisbane.
Seconded to the town's sleepy police station, Renee is pretty sure work will hold nothing more exciting than delivering speeding tickets. Then a murdered woman is found down by the creek on the outskirts of town.
Leading the investigation, Renee uncovers a perplexing connection to the disappearance of two young women thirty years earlier. As she delves deeper and the mystery unfurls, intergenerational cruelties, endemic racism, and deep corruption show themselves, even as dark and bitter truths about the town and its inhabitants' past rise up and threaten to overwhelm the present...
Authentic, gripping crime drama from a bright new voice in fiction.
'A page-turner with purpose. Refreshing, surprising, and propulsive. Angie Faye Martin is a name to watch.' Tracey Lien, author of All That's Left Unsaid
'Melaleuca is rich with authenticity and heart, and each character feels tangible and familiar. Angie Faye Martin skilfully paints a picture of outback Queensland so that the scents, sounds and heat become a physical experience for the reader. Dual timelines can be hard to get right, but the author deftly weaves a satisfying - and horrifying - conclusion. Detective Renee Taylor is sure to be one of Aussie crime's new heroes - I look forward to seeing what happens next to the new Sergeant of Goorungah.' Laura McCluskey, author of The Wolf Tree
'Atmospheric and blistering. Melaleuca will leave you wanting more. What a remarkable debut.' Fleur McDonald, author of The Prospect
'Angie Faye Martin brings a fresh, authentic perspective to the much-loved genre of the Australian outback thriller. Compelling, thought-provoking and twisty, Melaleuca is both a gripping, tightly plotted mystery and an unflinching exploration of the dark underbelly of institutionalised racism and corruption in Australia. Fans of Jane Harper's The Dry and Hayley Scrivenor's Dirt Town will love it.' Kate Horan, author of The Inheritance
'This intense, heart-wrenching and beautifully written novel introduces a bold, and important voice in Australian crime fiction. Set in a small, outback Queensland town, it features the resilient, courageous, and marvellously flawed Aboriginal detective, Renee Taylor. When a savage murder takes place and is connected to historic mysterious disappearances, the investigation starts to expose gross injustice, racism, cowardice and corruption - not just in Australia's murky past, but in its present as well. Realities some will do anything to cover-up. An atmospheric, compulsive read that I defy you to put down.' Karen Brooks, author of The Good Wife of Bath
'A fresh new voice in Australian crime. I couldn't put it down.' Tricia Stringer, author of Head for the Hills
'Powerful First Nations crime noir that interrogates law enforcement and how it intersects with Indigenous victims. Melaleuca is a compelling exploration of a police officer caught between two worlds, small-town complicity and justice long overdue.' Dinuka McKenzie, author of The Torrent
'Indigenous writing has dominated Australian literary fiction, now it's crime fiction's turn. Buckle up!' Aoife Clifford, author of It takes a Town to Solve a Murder
'In Melaleuca, Angie Faye Martin brings an important new voice to Australia's rich rural crime tradition. With a gutsy First Nations heroine, an atmospheric setting and a shocking crime that exposes a small town's prejudices, this is a book that deserves a large and enthusiastic audience. I'm already looking forward to this author's next one.' Cassie Hamer, author of The Stranger at the Table
