Winter has arrived in Tiverton, the outback South Australian town where Constable Paul Hirschhausen is serving his exile. There's snow on the peaks and frost on the plains-and a snowdropper in town, swiping women's underwear from clotheslines. It's a nuisance offence that leads Hirsch to more chilling crimes-of obsession, exploitation and conspiracy.

And just when Hirsch thinks he's untangling the seams of trust and resentment that wind through the streets and backroads of this hard landscape-he finds himself at the centre of them all, not sure he'll make it out alive.

Consolation is the sequel to Bitter Wash Road and Peace, and unveils an entirely new kind of rural noir.