Murder Town - by Shelley Burr

Book Synopsis

For fans of Jane Harper and true crime, a dark and gripping thriller set in a small town in the Australian Outback, by the author of the international bestseller WAKE.

Gemma Guillory has lived in the Australian Outback enclave of Rainier her entire life. She knows the tiny, red-dust town's ins and outs by heart, knows the people like they are her family, their quirks as if they were her own.

She also knows her once charming town is now remembered for one reason and one reason only: three innocent people died there at the hands of a serial killer. The last stop on the Rainier Ripper's trail of deaths fifteen years ago was her picturesque little tea shop. She knows that the consequences of catching the Ripper still haunt her policeman husband and their marriage to this day, and some of her neighbors are desperate enough to welcome a dark tourism company keen to cash in on Rainier's notoriety as the "Murder Town."

When the tour guide is killed by a Ripper copycat on Gemma's doorstep, the unease that has lurked quietly in the original killer's wake explodes into the light, and Gemma is drawn into the investigation. Unbeknownst to her, so is a prisoner named Lane Holland, a former private investigator who earned a living cracking cold cases before he ran afoul of the law.

Gemma knows her town. She knows her people. Doesn't she?

Review Quotes

"If you love Jane Harper's books, you will love WAKE even more." - Kayte Nunn, bestselling author of The Silk House and The Last Reunion
"Shelley Burr is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction." - Chris Hammer, bestselling author of Scrublands
"WAKE is an incredible read." - Allie Reynolds, author of Shiver
"A nerve-jangling thriller with a brilliantly twisty plot." - Rose Carlyle, bestselling author of The Girl in the Mirror, on WAKE
"Politically savvy, cleverly plotted...the kind of book that invites the ravenous language of binge reading: compulsive, propulsive, addictive." - New York Times Book Review on WAKE
"Genuinely gripping...Burr takes a solid framework and builds a darn fine, frequently impressive house around it out of secrets, human evil, and abiding grief and guilt." - Criminal Element on WAKE
"[An] outstanding debut...With a slow build and complex characters, this is both a well-plotted gripping mystery and a sensitive exploration of the aftermath of trauma." - The Guardian (UK) on WAKE
"A masterclass in pace, plot, character and creeping unease." - Bookseller (UK)
"Will have you hooked from start to finish . . . Exceptional . . . An amazing and addictive plot loaded with numerous brilliant twists" - Canberra Weekly (Australia)