PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK --- There have been crime novels set in the rural reaches of Australia, and plenty in the cities. Not so many set in the Southern Highlands, as this one is. Rose McHugh has always wanted to live in a cottage in the picturesque surrounds of the highlands, and uses most of her savings to buy a ricketty house in a deserted stretch. She settles into the lifestyle, bonds with a local over their dogs, discovers the best coffee, and runs into the resident sociopath. When she also discovers a buried cannister of film in her garden and has it developed, it reveals photographs of a missing woman - so of course, she starts to investigate despite being warned off by the attractive, but enigmatic, police detective… Whilst there are a lot of standard cliches in this novel, it is an entertaining and undemanding read, full of local colour, best consumed on a lazy wintry Sunday afternoon! Lindy
In the sleepy, scenic Southern Highlands of New South Wales, a beautiful young woman goes missing.
Six years later, recently divorced historian Rose McHugh leaves the city to start a new life in the Highlands and finds a roll of film buried in her back garden. On it are photos of the missing woman.
Against the advice of an enigmatic detective, she uses her powers of persuasion and her knack for deciphering clues to pursue the case. As Rose searches through tangled secrets and hidden places haunted by the past, she realises there is a killer at large.
As she makes new friends, and dangerous enemies, Rose closes in on a suspect-but will she solve the mystery too late to save herself?
Set in the atmospheric villages and forests of the Southern Highlands, Echo Lake is a compulsive read that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Born in New York, Joan Sauers is a screenwriter, producer and author who worked in London, Los Angeles and New York before settling in Australia. She has lectured in screenwriting in Sydney, London, Paris, Berlin and Casablanca. She has had fourteen books published in Australia, the US, India and Japan. She has been script editor on films including The Babadook and TV shows, Rake and The Principal, and has written many screenplays. Most recently, Joan was a writer on the ABC series Wakefield, which also aired on Showtime in the US. She is currently writing the TV seriesLadies in Black, and a sci-fi romance created by her daughter, as well as her next Southern Highlands mystery. Joan divides her time between Sydney and the Southern Highlands, and has one daughter and two grandsons.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK --- There have been crime novels set in the rural reaches of Australia, and plenty in the cities. Not so many set in the Southern Highlands, as this one is. Rose McHugh has always wanted to live in a cottage in the picturesque surrounds of the highlands, and uses most of her savings to buy a ricketty house in a deserted stretch. She settles into the lifestyle, bonds with a local over their dogs, discovers the best coffee, and runs into the resident sociopath. When she also discovers a buried cannister of film in her garden and has it developed, it reveals photographs of a missing woman - so of course, she starts to investigate despite being warned off by the attractive, but enigmatic, police detective… Whilst there are a lot of standard cliches in this novel, it is an entertaining and undemanding read, full of local colour, best consumed on a lazy wintry Sunday afternoon! Lindy
