Canticle Creek

Product Information

Mark Sanderson, The Times'An atmospheric gripper' - Crime Monthly'A gritty, inventive slice of Outback noir' - Paul Burke, Crime Fiction Lover'had me gripped from beginning to end.

Jesse Redpath is up there with Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk and Chris Hammer’s Martin Scarsden as a sleuth who gets down and dirty with the harshest natural environments of Australia, and with some of the meanest human inhabitants. They meet the son, Nick, and his girlfriend, Nadia, who is unnerved when she is told Jesse is a cop. The main characters were all realistic and easy to like and the villains were all suitably convincing – particularly the main perpetrator who really had me fooled with his artful misdirection! When at home in the Northern Territory of Kulara, Redpath works with Danny Jakamarra, an Aboriginal Community Police Officer.A tension filled, suspenseful crime novel set in the ravaging heat of the Northern Territory and Victoria, where bushfires kept the locals on edge, and the heat baked everything in its path. I loved the way Canticle Creek was written, the language is pure Australian slang which makes it so more realistic, however i did have to google a few words, but that's a plus because I learnt something whilst reading! Jesse Redpath arrived in Canticle Creek to investigate the murder of Daisy Baker However, Jesse Redpath disagreed and started asking awkward questions that upset the community. Canticle Creek is the first book in 10 years from Aussie author Adrian Hyland and it was well worth waiting for! A police officer with something to prove, alongside her eccentric father travel to the small town and is determined to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.A gripping murder mystery at it's heart, with a clever, deftly constructed and extremely believable plot, Hyland uses this opportunity to celebrate natural beauty in the experience of his characters, and through the eyes of the artists he's incorporated in his cast of well-constructed people.

Over ten years ago, I fell in love with two books by Adrian Hyland featuring half-white, half aborigine, Emily Tempest, an amateur sleuth who solved a couple of crimes in the Australian Outback. Canticle Creek was published by Ultimo Press on 8th June 2023 and is available in hardcover, paperback and digital formats.Trying to help likeable young tearaway Adam Lawson find a better future, Northern Territory police woman, Jesse Redpath convinced a judge to suspend his sentence provided he took a job at the local roadhouse and a room at her father’s house nearby. Jesse’s an appealing protagonist, a thoughtful and capable and police officer, with investigative skills learnt from Danny Jakamarra, the Aboriginal Community Police Officer, whom she works with in Kulara.

I did enjoy this story very much, though I think at times the author got a bit carried away with technical jargon and “big word dropping” which I had no trouble understanding, but felt it was a bit unnecessary and over the top at times. This is a murder mystery that is set in Australia and is the first time I have read anything by this author.I liked the character of Possum, the teenage friend of the murdered woman, and the surprise of Nadia’s character. In terms of setting, Hyland draws on his experiences as a firefighter to provide the reader with a full-bodied overview of the harsh environment featured in Canticle Creek.