Wimmera

Small town. Big Secret.

An unforgettable debut that brings the darkness in an Australian country town vividly to life as it slowly reveals its devastating secrets.

In the long, hot summer of 1989, Ben and Fab are best friends. Growing up in a small country town, they spend their days playing cricket, yabbying in local dams, wanting a pair of Nike Air Maxes and not talking about how Fab's dad hits him or how the sudden death of Ben's next-door neighbour unsettled him. Almost teenagers, they already know some things are better left unsaid.

Then a newcomer arrives in the Wimmera. Fab reckons he is a secret agent, and he and Ben stake him out. Up close, the man's shoulders are wide and the veins in his arms stuck out, blue and green. His hands are enormous, red and knotty. He looks strong. Maybe even stronger than Fab's dad. Neither realises the shadow this man would cast over both their lives.

Twenty years later Fab is still stuck in town, going nowhere but hoping for somewhere better. Then a body is found in the river, and Fab can't ignore the past any more.

Wimmera is the 2016 Winner of the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger.