AustLit

'Beneath the palm tree she'd perished like a stone fruit amongst the leaves and insects: her flesh bruised a variety of shades, from black through to yellow; her facial features, for all their lovely detail, completely indistinguishable. Look what happened to me, I could hear her say. This is what they did to me.

'In February 2005, German backpacker Simone Strobel went missing in Lismore, New South Wales. Six days later her naked body was discovered, crudely hidden beneath a palm tree. At the inquest into her death the police stated their belief that her boyfriend, Tobias Suckfuell, had killed her, although he has never been charged with any offence concerning Simone.

'Writer Virginia Peters was captivated by the case, and committed herself to uncovering the truth. With the agreement of the police, she analysed the evidence, uncovered new lines of investigation and travelled to Germany to interview the couple's families and friends. Ultimately, she tracked down and questioned Suckfuell himself, who remained the prime suspect.

'Having become intimately involved in the case, Peters came to understand that the story of Simone Strobel's murder was about much more than the crime itself or the investigation that followed. Written with great honesty and self-awareness, and with echoes of Joe Cinque's Consolation, Have You Seen Simone? explores grief and loss, truth and accountability, and asks whether justice in this case can ever be done.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'When David's 11-year-old nephew goes missing and he finds the finger pointed at him, he has no choice but to strike out on his own – an unlikely vigilante running away from the police and his own family, and running towards what he hopes desperately is the truth about Andrew's disappearance.

David Kingsgrove is a man on a mission. An ordinary man – and an extraordinary mission. It is a mission that will turn him into someone he never thought he would be: the King of the Road, the loner on the highway, the crusader for a sort of justice he has never before had to seek.

Andrew had been a regular visitor to David's home right up until the day he disappeared, walking out the front door to visit a neighbour. It doesn't take long for the police to decide that David – a single man in his thirties, living alone – is their suspect. Soon Andrew's parents will share that opinion. But David knows that he didn't take Andrew.

Realising that the only way Andrew will be found is if he finds him – the police, after all, are fixated on David as their suspect and are not looking anywhere else – David turns to the one person who he knows will help him: Matty an ex-cop now his personal trainer, whose own son disappeared several years before.

David's crusade to find Andrew will also take him into his own dark heart – to do things he never thought he would have to do, and go places he has never wanted to go. And the choices David makes lead us all to ask: How far would I go to save someone I love?

This is a compelling story that is almost impossible to stop reading – a hero's journey, of sorts, with a momentum that is breathtaking even while the subject matter is confronting.' (Random House Australia)

'A true crime classic, the bestselling Huckstepp investigates the murder of a charismatic woman who has fascinated Australians since she first appeared on national television to accuse NSW detectives of shooting her boyfriend in cold blood. Throughout her short life, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp lived a dangerous existence.

'This is a true story, brilliantly told, of a courageous woman who spoke out against corruption and murder.'

Source : publisher's blurb