AustLit

'In a small rural community north-west of Sydney, park ranger, Cal Nyx, finds a badly decomposed body in the bush. When the remains are identified as someone she once knew, the police treat her as a suspect. Cal, a tough and canny woman, needs to find the killer and convince the police of her innocence.

'When it turns out the victim was wanted in relation to a previous murder, the case takes a complicated turn. And with family issues bubbling away in the background, Cal starts to feel the heat. 

'To make matters worse, Cal has a difficult history, and when the police start probing into her private life, she finds herself in a race against the clock to solve the crime. 

'But the murderer has Cal in their sights, and she has a choice to make…

'Catch a killer or do right by her family?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'They say the land is poisoned here. That's two dead reptiles in one month, she thought. A shingle back and now a baby brown snake. Maybe it came out of hibernation and got cold last night. She picked it up with a small branch, pulling upwards to disentangle its coiled tail from the grass runners. It hung over the stick, its body barely as wide as her fingernail and maybe eight or nine inches long, faultless, not a mark anywhere. She should take it home, or to WIRES or Parks and Wildlife. Why was it dead? It was so entire and perfect...' (Publication abstract)