Patricia Cornwell
In this thrilling new installment of Patricia Cornwell’s #1 bestselling series, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds herself a reluctant star witness in a sensational televised murder trial causing chaos in Old Town Alexandria with the threat of violent protests.

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has just inherited one of the most notorious cases of her career. Two years ago, a former beauty queen’s body washed up on the shore of Wallops Island, Virginia. She was last seen on a boat with her fiancé, who has since been held in jail while awaiting trial.

Scarpetta must act as the expert witness for the case—an investigation previously botched by another forensic pathologist. After a grueling cross-examination by the prosecutor, Scarpetta leaves the court only to discover that the sister of the judge on her case has been found dead.

Scarpetta ultimately finds herself facing a powerful, invisible enemy who’s planning the unthinkable . . .

Michael Connelly
A year has passed since LAPD detective Renée Ballard quit the force in the face of misogyny, demoralisation and endless red tape. Yet after the chief of police himself tells her she can write her ticket within the department, Ballard takes back her badge, leaving ‘the Late Show’ to rebuild the cold case unit at the elite Robbery-Homicide Division.

For years, Harry Bosch has been working a case that haunts him but that he hasn’t been able to crack – the murder of an entire family by a psychopath who still walks free. Ballard makes Bosch an offer: come work with her as a volunteer investigator in the new Open-Unsolved Unit, and he can pursue his ‘white whale’ with the resources of the LAPD behind him.

Tom Keneally
The central character is John Mitchel, a Presbyterian and a lawyer, an asthmatic and a reformer and an influential journalist who was born and raised in largely Catholic Ireland. You can look him up on Wikipedia, but Fanatic Heart makes better reading and arguably does more justice to the man and his wife Jenny.

Along with Mitchel the reader experiences Ireland during the potato famine, an Ireland under horrendous British rule. For his outspoken journalism and championship of Irish independence, Mitchel is sentenced to 14 years transportation: ‘The Treason Felony Act of 1848 had declared that it was a statutory offence punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment even to “imagine” let alone “compass or devise” that the British monarchy would ever lose sovereignty over Ireland, or any other part of Her Dominions.’

Thus, Mitchel is sent to Bermuda for a period before ending up in Tasmania, known at the time as Van Diemen’s Land. His treatment as a prisoner is surprisingly lenient compared to what one may imagine from the history books, perhaps because he is a political prisoner and not someone who has stolen a loaf of bread.

Christine Courtenay
Bryce Courtenay was a born storyteller. The success of his extraordinary debut The Power of One made publishing history, and in the years that followed Bryce continued to entertain and inspire thousands of devoted readers around the world with his sweeping epics and larger-than-life characters who embody the strength and triumph of the human condition.

What kind of man did it take to conjure these tales? What kind of life?
When Christine Courtenay began penning her own memoir during lockdown, she found herself increasingly drawn to the remarkable story of her late husband’s life and reflecting upon his astonishing literary legacy. From his humble beginnings in Africa to his dazzling success in advertising and as a bestselling author, Bryce’s extraordinary, rags-to-riches life story reads like one of his epic novels. It was a life marked by all the big themes – overcoming adversity, love, loss, hard-won success, fame and fortune, and holding tight to a dream.
In this telling Christine uncovers the events that shaped the man behind the stories – a man complex, driven and unfailingly positive, who never lost sight of his childhood dream to be a writer. Candid, intimate and insightful, Bryce Courtenay: Storyteller is a fascinating, loving tribute to the life and work of Australia’s most beloved and enigmatic writer.

Ryan Butta
When Afghan entrepreneur Abdul Wade first brought his camel trains to the outback, he was hailed as a hero. Horses couldn’t access many remote settlements, especially those stricken by flood or drought, and camel trains rode to the rescue time and time again.

But with success came fierce opposition fuelled by prejudice. The camel was not even classed as an animal under Australian law, and in a climate of colonial misinformation, hyperbole and fear, camel drivers like Wade were shown almost as little respect. Yet all the while, for those in need, the ships of the desert continued to appear on the outback horizon.

After his interest was piqued by a 19th-century photo of a camel train in a country town, Ryan Butta soon found himself on the trail of Australia’s earliest Afghan camel drivers. Separating the bulldust from the bush poetry, he reveals the breadth and depth of white Australian protectionism and prejudice. Told with flair and authority, this gritty alternative history defies the standard horse-powered folklore to reveal the untold debt this country owes to the humble dromedary, its drivers and those who brought them here.