Candice Millard
The Nile River is the longest in the world. Its fertile floodplain allowed for rise to the great civilization of ancient Egypt, but for millennia the location of its headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Pharaonic and Roman attempts to find it were stymied by a giant labyrinthine swamp, and subsequent expeditions got no further. In the 19th century, the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone set off a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.

Two British men – Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke – were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was already famous for being the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain. He spoke twenty-nine languages, was a decorated soldier, and literally wrote the book on sword-fighting techniques for the British Army. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton’s opposite in temperament and beliefs.

From the start the two men clashed, Speke chafing under Burton’s command and Burton disapproving of Speke’s ignorance of the people whose lands through which they traveled. They would endure tremendous hardships, illness, and constant setbacks. Two years in, deep in the African interior, Burton became too sick to press on, but Speke did, and claimed he found the source in a great lake that he christened Lake Victoria. When they returned to England, Speke rushed to take credit, disparaging Burton. Burton disputed his claim, and Speke launched another expedition to Africa to prove it. The two became venomous enemies, with the public siding with the more charismatic Burton, to Speke’s great envy. The day before they were to publicly debate, Speke shot himself.

Robert Pobi
In Robert Pobi’s thriller Do No Harm , a series of suicides and accidental deaths in the medical community are actually well-disguised murders and only Lucas Page can see the pattern and discern the truth that no one else believes. Lucas Page is a polymath, astrophysicist, professor, husband, father of five adopted children, bestselling author, and ex-FBI agent―emphasis on “ex.”

Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on the rebuilding the rest of his life. But Page is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the F.B.I. knocking at his door again and again.

Lucas Page’s wife Erin loses a friend, a gifted plastic surgeon, to suicide and Lucas begins to realize how many people Erin knew that have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, Page begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there’s a pattern―a bad one. These deaths don’t make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer. This time, the FBI wants as little to do with Lucas as he does with them so he’s left with only one option―ignore it and go back to his normal life. But then, the pattern reveals that the next victim is likely to be…Erin herself.

Martin Cruz Smith
Martin Cruz Smith has written nine previous novels featuring Arkady Renko, one of modern detective fiction’s most popular characters. These novels, beginning with 1981’s international sensation Gorky Park, have collectively traced Russia’s evolution over the last half-century. Now, with Independence Square, Smith focuses on the fraught and frenzied days leading up to Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.

It’s June 2021, and Arkady knows that Russia is preparing to invade and subsequently annex Ukraine as it did Crimea in 2014. He is, however, preoccupied with other grievances. His longtime lover, Tatiana Petrovna, has deserted him for her work as an investigative reporter. His corrupt boss has relegated him to a desk job. And he is having trouble with his dexterity and balance. A visit to his doctor reveals that these are symptoms for Parkinson’s Disease.

This is an ingenious autobiographical conceit, as Martin Cruz Smith has Parkinson’s, and is able through Arkady to movingly describe his own experience with the disease. Parkinson’s hasn’t stopped Smith from his work, and neither does it stop Arkady. Rather than dwell on his diagnosis, he throws himself into another case.

An acquaintance has asked him to find his daughter, Karina, an anti-Putin activist who has disappeared. In the course of the investigation, Arkady falls for Karina’s roommate, Elena, a Tatar from Ukraine. The search leads them to Kyiv, where rumblings of an armed conflict grow louder. Later, in Crimea, Tatiana reemerges to complicate Arkady’s new romance. And as he gets closer to locating Karina, Arkady discovers something that threatens his life as well as the lives of both Elena and Tatiana.

Annie Seaton
Happily working on her family’s macadamia farm in the rolling hills of northern New South Wales, Dee Peters receives an enigmatic letter hinting of family secrets, and the prospect of her inheriting a cattle station in the Northern Territory outback. Torn in many directions: the request that she meet with a solicitor in Darwin, the evasive behaviour of her parents and the opposition of family friend and her—almost—fiancé, Rodney Andrews, Dee’s contented life is suddenly thrown into turmoil.

The last thing she expects is to inherit a sprawling cattle station in the rugged outback, but she travels to the Territory to find the truth of the inheritance. Intrigued by the vague hints of the elderly solicitor, Dee decides to stay on the station for six months while she attempts to make sense of the past.
Ryan Carey, long-time manager of Wilderness Springs cattle station, has lived on the station since he was adopted by childless owners, Ray and Betty Murphy. Devastated when he discovers the property has not been bequeathed to him, the last thing Ryan expects is the arrival of a woman, and one who is keen to take over the running of the property. With reluctance, he agrees to work with Dee, but as she tries to make sense of why the property was left to her, a chilling secret from the past will shock them both.
As Dee and Ryan attempt to uncover the secrets of Wilderness Springs, it soon becomes very clear that someone will do anything to stop them discovering the truth.
Set on a remote cattle station west of Kakadu National Park, this is a thrilling mystery about hidden family secrets and finding love in the harsh Australian outback.

Annie Seaton
At a crossroads in her life, Sandra Porter knows she must find the courage to find her true self. She has lost her husband in tragic circumstances, and seen each of her adult children overcome adversity. Deciding it’s time to push her boundaries, she makes a booking to trek the Larapinta Walk across the centre of the remote Northern Territory.

World renowned nature photographer, Graysen Hughes has come to the outback seeking solace after the death of his wife. Always a loner, Graysen isn’t happy when the tour guide insists on the participants walking in pairs. At least Sandra Porter is quiet and keeps to herself.

After a suspicious accident and the sudden disappearance of their guide, the group struggles on, but then another accident occurs. It soon becomes obvious that someone doesn’t want them to complete the trek. Without any means to call for help, Graysen and Sandra flee into the bush in an attempt to stay safe.

Can they survive the wilderness in the heat and the rugged conditions, and can they both keep their hearts intact as they learn to rely on each other?

Kelly Rimmer
1970—In the aftermath of his war-ravaged past, Noah Ainsworth is still haunted by memories of his time as a fearless British operative in France. But a critical head injury left Noah with frustrating memory gaps and a burning question that plagues him—who was the agent who saved his life during that tragic final mission?

Determined to find answers, Noah’s daughter Charlotte embarks on a quest from their cozy home in Liverpool, leading her to the incredible lives of two ordinary women—Chloe and Fleur—who transformed into fearless spies on foreign soil. But as Charlotte unravels the heroic exploits of these women and their connection to Noah, she inadvertently stumbles upon evidence of a double agent lurking disturbingly close to home, drawing her into a treacherous web of secrets and unearthing a shocking story from those final days of the war.

Once again, Kelly Rimmer takes readers on a gripping journey, one that threads the lives of two remarkable women into the fabric of history, unveiling the power of courage, family and the indelible mark left by the darkest era of human conflict.