Crime

The Mistake

by Wendy James
Ligature finest
genre Crime · Literary Fiction · Mystery

Jodie Garrow’s life isn’t perfect, but she’s come a long way—a beautiful house in the middle of town, two children, a successful husband readying a run for mayor. She could almost forget that one mistake, years ago, that could have cost her everything: an unwise affair, an unwanted pregnancy, an adoption arrangement that wasn’t entirely by the book.

But a chance reunion leads to disaster: a police investigation, a media storm, a search for a missing child, allegations of murder—and a reckoning with everyone in Jodie’s life. Suddenly it seems she could lose everything she’s worked so hard to build. Can she prove her innocence? What is the truth, and does it even matter?

The Mistake is an acclaimed thriller of buried secrets, the lies we tell each other and ourselves—and what we become when we smell blood in the water.

The Lost Girls

by Wendy James
Ligature finest
genre Crime · Literary Fiction

Summer, Sydney, 1978. Jane is in awe of her older cousin: Angie’s only fourteen, but she’s already making waves in their tight beachside community with the promise of who she’s about to be.

But Angie is murdered, devastating Jane and shattering her family. They retreat into a broken silence, unable to come to terms with the horror of a life cut so short.

Thirty years later, Jane has a family of her own—but she still feels the pull of that old tragedy. When a reporter with an agenda turns up asking questions, Jane can finally give voice to her emotions—but the picture that emerges is even darker and more troubling than she had recognised.

As the truth comes into terrible focus, Jane is forced to question everything she once believed—and fight to hold onto whatever is left.

Out of the Silence

by Wendy James
Ligature finest
genre Crime · Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction

The dawn of the 20th century brings three remarkable women into each other’s orbit. Maggie Heffernan is a spirited country girl whose betrayal sends her spiralling into desperation and tragedy. Vida Goldstein is a suffragist about to make political history. And Elizabeth Hamilton, heartbroken after the death of her fiancé and hoping for a new life in a new country, brings them together with her grace and empathy as she searches for justice and mercy.
Out of the Silence weaves historical fact with poetic invention in a captivating story of hope and ambition, regret and consolation, and the quest to right personal and political wrongs.

The Hanging of Jean Lee

by Jordie Albiston
Ligature untapped
genre Crime · Poetry

In 1951, Jean Lee was Australia’s last woman hanged. Award-winning poet Jordie Albiston’s acclaimed verse novel puts this woman’s tragic story within the context of her times.

‘As one might expect, it is a grim, tough story of the deterioration of a young woman’s life and its brutal end. It is divided into four sections with deliberately cold-hearted titles: Personal Pages, Entertainment Section, Crime Supplement and Death Notices. The Hanging of Jean Lee is economically and imaginatively conceived with a strong narrative drive. In a series of short connected poems, Jordie Albiston has made a heart-breaker out of her material, ringing the verse changes, using rhyme and blank verse in short chopped lines, colloquial language, reportage, and newspaper headlines with considerable skill.’ — Dorothy Hewett, Australian Book Review, 1999.

First published in 1998, The Hanging of Jean Lee was adapted for music-theatre and performed at the Sydney Opera House by a group of singers and musicians brought together for the purpose.

Jordie Albiston has published six collections of poetry. Nervous Arcs (1995), her debut, won the Mary Gilmore Award and The Sonnet According to M (2009) won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. Her most recent work is Fifteeners(2021). She received the Patrick White award in 2019.

Murder in the Frame

by Dave Warner
Ligature untapped
genre Crime

Former rock star turned sleuth, Andrew ‘The Lizard’ Zirk, is back. This time he’s been invited to the short film festival, TropFest, and of course murder is on the program. First published in 1998, Murder in the Frame is the second in a three part series of whodunnits that read like a cross between Agatha Christie and Carl Hiaasen.

Dave Warner is an award-winning author, screenwriter and musician. He won the Western Australian Premier’s Award for Fiction in 1996 for City of Light (1995), the Ned Kelly Award for Best Australian Crime Fiction in 2017 for Before it Breaks (2015) and is a member of the WA Rock and Roll of Renown (1992). In 2015, he was named a Western Australian State Living Treasure. For more information visit davewarner.com.au.

Murder in the Groove

by Dave Warner
Ligature untapped
genre Crime

When Australia’s most successful and least liked musician is found dead, it looks like an overdose. But his roadie is dead too, and there are a lot of suspects. First published in 1998 and featuring the country’s most unlikely sleuth—ex-rock star Andrew ‘The Lizard’ Zirk—Murder in the Groove is the first in a three part series of whodunnits that read like a cross between Agatha Christie and Carl Hiaasen.

Murder in the Off-Season

by Dave Warner
Ligature untapped
genre Crime

Ex-rock star turned sleuth Andrew ‘The Lizard’ Zirk goes on a romantic island getaway with his chauffeur, Fleur. There are only two problems: they’re joined by a recently defeated football team—and murder. First published in 2000, Murder in the Off-Season is the final in a three part series of whodunnits that read like a cross between Agatha Christie and Carl Hiaasen.

Dave Warner is an award-winning author, screenwriter and musician. He won the Western Australian Premier’s Award for Fiction in 1996 for City of Light (1995), the Ned Kelly Award for Best Australian Crime Fiction in 2017 for Before it Breaks (2015), is a member of the WA Rock and Roll of Renown (1992). In 2015, he was named a Western Australian State Living Treasure. For more information visit davewarner.com.au.

Crime

The Mistake

The Lost Girls

Out of the Silence

The Hanging of Jean Lee

Murder in the Frame

Murder in the Groove

Murder in the Off-Season

Crosskill

Deathdeal

Paydirt

Satchel

Digest