THE
Milliner
OF BENDIGO
Trouble with the law, a missing sister - Evie Emerson has a dangerous path ahead of her
OUT NOW! Released 29.11.2023
At your favourite book stores
The Milliner of Bendigo Trailer
Thank you to Four Point Films for this videography masterpiece.
1898: Bendigo, Victoria
Evie Emerson has worked hard to build a fashionable clientele for her hats in the booming city of Bendigo. But when an ex-paramour employs underhanded tactics after his attempt to coerce an engagement fails, Evie’s reputation is in tatters. On the heels of having to put a case together to defend herself in court, Evie’s life is thrown into further turmoil when the disappearance of her sister takes her to Cobram.
Roving reporter Fitzmorgan O’Shea has troubles of his own: his involvement in uncovering police corruption has placed a target on his back. And while Fitz is hunting a new story in Cobram his problems collide with Evie’s when his research exposes malicious intimidation and threats designed to make local landholders give up their properties.
For Raffety Dolan, he accepted long ago it’s Fitz Evie loves – and his feelings will remain unrequited. But when a disgraced ex-policeman comes searching for revenge, Raff is ready to step in and save his friends.
There, on the banks of the mighty Murray, with so much misunderstood history and secrets between the three friends plus the legitimate threat of being shot at – will they survive long enough to discover the truth?
THE FORTHRIGHT
Woman
Released 30th Nov 2022
Widow Marcella Ross won't let anything – or anyone - stop her from discovering the truth behind a deadly family mystery...
A compelling historical adventure from a bestselling Australian author.
1898, South Australia
At the gateway to the Flinders Ranges lies Kanyaka Station, once a thriving sheep and cattle property, now abandoned and in ruins. But a discovery in her late mother’s papers draws recently widowed Marcella Ross out to its remote landscape in search of clues to the disappearance of her Uncle Luca, an Italian immigrant whose fate seems to have been bound up in that of his mysterious partner – also long-since vanished. When Marcella is nearly run over by a daunting stranger, she discovers he too is entangled in the secrets of the past. When tragedy and obsession threaten Marcella’s fragile independence, how far will she have to go to unlock the secrets of Kanyaka – or solve the puzzle of her own future?
1955
After learning that they are unlikely to have children, Frances and Joe MacDonald have taken the unusual step of buying a caravan and travelling together through the outback. They stop at Kanyaka Station, where Fran becomes mesmerised by the past. Family lore holds that an ancestor met an untimely end amid the desolate ruins. But what truly happened, and to whom, at the isolated station? As fate alters the course of her life, Fran's footsteps echo another woman's from so long ago ...
As the mystery unravels, will these two women have the chance to take control of their own destinies?
Big thanks to Four Point Films & Co once again for the fab book trailer. Amazing; I love it. Thanks also to
Classic Carriage Drives - Libby and Indiana, and to the the wonderful site that is Kanyaka ruins, South Australia
Buy The Forthright Woman now from your favourite stores!
THE PRODIGAL
Sister
Released 1st December, 2021
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"Headstrong Prudence North faces a dangerous blackmailer who threatens her family and her dreams of escaping domestic drudgery. An enthralling historical mystery from a bestselling Australian author."
1900 Melbourne, Victoria. Miss Prudence North is freshly returned from university in Scotland and determined to find her place among the male-dominated world of the new forensic sciences when a high-ranking policeman waylays her. He threatens to charge her father for illegal medical practices unless she helps him build a case against local landowner Jasper Darke by spying on him.
With her sister’s illness worsening, if their income disappears, Prudence will have to take on nursing and domestic duties and she’ll never have the freedom she craves. Prudence has no choice but to agree.
Immediately taken with the enigmatic Jasper Darke, a seemingly good and honest man, Prudence can’t see what nefarious activities she’s meant to be reporting on. She’ll have to get closer…
But when a body turns up at her father’s surgery, the forensics reveal to Prudence there’s more going on about all this than meets the eye. It’s clear it’s up to her to uncover the truth – of this murder, of whatever’s going on at the surgery after hours and, especially, of the intriguing Jasper Darke… Her life, her family and her future rely on it.
Buy The Prodigal Sister now from your favourite stores!
THE LAST
Truehart
Released 2 December, 2020
A woman alone and a charismatic private detective are caught up in a dangerous quest to discover her true identity in this thrilling historical adventure romance set in 19th century Victoria.
1898, Geelong, Victoria. Stella Truehart is all alone in the world. Her good-for-nothing husband has died violently at the hands of an unknown assailant. Her mother is dead, her father deserted them before she was born, and now her kindly Truehart grandparents are also in their graves.
Private detective Bendigo Barrett has been tasked with finding Stella. He believes his client's intentions are good, but it is evident that someone with darker motives is also seeking her. For her own part Stella is fiercely independent, but as danger mounts she agrees to work with Bendigo and before long they travel together to Sydney to meet his mysterious client where they discover more questions than answers.
What role do a stolen precious jewel and a long-ago US Civil War ship play in Stella's story? Will sudden bloodshed prevent the resolution of the mystery and stand in her way ?
Is it time, at last, for the truth to be revealed?
Thanks to: Tee Fraser for the sketch of the jewel, to 'Stella'; Melissa Richardson, to Old Tailem Town, South Australia, and once again to Paul & Dion from Four Point Films
Elsa Goody
Bushranger
Released 2 May, 2020
1896 Robe, South Australia: A rollicking tale from bestselling Australian story-teller, Darry Fraser
When Elsa Goody's father and brother die in quick succession she and her sister Rosie are in trouble. Pursued by an unpleasant suitor with dubious motivation, Elsa leaves for Victoria on the hunt for a fortune in gold coins that her brother has hidden. If Elsa can find it she will be able to save Rosie and herself from married slavery.
Their quest leads them on a cross-country journey to find the last man who saw her brother alive, Ezekiel Jones. But Elsa is not the only one looking for buried treasure. She and Rosie are beset by bushrangers and in the confusion Elsa is accused of being an accomplice. Luckily not everyone believes that Elsa is a criminal. When she finally catches up with Ezekiel, it's clear that for him she can do no wrong.
But with everyone chasing her and bloody violence on the horizon, life is becoming increasingly complicated. Will she and Rosie ever manage to solve the mystery, find the gold and free themselves from a dark future?
Thanks to Paul & Dion from Four Point Films for a fab little movie and soundtrack, and to Kelsey, and Max the steed