Skull River: In a fading gold town, the seams of violence run deep

By: Pip Fioretti

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Synopsis: 'I was like a man washed ashore on an island, half mad and only my warrant card and blood-soaked uniform to vouch for me. But I had to act as if I knew what the hell to do.' In Autumn of 1912, mounted trooper August Hawkins arrives at his new post in the fading gold town of Colley, NSW. On his first day, he is ambushed by a hidden gunman, his junior officer is killed before his eyes, and he escapes back to town to find the police station burning to the ground. Someone has it in for the mounted troopers. A traumatised veteran of the Boer War, and a stranger to Colley, Hawkins is deeply shaken and ill-equipped to solve the case. But with only green troopers and a drunken, incompetent detective available to hunt down the murderer, he is forced to take the lead. Soon he finds that Colley hides a lot more than gold beneath its surface, for anyone who knows where to dig. In Skull River, Gus Hawkins returns for a gripping and immersive hunt through a small town at the edge of a troubled empire. With black humour, Fioretti weaves a story that's both a cracking murder mystery and a razor-sharp portrayal of a country on the verge of transformation.