***ONE OF _THE TIMES_ BEST CRIME BOOKS OF 2021*** *** WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST CRIME NOVEL *** *** THE _SUNDAY TIMES _CRIME CLUB STAR PICK *** 'A SUPERB CHRONICLER OF COP CULTURE' - _SUNDAY TIMES_ 'The greatness of Garry Disher' IAN RANKIN 'The equal of Joseph Wambaugh and James Lee Burke' - _THE TIMES_ ________________________________________ SMALL CRIMES CAN HAVE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES Winter in Tiverton, and Constable Paul Hirschhausen has a snowdropper on his patch. Someone is stealing women's underwear, and Hirsch knows how that kind of crime can escalate. Then two calls come in: a child abandoned in a caravan, filthy and starving. And a man on the rampage at the primary school. Hirsch knows how things like that can escalate, too. An absent father who isn't where he's supposed to be; another who flees to the back country armed with a rifle. Families under pressure can break. But it's always a surprise when the killing starts. A HUGELY ATMOSPHERIC POLICE PROCEDURAL SET IN THE DUST OF THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK. PERFECT FOR READERS OF JANE HARPER, CHRIS HAMMER AND DERVLA MCTIERNAN. ________________________________________ 'DISHER IS THE GOLD STANDARD FOR RURAL NOIR' - CHRIS HAMMER 'The Hirsch novels are Disher's finest work' - DOMINIC NOLAN 'This is a book that cannot be praised enough. Read it' - _HERALD SUN_ 'Peter Temple and Garry Disher will be identified as the crime writers who redefined Australian crime fiction' - _SYDNEY MORNING HERALD_