Peninsula Crimes

Summer on the Peninsula. The heat's ramping up, the usual holiday madness building. D.I. Hal Challis is already recycling his shower water and starting to dread Christmas. But this year there's something more. Women abducted and murdered on the Old Highway. A pall of fear over the scorched paddocks. The media are demanding answers - and Challis's sleepy beat is set to explode.

An unidentified man is fished out of the sea with an anchor strapped to his waist. And for D. I. Hal Challis, this sparks the beginning of a chilling series of shotgun killings. As Challis investigates, a farmer on the peninsula erupts into violence and is the target of a massive manhunt. And then Challis finds some aerial photographs in the possession of his friend Kitty that link her to the murders…

The neat suburban homes of the Peninsula seem like an improbable setting for sex parties, blackmail and murder. But when D.I. Hal Challis is called to investigate the murder of Janine McQuarrie – shot in a deserted country lane in front of her seven-year-old daughter – his progress is hampered by a web of lies and secrets. Everybody has something to hide, something to lose. And someone in Waterloo is determined to kill again.

Garry Disher crafts sharp police procedurals with a distinctive down-under flair. A young girl has been abducted on Australia's Mornington Peninsula and Sergeant Ellen Destry takes the case in Inspector Hal Challis' absence.

The winner of numerous prizes for his eclectic body of work, Garry Disher pens this razor-sharp police procedural from his popular Challis/Destry series. Now that they are lovers, Challis and Destry must guard their affections closely, for romantic relationships are against department regulations. This complicates matters as they investigate the brutal assault on a private school chaplain as well as the murder of a public official.

D.I. Hal Challis is in trouble with the boss and missing his lover, Ellen Destry, who is overseas. But there's plenty to keep his mind off his problems. A rapist in a police uniform stalks Challis's Peninsula beat, there is a serial armed robber headed in his direction and a home invasion that's a little too close to home. Not to mention a very clever, very mysterious female cat burglar who may or may not be planning something on Challis's patch.