Deception Bay

A chilling and timely crime fiction debut, winner of the inaugural Allen & Unwin Crime Prize and perfect for fans of Chris Hammer’s Scrublands and Jane Harper’s The Dry. Moving back to her quiet coastal hometown in the wake of a catastrophically failed case in Melbourne, Senior Detective...

When Senior Detective Antigone Pollard moves to the coastal town of Deception Bay, she is still in shock and grief. Back in Melbourne, one of her cases had gone catastrophically wrong, and to escape the guilt and the haunting memories, she'd requested a transfer to the quiet town she'd grown up in. But there are some things you can't run from. A month into her new life, she is targeted by a would-be rapist at the pub, and realises why there have been no convictions following a spate of similar sexual attacks in the surrounding district.

Detective Antigone Pollard is fearless. Armed with a trained police dog, a black belt in judo, and the will to speak her mind, she faces opposition head-on. After six months, Antigone is feeling more settled in Deception Bay. Crime rates are down after a slow start to the summer holiday season, but when a distraught mother, Maddy Muir, calls the station to report her baby is missing, Antigone and Wozza begin a race against time to find the baby and the person who brazenly took him.