Description
A deadbeat dad. A curious boy. A journo drowning in the past ... and a town full of secrets. Can the truth ever be found in a town called Treachery?
One of a kind Malcolm Knox
The best journo-noir debut since Scrublands ... Mesmerising authenticity Jack Heath
Comes alive on the page Hayley Scrivenor
A brutal murder in a town called Treachery? Its a story most journos would kill for, but for Stuart Dryden, its a major inconvenience. He didnt take the gig at the local rag for its bustling crime beat. Hed sacrifice a career-making story for happy hour at the pub, but not even he can let a grisly murder through to the keeper. Especially when he keeps getting scooped by a persistent kid with a disposable Kodak.
Lifes tough for eleven-year-old Matty Finnerty. His mothers gone, his fathers gone most of the time and, as hard as he tries, he just cant get the kids at school to like him. When his favourite teacher Wendy Millburn turns up dead on the beach, it puts his dad Robbie in the crosshairs of a town that never liked him anyway. Worse than the bricks through the window, the dead animals on the lawn and the fish heads in the mailbox is the fact no one seems to be looking for the killer.
Matty starts to wonder whether Robbie knew Wendy better than hes let on. He needs a hero, and Dryden will have to do - that is, if he can just stay sober for a night or two. He might even cast off the ghosts of his own past.
As they stumble their way to answers, can they find the truth about Wendy - and what theyre really made of?
Praise for A Town Called Treachery
One of a kind ... A coming-of-age story, a crime investigation and a gripping dark drama brought to life with affection, humour and sharp insight Malcolm Knox