Cyril Wong

Alicia Tuckerman

Jay Anderson

David Whish-Wilson

Rashida Murphy

Sabrina Dudgeon-Swift

Arin Alycia Fong

Jinny Koh

Marylyn Tan

Laurie Steed

Aishah Alhadad

Chen Cuifen

Diana Rahim

Heather Teo

Leslie Thiele

Rachelle Rechichi

Rajkumar Thiagaras

Choo Ruizhi

Tinashe Jakwa

Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes

Endangered tigers connecting telepathically through time-travel; a guard’s ethical dilemma at a history museum; a slaughterhouse worker’s memories of his dead wife; a monochrome town upended by a wild watermelon…

In This Desert, There Were Seeds is an intimate collection of past and future dreams, featuring exciting new and established literary voices from Western Australia and Singapore. From our shifting sense of community and identity, to our frustrations with existing political, social and economic structures—this anthology transcends boundaries and captures the persistence of ordinary lives in deserts literal and metaphorical.

In This Desert, There Were Seeds

Sawdust House

Coves

Line of Sight

…we rarely travel far to swim. We occasionally cross the river to Leighton or Cottesloe, where the white sand squeaks underfoot and the champagne foam in the shallows tingles the legs and fizzes over the shoreline and makes children giddy with delight … the cirrus clouds above the horizon often resemble passages of perfect cursive script written in soft white lines against the bluest page. David Whish-Wilson's Perth is a place where deeper historical currents are never far beneath the surface. Like the Swan River that can flow in two directions at once, Perth strikes perfect harmony with the city's contradictions and eccentricities. Whish-Wilson takes us beyond the near-constant sunshine, shiny glass facades, and boosterish talk of mining booms and the gloom after the bust. Lyrical and sensitive, he introduces his readers to the richness of the natural world and the trailblazers, the rebels, the occasional ghost and the ordinary people that bring Australia's remotest capital city to life. Carefully researched, full of personal reminiscences and eye-opening facts, this updated edition of Perth now has a remarkable new postscript. Here Whish-Wilson returns to the city's ghosts, and reflects on the place his children will inherit. '…what recommends Perth above all is the great generosity, inclusiveness and idiosyncrasy of its vision.' — Gail Jones, The Canberra Times 'Poetic and lyrical…' — Sally Webb, The Sydney Morning Herald 'What he has written is a book on Perth that attains at times to the status of poetry. Indeed, so rich and lyrical is Perth, so acute in its insights and adept in its composition, that (G K) Chesterton's paradox would appear well-founded.' — Richard King, The Australian 'Whish-Wilson has a shrewd eye for the quirky and the bizarre, but what recommends Perth above all is the great generosity, inclusiveness and idiosyncrasy of its vision.' — The Age

Perth, updated paperback edition

True West

Old Scores

For ex-detective Frank Swann, being on the outside of Western Australia's police force is the only way to get justice done. Perth in 1979 is a city of celebration and corruption. There are street parties, official glad-handing – even a royal visit – to commemmorate a century and a half since colonisation. But behind the festivities a new kind of land grab is going on, this time for mining leases. The price of gold is up, and few are incorruptible before its lure. When Swann is hired to probe the suicide of a well-regarded geologist, he's drawn into a mire of vice and fraud that has at its heart a lust for wealth that verges on a disease . . . By the author of the acclaimed Line of Sight, Zero at the Bone lifts the lid on Perth at the start of the mining boom to show a town where Chinatown meets Underbelly, and where the establishment and the lawless blend into one. 'Full of crooked cops, corrupt politicians and rapacious mining companies . . . I really enjoyed Zero at the Bone.' Michael Robotham 'Has all the economy, pace, unexpected humour and local colour we've come to expect from David Whish-Wilson. Highly recommended.' Adrian McKinty 'The plot is unexpected and intriguing, the action intense, but best of all is Whish-Wilson's ability to draw characters so familiar they could be next-door neighbours. Beautifully written ... An absorbing read and thoroughly recommended if you love a great story. You won't want to put this one down until the very last page.' West Australian 'Satisfying turns [hold] narrative interest in a complex plot... This heavily researched and painstaking attention to detail skilfully captures the essence of Perth in the late 1970s and bodes well for Whish Wilson.' ABR 'Zero at the Bone is a gritty and utterly absorbing read... I'll be going back for more.' Good Reading

Zero at the Bone

When a brothel madam is shot on a Perth golf course in 1975 it should be a routine murder enquiry. But it isn't. In fact there's barely an investigation at all, and Superintendent Swann thinks he knows why. Heroin is the new drug in town and the money is finding its way into some very respectable hands. It's the brave or the foolish who accuse their fellow cops of corruption, and sometimes not even Swann is sure which he is. Especially when those he's pointing the finger at have mates in every stronghold of power in the state – big business, organised crime, the government. He might have won the first round by forcing a royal commission, but the judge is an ailing patsy and the outcome seems predetermined. If that's not enough to contend with, Swann's teenage daughter has disappeared, he doesn't know whether she's alive or not, and the word on the street is he's a dead man walking. Line of Sight is classic crime noir, a tale of dark corruption set in a city of sun and heat. 'The novel is beautifully crafted. The characterisation is flawless and economical, the plot has a creeping intensity that grows greater and greater as it progresses to the unexpected conclusion.' The West Australian 'This is first rate crime noir.' Sun Herald 'This is hard-boiled and riveting writing, with a sense of place and urgency...A notable addition to Australia's crime-writing canon.' Crime Factory 'Gripping and well-constructed . . . A satisfying twist to the end of the tale.' The Advertiser

Before Gangland there were the scams of the '70s, when getting rich made life cheap

Ex-Cop und Privatdetektiv Frank Swann bekommt ein bizarres Job-Angebot – er soll für den »Ausputzer« des Premierministers von Western Australia den Ausputzer spielen und ein paar politische Ärgernisse beseitigen und sich vor allem um die Security kümmern. Im Grunde will Swann nur mit seiner Frau Marion und seinen Töchtern am Strand liegen, aber irgendwo muss das Geld ja herkommen. Außerdem sieht er die Möglichkeit, noch ein paar alte Rechnungen zu begleichen, denn im Haifischbecken von Perth tummeln sich nicht nur raffgierige Immobilienspekulanten, Drogendealer, ein irrer Bankräuber, bestechliche Politiker und Biker-Gangs, sondern auch jede Menge korrupter Polizisten. Genau die, die Frank Swann seinerzeit mit falschen Anschuldigungen aus dem Verkehr gezogen haben. Stoisch, lakonisch und effektiv macht sich Swann ans große Aufräumen ...

Kriminalroman

Das große Aufräumen

David Whish-Wilson

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