Since Alan Auhl came out of retirement the young detectives call him a retread. Some days he feels like one. Cheaply slapped together. Just about guaranteed to wear down quickly.

But he does things his own way and gets results—even if his cases are a bit colder now.

Like the skeleton that's just been found under a concrete slab. Or the old farmer, dead five years, whose daughters still don't believe it was an accident. Or the doctor who's murdered two wives and a girlfriend and left no evidence at all.

Auhl will stick with these cases until justice is done. One way or another.

Garry Disher has published fifty titles—fiction, children's books, anthologies, textbooks, the Wyatt thrillers and the Peninsula Crimes series. His previous standalone novel, Bitter Wash Road, won the German Crime Prize in 2016.

'Peter Temple and Garry Disher will be identified as the crime writers who redefined Australian crime fiction in terms of its form, content and style.' Age

'A top-class writer.' Times

'Garry Disher deserves his reputation as one of Australia's finest crime writers.' Stuff NZ

'Disher is a master of concise writing, concise but not spare...A good solid page-turner.' Otago Daily Times

'Well-crafted and leanly written, this tense novel grips from beginning to end.' Canberra Weekly

'The reader is taken on a breathtaking ride...[Disher's] characters, vivid prose and settings are wonderful.' ReadPlus

'Victorian crime fiction king Garry Disher is a literary machine...Bring on the next case.' Herald Sun

'One of the most engaging aspects of Disher's writing is the way he evokes a sense of place, and Melbourne and its surrounds are just as much a part of the story as any of the characters. He is also a master of intrigue; his characters often walk a fine line between what is considered inside and outside the law—and Alan Auhl is no exception.' Good Reading

'There are many twists to a tale that opens with one of those closely observed vignettes of outer suburban life that Disher does so well...It's a riveting opening scene, setting in motion just one of the cases with which the amiable Auhl will deal in the most cathartic of ways.' Age