In a way I felt the mystery itself, whilst certainly intriguing, played a secondary role in this thriller. I revelled in the vivid way Adrian Hyland presents the cast of various characters amongst the local residents, with the tensions and hidden conflicts between them. Jesse herself is a very cool character – strong and feisty, flawed in some ways, but with a profound sense of justice (I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side!) Canticle Creek is headed by bush cop Jesse Redpath, who is compelled to delve into a case involving a murder in her community base. With questions surrounding truth, lies and blame, this is a conflicting case. With tensions reaching an all time high in this tiny rural Victorian community, Jesse is determined to expose the truth. But Jesse meets plenty of contention from the local community and it becomes clear that there are secrets that some people of this town want to stay buried in the past. When mother nature unleashes itself on the local community, there is further stress placed on this strained township. Can Jesse help prevent Canticle Creek from total eruption?

Adrian Hyland is the award-winning author of Diamond Dove, Gunshot Roadand Kinglake-350, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for non-fiction in 2012.His books have been published internationally, including in Britain and the US, and translated into a variety of languages, including German, French, Swedish and Czech.When Jesse sees an invitation to a National Gallery exhibition in Melbourne, she notices that two of the featured landscapes are one of her father’s and one by the late Kenji Takada. The title of Takada’s is ‘Canticle Creek’, the place Adam’s body was found. To some Australia retains the image of harsh man’s world, but here it is strong, determined women who make the difference. Jesse, Nadia, and Possum follow Daisy’s lead and are more perceptive to what is going on and when it really matters possess the necessary courage. Brute strength is not always the answer, sometimes you need to listen to the message and act upon it before time ultimately runs out. Hyland has placed an enigmatic female lead at the helm of his new novel Canticle Creek. Jesse is passionate, observant, methodical, determined and skilled. Jesse is also a flawed lead which makes her very likeable. It didn’t take long for me to warm to Jesse and become fully invested in her journey. Jesse interacts with a good number of secondary cast members, who add conflict and interest to this spiralling tale. Hyland places emphasis on his characters and he works hard to zone in on their actions for a good deal of this novel. At times I did fall into the trap of confusing some of the protagonists, which did hamper my overall response to this one.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Canticle Creek. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.Australian crime fiction really is at the top of its game as a genre of quality, in my opinion. The bar has been set high and our authors are clearing it with room to spare. Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland was such a compelling read. With its sophisticated plot and well fleshed out characters, I raced through this one, reluctant to put it down, thinking about it all the while when I wasn’t reading it. The main characters were all realistic and easy to like and the villains were all suitably convincing – particularly the main perpetrator who really had me fooled with his artful misdirection! But through Jesse’s descriptions, Hyland also brings the landscape to life. After driving through a “dust tumbled” landscape where the gravel road glows “like a ribbon of magnesium”, Jesse is brought to a small waterhole: