Gunnawah

Ronni Salt

$32.99

Paperback

In stock
Ready to ship

QTY:

English

Hachette Australia
05 January 2025

Crime & Mystery; Australian Crime Fiction

ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Adelaide Hoffman applies to work at the local Riverina newspaper run by the eccentric but canny Valdene Bullark, who is still mourning the loss of her beloved husband Colin (who was killed in an unsolved hit and run a couple of years ago).

It's 1974, Adelaide is nineteen, a country girl who can do almost anything on the family farm, but since leaving school has avoided people – so to take on a job that involves getting out and about is a big step. Gunnawah is about to benefit from the announcement of an expansion in irrigation pipelines, and whilst covering a routine whistlestop tour of the farms conducted by the local mayor and the local member, Adelaide notices something strange – and decides to investigate further.

This is an entertaining rural crime novel, with well-sketched colourful characters and a pacy narrative line. Lindy

It's 1974 in the Riverina . . . The weather is hot . . . But the body in the Murray River is stone cold . . .

A captivating and compulsive crime thriller about guns, drugs and a young woman dead on the money.

When nineteen-year-old farmgirl Adelaide Hoffman applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, she sees it as her ticket out of a life too small for her. The paper's owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide, puts her straight to work.

What starts as a routine assignment covering an irrigation project soon puts Adelaide on the trail of a much bigger story. Water is money in farming communities, and when Adelaide starts asking questions, it's like she's poked a bull ant's nest. Someone will do whatever it takes to stop Adelaide and Val finding out how far the river of corruption and crime runs.

Shady deals. Vested interests. A labyrinth of lies. It seems everyone in Gunnawah has a secret to keep. And too many are already dead quiet.

Set deep in the heart of rural Australia during the era of Gough Whitlam, pub brawls and flared jeans, Gunnawah is a compulsive crime thriller of corruption, guns and drugs from Australian Noir's most arresting new voice.

Praise:

This compelling rural crime story, embedded in the politically charged Australia of the 1970s, will intrigue fans of Margaret Hickey, Richard Osman and Lainie Anderson.' BOOKS+PUBLISHING

'A classic Aussie crime novel arrives, like a full-throttle ute through a fence. I gobbled it up like a Pine Lime Splice on a hot day.' KAZ COOKE

'It's amazing to see what Ronni Salt can do when she's freed of a 280-character word limit.' SHAUN MICALLEF

By: Ronni Salt
Imprint: Hachette Australia
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 300g
ISBN: 9780733652905
ISBN 10: 0733652905
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 05 January 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Ronni Salt is a political and media commentator with a rural and legal background and a strong interest in environmental issues. She hails from the Riverina and much prefers dogs to people. Gunnawah is her debut novel. Ronni Salt is a pseudonym.