Peter Papathanasiou – författare

A pacy, twisting noir debut - the investigation into the brutal death of a women in a small Outback town

"Outback noir has a new star" MARK SANDERSON, The Times"Deliciously dark" ALISON FLOOD, Guardian"Outback noir with the noir dialled right up. I loved it." CHRIS HAMMER"Political crime fiction of the highest order" JOAN SMITH, The Sunday TimesA small town in outback Australia wakes to an appalling crime.A local schoolteacher is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion instantly falls on the refugees at the new detention centre on Cobb's northern outskirts. Tensions are high, between whites and the local indigenous community, between immigrants and the townies.Still mourning the recent death of his father, Detective Sergeant George Manolis returns to his childhood hometown to investigate. Within minutes of his arrival, it's clear that Cobb is not the same place he left. Once it thrived, but now it's a poor and derelict dusthole, with the local police chief it deserves. And as Manolis negotiates his new colleagues' antagonism, and the simmering anger of a community destroyed by alcohol and drugs, the ghosts of his past begin to flicker to life.Vivid, pacy and almost dangerously atmospheric, The Stoning is the first in a new series of outback noir featuring DS Manolis, himself an outsider, and a good man in a world gone to hell.

By the author of THE STONING ("Crime debut of the year" The Times) - a fresh and distinctive new voice in Outback Noir

"Outback noir has a new star" The TimesBurnt-out from policework, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage."A brilliant new name in Australian crime" Weekend AustralianOn arrival, Manolis learns of the disappearance of an 'invisible' - a local man who lives without a scrap of paperwork. The police and some locals believe the man's disappearance was pre-planned, while others suspect foul play. Reluctantly, Manolis agrees to work undercover to find the invisible, and must navigate the complicated relationships of a tiny village where grudges run deep."Papathanasiou writes unsparingly, confidently, and compellingly" The QuietusIt soon becomes clear to Manolis that he may never locate a man who, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. And with the clock ticking, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the events of today as Manolis's investigation leads him to uncover a dark and long-forgotten practice."Detective Sergeant George Manolis is a great new addition to the Australian crime scene" EMMA VISKIC, award-winning author of the Caleb Zelic crime series

A third outback noir from Peter Papathanasiou, following Special Constable Sparrow as he investigates a cold case in a barren mining region of Western Australia

"Outback noir has a new star" Mark Sanderson, The TimesWith DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there's a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer. They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow begins to suspect that Bob's desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?

"A rising star of crime fiction" Sunday Times"Outback noir has a new star" The TimesLocated off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks.Over the centuries the Islanders have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency, independence and resilience. But times are changing: multimillionaires from the mainland are building immense clifftop mansions and filling the skies with private planes and helicopters. A quiet paradise is being transformed into a bolthole for the rich and privileged. And the locals aren't happy.Richard Marlowe, a wealthy "blow-in" to the island, goes missing, last seen wading into the ocean for a dawn swim. A shark attack is blamed, but things don't add up. Reuniting for a new investigation, Detective Sergeant Manolis and Senior Constable Sparrow arrive on the island, but their presence isn't welcomed, either. Faced with hostility from both Islanders and newcomers, their attempts to locate the missing man are derailed by a civil war over limited resources, a fragile environment, and fractured community dynamics.REVIEWS FOR THE STONING"Political crime fiction of a high order" Sunday Times"Deliciously dark outback noir" Guardian

"A rising star of crime fiction" Sunday Times"Outback noir has a new star" The TimesLocated off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks.Over the centuries the Islanders have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency, independence and resilience. But times are changing: multimillionaires from the mainland are building immense clifftop mansions and filling the skies with private planes and helicopters. A quiet paradise is being transformed into a bolthole for the rich and privileged. And the locals aren't happy.Richard Marlowe, a wealthy "blow-in" to the island, goes missing, last seen wading into the ocean for a dawn swim. A shark attack is blamed, but things don't add up. Reuniting for a new investigation, Detective Sergeant Manolis and Senior Constable Sparrow arrive on the island, but their presence isn't welcomed, either. Faced with hostility from both Islanders and newcomers, their attempts to locate the missing man are derailed by a civil war over limited resources, a fragile environment, and fractured community dynamics.REVIEWS FOR THE STONING"Political crime fiction of a high order" Sunday Times"Deliciously dark outback noir" Guardian