Dust and Bones

A Maya Thorne Australian Outback Thriller

By: Phillip Strang

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

A drought-exposed creek bed. A bullet in the skull. A detective confronting the past she fled.

When skeletal remains surface at Billabong Station, Detective Maya Thorne is dragged back to Warragulla — the rural hometown she swore never to revisit. The bones belong to Cameron Lockhart, a local landowner buried where bushfires would erase the evidence. Someone wanted him forgotten.

Partnered with Senior Constable Luke Carver, Maya's investigation quickly spirals beyond a single murder. Hidden records reveal contamination data that was buried as deliberately as the body — and connections to deaths on properties across multiple states.

For Maya, this case cuts close to bone. Fifteen years ago, she raised the alarm about poisoned land on these same farms. Officials dismissed her. Her father, then a senior councillor, said nothing. Now his dementia-fractured memories are surfacing truths someone powerful will kill to keep hidden.

What did her father know? Who silenced Cameron Lockhart? And how far does this conspiracy reach?

The closer Maya gets to answers, the more dangerous Warragulla becomes. Some secrets run deeper than the drought — and some people will do anything to keep them buried.

For fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, and Garry Disher.

Book 1 in the Maya Thorne series — 13 books available.