Ripper

‘RIPPER is darkly gripping from its first pages . . . The cast of characters are so well described I felt like I’d met them . . . Startling, filmic and haunting’ ALLIE REYNOLDS



‘Unveiling one richly layered character after another, RIPPER has plenty of tricks up its sleeve and crackles with tension throughout. Shelley Burr walks the mystery tightrope with ease, making every character as sympathetic as they are suspicious, and bringing the town of Rainier to life with a knowing flick of her pen’ JACK HEATH



Gemma Guillory has lived in Rainier her entire life. She knows the tiny town’s ins and outs like the back of her hand, the people like they are her family, their quirks as if they were her own.



She knows her once-charming town is now remembered for one reason, and one reason only. That three innocent people died. That the last stop on the Rainier Ripper’s trail of death seventeen years ago was her innocuous little teashop. She knows that the consequences of catching the Ripper still haunt her police officer husband and their marriage to this day and that some of her neighbours are desperate – desperate enough to welcome a dark tourism company keen to cash in on Rainier’s reputation as the murder town.



When the tour operator is killed by a Ripper copycat on Gemma’s doorstep, the unease that has lurked quietly in the original killer’s wake turns to foreboding, and she’s drawn into the investigation. Unbeknownst to her, so is a prisoner named Lane Holland.



Gemma knows her town. She knows her people. Doesn’t she?



PRAISE FOR WAKE:



‘Politically savvy, cleverly plotted . . . the kind of book that invites the ravenous language of binge reading: compulsive, propulsive, addictive’ NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW



‘It is hard to believe WAKE is a first novel. Plot, pacing and characterisation are so finely judged that it feels more like the work of a past master’ THE TIMES



‘A yarn that feels so plausible and terrifying, it stays with you’ THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY



‘Outstanding . . . This is both a well-plotted, gripping mystery and a sensitive exploration of the aftermath of trauma’ THE GUARDIAN



‘One of the year’s best debuts. Intriguing and compelling. Shelley Burr is a bright new talent in Australian crime fiction’ CHRIS HAMMER



‘My crime novel of the year . . . Intense and evocative, it tears at the heart-strings’ DAILY MAIL

Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Imprint: Hachette Australia
Publication date: 30/08/2023