"His knuckles had gone white. I braced myself, prepared to duck, weave or kick him in the nuts. When I get fired up I'm like a thorny devil: small but fierce-looking. Not as horny, thank Christ. Emily Tempest has been away from Central Australia for a long time. Uni, travels, dead-end jobs. Finding trouble all over the world.
Now she's back at Moonlight Downs, the community where she grew up, half in the Aboriginal world, half in the white. And true to form, there's trouble. An old friend brutally murdered and mutilated. An old enemy the only suspect. Until Emily starts asking questions.
Take a nail-biting mystery, an epic setting and a heroine with a talent for stirring things up. Throw in an affectionate flogging of outback Australia's melanoma-encrusted hide -- and 'Diamond Dove' may be the wittiest and most gripping debut of the year.