Lyrebirds are brilliant mimics, so if they mimic a woman screaming in terror and begging for her life, they have witnessed a crime. But how does a young, hung over PHD student and a wet behind the ears new detective, convince anyone that a native bird can be a reliable witness to a murder, especially when there is no body and no missing person?
And what happens when they turn out to be right?
Lyrebirds were mimics. They didn't create the sounds they made, only repeated what they had heard. Had the bird actually heard some poor woman begging for her life? Jessica looked around uneasily. The bush that had seemed so benign and beautiful only minutes before now seemed sinister.
Twenty years ago, ornithology student Jessica Weston filmed a lyrebird mimicking the dying screams of a woman in the Barrington Tops National Park. Terrified, she took her recordings to the Maitland police to report a murder. Despite support from newly minted detective, Megan Blaxland, no one was reported missing in the area and no body found, so Jessica's claims were mocked and dismissed.
Twenty years later, a body is unearthed. Exactly where Jessica said it would be.
Megan Blaxland, now a retired senior sergeant, is persuaded to return and lead the cold case investigation. The first thing she does is contact Jessica Weston, now an Associate Professor at Newcastle University.
Jessica and Megan are appalled that the dead woman, whose last moments were heard by only a lyrebird and her killer, has been ignored and forgotten for so long. They both feel they have let the victim down, and are determined to find the killer, whatever it takes.
What they do not realise is it is not just their own lives that may be in danger.
As with her previous novel, The Mother, where she shines a light on the tragedy of domestic violence, Jane Caro once again expertly illuminates the injustices perpetrated against women, particularly those who are marginalised, within a gripping, suspenseful thriller.
'Ripper story - couldn't put it down!' Bryan Brown
