None of what I do would be possible without any one of you. From the bottom of my heart, you have my thanks, appreciation and love.

Again, to all you readers; thank you for making my dream possible, for loving Detective Dave Burrows as much as you do and reading the words on these pages. It’s quite incredible to think, as I sit in my office typing, some of you, somewhere, are waiting for the next book with anticipation. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

There’s a name missing from this list, which I never thought I would have to leave out. Nineteen years of friendship; Starting from stock agent extraordinaire, to friend, confidant and safety blanket. When you left this world, Pete, you couldn’t have known what a hole you left in so many people’s lives. We miss you more than words could ever say, and it seems fitting that your name is the first words in this book and the last. Peter ‘Windy’ Gale.

SNEAK PEEK: THE SHEARER’S WIFE

OUT IN NOVEMBER 2020

The Shearer’s Wife

FLEUR McDONALD

2020: When the Australian Federal Police swoop unher-alded into Barker and make a shocking arrest for possession of narcotics, Detective Dave Burrows is certain there is more to the story than meets the eye. But the Feds insist that Dave is too invested in the town and its people to see the truth of what is happening there.

1980: Rose and Ian Kelly arrive in Barker for supplies before they begin shearing at Jacksonville Station. Rose, heavily pregnant with their first babies, worries that despite Ian’s impending fatherhood he remains a drifter who dreams of the open road.

2020: After many months of grief over her brother’s illness and death, journalist Zara Ellison is finally ready to begin a new chapter of her life and make a commitment to her boyfriend, Senior Constable Jack Higgins. But when she’s assigned to investigating the Barker arrest, Jack begins to believe that Zara is working against him.

It takes a series of unconnected incidents in Zara’s digging to reveal an almost forgotten thread of mystery as to how these two events, forty years apart, could be connected.

eISBN 978 1 76106 052 6

ISBN 978 1 76087 681 4

1980

The beige Holden Kingswood wagon pulled to a stop next to the fuel pump at the Golden Fleece roadhouse.

Rose Kelly breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed her hands over her pregnant belly. She felt as big as an elephant and was desperate to get out of the confines of the car.

‘All right then, sweet Rosie?’ Ian, her husband, asked as he reached for his wallet sitting on the bench seat between them.

Rose smiled; she liked when Ian called her ‘sweet Rosie’. His Irish lilt made her sound as if she were an exotic flower. His Irish rose.

‘Not really. I’m really uncomfortable. How long until we get there?’