Dana Russo is sent to the remote town of Unawarra to revisit the investigation of two murders that were staged in a unique way. The town is 200km from the nearest town with limited internet and phone signal. The message she has been sent with is that you will probably fail. This is more to do with politics at Central where she is normally based. When she arrives at Dutton, the town nearest to Unawarra, she gets the same message from Judge Trent there, but an oblique message from the area commander. Cronin.
In Unawarra she witnesses the local peoples' aquicescent attitude to the pub landlady who seems to call shots on most things. The general message is that the town doesn't want her to find the killer.
Slowly, in her own unique way, she nibbles at the facts from a different angle and forms her own theories. She isn't 100% sure about the local police officer, who has been assigned to help her either.
This is an interesting read, it's not just about the dry, but about the subjugation of people and what people are willing to forgo to be safe.
Enjoy.

An Aussie detective, Dana Russo, arrives in a tiny outback town on a mission to solve two murders, and in the process probably save her own job. The murders have been investigated before but to no avail. In this town of some fifty people, two hundred kilometres from anywhere else, the inhabitants are close and seemingly closed. Dana has also been given scant time to investigate by her boss - a man she can’t abide and who, it appears, has similar feelings about her. It all looks pretty hopeless.

To aid her investigation she has at her disposal a lone police officer, Able Barillo, who lives in this town and is responsible for law and order here and the vast surrounding area, which in effect comprises scrubland and a small number of large farms. But will he be a help or a hindrance? He’s lived in this place all his life and is consequently tied in many way to his neighbours – one or more of whom are most likely responsible for the murders. Time will tell. Dana is clever and introverted and determined not to follow the standard path to solving these crimes; that’s been tried before and it failed miserably.

There’s plenty to like here as Dana stirs up the local powerbroker and does her rounds asking abstruse questions to those she believes are worthy of attention. Able, who tags along, is as confused as everyone she meets by her approach. And then there’s a man in the background who shuffles around out of sight, moving his metal sculptures from place to place. What’s his role in all of this? The pace is slow but I found both the scenario and the people we meet interesting. I confess, I also learned a good deal about living and farming in the Dry (it hadn’t rained here in years).

It eventually plays out in a way I hadn’t expected, with a complicated (possibly over-complicated) series of signals, deductions and resultant actions. I enjoy mysteries set in unusual places and Australia’s outback is my current favourite. Until I finished this tale I hadn’t realised that it’s the third book in a series featuring Dana, and though I’ll probably not rush out to grab the other two books, I have little doubt that I will at some point in the future catch up with Dana again.

This is a fantastic Aussie crime series, set in the Outback in a small town, featuring Detective Dana Russo. She is sent to Unmurra by her boss, to investigate two murders and given two days to solve the crimes. I loved the descriptive passages, the setting and the characterisation. The plotting was intricate and kept me totally immersed throughout. Although a slow burner, it's a great read and I would highly recommend it to thriller lovers. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Third book with Detective Dana Russo who tends to use behavioural science to help solve the crimes she is investigating.
All of these books are slow burners, dark, but very compelling. You really need to sit and read a few chapters at first to get into it. I found all three novels are similar in that way.
The description of the town of Unamurra is really good, I can picture the town with its one pub and shop, and it’s vast red dusty surroundings as though I am back in Oz
Perfect for lovers of Aussie crime fiction. Can be read as a stand-alone but Hermit and Prisoner are both enjoyable too.

Interesting if overlong book. It was well written and believable, but for an impatient reader like myself, I wish it had been punchier and shorter. I also wish I had read the previous 2 books in the series to get more of a feel for the characters, mainly
the lead one, but that is my fault. I wouldn't put anyone off reading this book, even if I did find it on the slow side.

So pleased to learn, as I sit down to write this review, that this novel is part of series. Such a great find as I am always happy to add another cracking Aussie thriller series to my reading list. Yes, this is book 3 but I found it stood easily on its own merit without prior knowledge of the two preceding books. I'm sure having them under your belt beforehand would help but not entirely necessary, from my point of view. That said, let's talk about the book.

Unamurra is an isolated one-horse town wilting under the heat of drought. Two murders have occurred here, both victims being displayed as angels for the locals to find. These cases were investigated previously, with no outcome, and the locals aren't terribly bothered to find the killer. Detective Dana Russo has been given these cases as a test, one she is expected to fail or, at least, give scant effort to solve. All Dana has in the way of support are Able, the local police, and Lucy, her researcher hundreds of kilometers away.

Interestingly, of all the Aussie noir I've read, I don't have a series with a female lead. That sets this series apart. The tone feels gentler, with less action, but just as intriguing results. Dana is bright and unorthodox. She leans in heavily with psychology and observation. This suits me down to the ground as human behaviour often tells its own story and that feeds the larger narrative. I cannot say I especially liked or disliked Dana as a character. She is results oriented, efficient at her job and smart. I was impressed by her as an investigator and found the resolution satisfying. As I said before, this looks to be a great new series and I am lucky to have found it.

Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for ARC.

Detective Dana Russo knows she's being tested by this assignment - sent hundreds of kilometres away to Unamurra, a one horse, four car town, to investigate a brace of bizarre, seemingly motiveless killings. The local constable was sidelined by the original investigation, and Dana only has a couple of days to turn things around, close the case or return to Carlton in disgrace.

This taut thriller never loses its sense of unease, building to claustrophobia and menace. The town on its uppers and the 50 or so souls who inhabit it are beautifully rendered, and Dana Russo is an interesting, complex character, as is her colleague on this case, Constable Able Barella.

The denouement is very complicated and I think it lost a little momentum through all the exposition of the labyrinthine motivation of the perpetrators of the crime. However that is a small quibble. I was delighted to find that this is the third in a series and I can look out the other two

Australia Noir (this is a thing1) murder mystery set in an outback town. Two dead bodies are found mounted on the frames of a public art display, and the initial investigation doesn't get any results. Dana Russo is sent from a different region to reinvestigate with the help of local policeman Able, and her connections and resources from home. The plot involves corruption, fraud, violence, and a lot of interesting characters. Dana and Able are a great pair. They have to learn to trust each other, as Able is perplexed by Dana's methods. Good plot with a nail-biting finish. Recommended.

Red Dirt Road is a phenomenal thriller from start to finish. Filled to the brim with twists and a captivating plot, this one is sure to keep readers hooked. The characters are well-developed. The story is fast-paced. This is one not to be missed! Highly recommended! Be sure to check out Red Dirt Road now.

“One outback town. Two puzzling murders. Fifty suspects.

In Unamurra, a drought-scarred, one-pub town deep in the outback, two men are savagely murdered a month apart - their bodies elaborately arranged like angels. With no witnesses, no obvious motives and no apparent connections between the killings, how can lone police officer Detective Dana Russo - flown in from hundreds of kilometres away - possibly solve such a baffling, brutal case?”

With its Australian Outback setting and superlative characterisation, Red Dirt Road is the perfect book for fans of Jane Harper or Chris Hammer looking for their next read. Full of clever twists and with the isolation of the desert town at its centre almost playing a supporting role, this is well worth a read.

This was an enjoyable read that was well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters. If I had one small criticism it would be that I thought that the pacing could have been a bit faster but other than that I liked it.

I did really enjoy this book but in places, I did think it dragged. Dana is sent to investigate a cold case double murder in the outback town of Unmarra. Working with local Aboriginal police office Able, she has to try to solve the case seen by others as unsolvable. It was a gripping and atmospheric tale but too long I think and to be honest, not a lot happens for quite a while. I was itching to get to the end to find out who the murderer was! I am however, very grateful to Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

This is my first taste of SR White's Aussie crime series featuring Detective Dana Russo with her plastic knee cap. She is not liked by her boss, Anton McCullough, and knows she is being set up to fail when she is assigned a stalled murder case to solve in 2 days in the drought ridden, one pub, one shop dying town of Unmurra, with a population of 50. Two men, farmer Larry Muir, and the husband of pub owner, Annie Ogden, Tim, are killed and displayed as macabre angels, emulating the art of Axel DuBois, with his installation of sinister moveable angels, commissioned to attract tourists to the town. As Russo flies in, its clear that she is not welcome, the local police commander, Judge Leonard Trent, tells her if the original police investigators failed, there is little chance of her succeeding.

The local police officer, Able Barillo, works with her, introducing her to the place, taking her to the crime scenes, and ensuring she meets key people, in a strange town where she is met with hostility and a wall of silence. No-one is willing to help, why would they not want to catch a killer that walks among them? Russo sees no point in emulating the first investigation, although she does wonder why Barillo was shut out of it, particularly given his local expertise and knowledge. She goes her own way as she approaches residents from surprising directions that appear to have little to do with the murders. It's a odd and baffling inquiry, the victims appear to have little connection with each other, and whilst everyone is a suspect, no-one looks to have a motive that could justify the manner of their killings, the set up of the deaths pointing the finger at the artist responsible for the angels in town.

Russo uses an unusual approach to solve this complex case, keeping Barillo and the reader in the dark, she focuses on the psychology of a killer, obviously someone clever and a sociopath. Matters only become clear as the police go to arrest and confront a killer, hoping to secure the evidence that will prove Russo's theories. White does an incredible job in conveying a terrific sense of location of dust storms, a desert looking to expel all human beings that dare to encroach on its territories, there are serious water shortages and paints a mesmerising picture of the tiny stubborn community that insists on living in such a god forsaken spot. This is a great crime read, although it takes some time before Russo begins to see the possibilities of answers, at which point the pace and action quickens considerably. Highly recommended, I am so delighted to have discovered another Aussie crime writer that I love. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Wow! What a book! I couldn't read it fast enough. The tension and pace were absolute magic! Brilliantly unsettling, with characters so deftly woven that you never quite know who – if anyone – you can trust.

This is a great read, digested it in one sitting! Such an easy book to follow, and did not want to put it down!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of Red Dirt Road, the third novel to feature Detective Dana Russo, set in the Australian outback town of Unamurra.

Dana is sent to Unamurra to take a fresh look at the murder of two local men, who were strung up like the angels from a recent avant-garde art installation. The previous investigation got nowhere, so she, a stranger from thousands of kilometres away, is given a week to find a killer with no clues and a strangely uninterested town.

I enjoyed Red Dirt Road, which is an engrossing read, as much about life in the outback as it is about murder. It is told almost entirely from Dana’s point of view, which is designed to bring outsider objectivity to the novel as it certainly doesn’t give the reader anything to work with as she tends to keep the workings of her mind and the information she receives to herself until a strategic reveal is called for.

The circumscribed life described in the novel is fairly horrible, miles from anywhere with poverty rife and only one shop and pub. They have to ration water due to the drought - something I can’t imagine as I come from the west of Scotland where it never seems to stop raining - and there is no end in sight. Yet, the fifty odd inhabitants of Unamurra seem accepting of it.

The plot is fairly slow and consists of Dana not knowing who to trust, even Able Barillo, the local police officer, gathering her store of information and conducting what appear to be random interviews, which she views as intelligence gathering. The hints are all there, so a more intelligent reader could put it together where I failed. I relied on the lengthy explanations and debrief to get my satisfaction, even if it didn’t quite sound likely.

I could not post a review without mentioning the angels. There are 28 of them, designed by the state to be a tourist attraction bringing much needed dollars to the local economy. They are moved about the town seemingly randomly and seem to be sending a message, but the artist has disappeared so it’s up to Dana to try and interpret it. They are powerful and creepy, was that why their scaffolding was used to string up the murder victims? It adds an extra something to the narrative.

Red Dirt Road is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.
I've recently become a huge fan of this new genre of Australian crime but S R White was an author whose books I hadn't read.
The back drop to the book is a small town with only fifty of a population and two bodies are discovered a month apart.
The main character of the book is sent to work with the local police officer to resolve the murders but is given a week to do so and it becomes apparent that she is being set up to fail.
The small population of the town are particularly un co-operative as she tries to solve the murders and so the story picks up pace.
I started reading this one morning on holiday whilst sun bathing and finished it the same day.
Away to search out previous books by this author and read them.
Look forward to future publications from this author.

What an extraordinarily clever thriller. Detective Dana Russo arrives into a remote outback town - population 50 - to solve two brutal murders which have occurred in the last month. Given two days to find the culprit and very little on the ground help…can she do it? A breathtakingly brilliant crime novel. I want to read the final third again and again. The takedown of the killer was superbly orchestrated. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

In the tiny, unloved town of Unamurra in the Australian outback, two locals are murdered and there bodies displayed on frames in the style of the resident artist’s angel sculptures. Dana Russo is sent to solve an “impossible crime,” and working with the lone town cop, she comes up afainst a wall of silence from the locals who don’t seem to want to find the killer. An intriguing and pacy outback noir, this book features an interesting case, is well written and had likeable lead characters and a dark, oppressive atmosphere. The denoument was slightly marred by a long conversation explaining the motives and actions of the murderer(s) rather than the truth emerging more holistically, but overall this was an absorbing read.

I am really enjoying novels at the moment which are set Down Under. The author does a great job of setting the scene and this is a fantastic detective novel.

Highly recommended