This was a decent read with likeable characters. I do seem to enjoy books set in Australia particularly the small town Australia that you hear little about. It could have done to have been edited to a shorter read but it’s worth a try.

4.5/5 stars! I love a good crime thriller. This was the first one I've read that takes place in Australia. It was really cool to learn about how terrain and environmental factors play a role in investigations in that setting. The writing was strong and I loved watching Jesse develop her theories.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I have now caught up with Adrian Hyland with his novel Canticle Creek. I previously read The Wiregrass and it was very good. The death of Adam, a lovable reprobate, saved from jail by Jesse Redpath ( an officer in charge of Kulara station ) caused her concern when she heard he was the chief suspect for the death of Daisy Baker. This Jesse thought, was way outside anything Adam would do, even though the evidence looked stacked against him.. She decided to take a few days off and go to Canticle Creek to do her own investigation. Whilst there is a degree of hostility from the local cops, that's nothing to what she experiences from the locals and an organised crime family out of Melbourne. What follows is a thrilling investigation which culminates in a horrendous bushfire, so well described it's sure to singe your hair!
Canticle Creek is a great thriller, if I was to criticise, it's that readers not from Australia might (like I did) struggle with some of the terms. A glossary would have been helpful.

Good strong story with characters which you either love or hate. Liked the use of the Australian dialect/words even if I had to look them up!! The author covers many subjects throughout sensitively.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review

A book I liked very much. As someone who has never been to Australia the setting and atmosphere of rural side of the country was evoked in a way which felt real. Jess Redpath is a police officer in a small community who takes leave and flies across Australia to look for answers to a murder she believes has been wrongly attributed to a young man she had been trying to rehabilitate. Her actions in doing this start a chain reaction of events which leads to further violence and death.
The story is populated with a collection of disparate characters and unfolds at a steady rather than quick pace but for me the pace suited the atmospherics set by the author.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Ultimo Press, and the author Adrian Hyland.
I really enjoyed this detective/crime thriller. It was fast-paced, involving and had very visual settings and characters. The author clearly knows the Australian outback well and painted a very vivid picture.
I also didn't see the reveal coming which is always a great experience. I look forward to reading more of this author's work! 4 stars.

Canticle Creek is a book I liked but had a few annoying things to make me love it.
The book is set in a small town in the outbacks of Australia, Jesse is a police officer trying to do good and bring compassion to the job. Jesse has saved a local boy, Adam Lawson from jail and has arranged for him to live with her artist father who lives a quite life. Adam doesn’t stay long and learns that he has travelled and murdered a girl called Daisy before being killed in a car accident. This is not what she thought Adam was like and sets too on clearing his name but things don’t run as smoothly as she’d have liked with locals bearing a grudge against her from the start.
This book was a decent read, I did find it went on a bit too long in places and lacked a decent pace but then it picked up and it was enjoyable. Jesse is a good lead character even if at times she seemed indestructible. The storyline was good it was just the speed that let it down.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Ultimo Press for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Jesse Redpath is a cop in a quiet town in Rural Australia. A young man she was hoping to spare a jail sentence by working nearby disappears. He turns up dead in a car wreck, the murdered body of his girlfriend a kilometre away. Jesse refuses to believe he is responsible & sets off to Canticle Creek to see if she can clear his name.

This book totally captivated me. The descriptions of the settings made me feel like I was in the heat of the Bush & not cold windy Shetland. I loved that characters & the story kept me guessing. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

A magnificent story set in the Australian outback to start and then the outskirts of Melbourne with the mystery of two deaths in a small town. It seems open and shut with murder by one of the two who then died in a car crash whilst high on drugs. But all was not as it seemed and the policewoman from the outback who knew the alleged murderer is allowed to investigate. A cast of great characters from gangsters to good guys infuse the tale. The countryside is beautifully described as the action builds to its super conclusion. Great book!

This was very well written and researched. Set in Australia it had lots happening in it and plenty of creepiness going through it. I enjoyed this one. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Although this was about murder and the investigation that followed, the level at which things were described was gold standard. I could see the scenes, the people, it was fantastic.
Jesse is a Territory police officer who follows a murder case to Canticle Creek to find out how a known young man (Adam), has apparently killed a woman and then crashed a car and died. She doesn't believe that he is the culprit. She starts her own investigation which makes her life full of danger as she follows the clues she finds.
This story combined with the imagined landscape in the Australian Outback makes for an amazing journey through your own imagination. I really, really enjoyed this!. I hope that Jesse gets to investigate more cases in the future. I for one will be there ready to find out!.
Many thanks to Ultimo Press Books for the chance to read this arc copy via Netgalley.
#Netgalley, #ultimopressuk, #adrianhyland

I chose to read a free eARC of Canticle Creek but that has in no way influenced my review.

If you're a regular visitor to the blog then you may be aware that I adore Australian crime fiction and I'm always on the lookout for talented Australian authors to add to my 'must read' list. So when Canticle Creek landed on my radar I, of course, jumped on it. And after experiencing Hyland's writing and storytelling for the first time, I think it's very safe to say that I will be reading this author's work again in the future. The sooner, the better!

When Northern Territory cop, Constable Jesse Redpath, hears the news of Adam Lawson's death she's devastated. Despite Lawson being a well-known local criminal, police officer Jesse had always believed there was more to Adam Lawson than petty crime. So much so, she found work for him and when the chips were down, Jesse stood up to the magistrate on Lawson's behalf. However, Jesse, despite everything she did, can't help but feel responsible for Adam's death. Even more so when she discovers Lawson is accused of murdering his girlfriend, Daisy, before accidentally running off the road and brutally ending his own life. Jesse feels her only course of action is to visit Canticle Creek herself and try to put things right. But when Jesse arrives and starts asking probing questions, the small town clams up. Jesse's arrival and subsequent off-the-books investigation certainly ruffles a few feathers! Because the people of Canticle Creek have secrets of their own. Secrets they will do anything to keep...

Canticle Creek is a thoroughly absorbing and highly compelling read which I loved from start to finish. From the opening lines of the book, I was drawn into the story almost immediately, bonding with lead character, Jesse. I really liked how the author portrayed her. She's intelligent, emotional but isn't going to take any BS from anyone. When at home in the Northern Territory of Kulara, Redpath works with Danny Jakamarra, an Aboriginal Community Police Officer. Although we didn't see very much of Danny, I did enjoy the mutual respect the two officers had for one another. I very much hope that Canticle Creek is the first book in a new series so I can watch Jesse's character grow and perhaps get to see a little more of Danny too. Fingers crossed the author decides to write more.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Canticle Creek and would heartily recommend it to all crime noir fans who enjoy a slower paced investigation but with plenty of well-written twists along the way. The characters were all interesting with Jesse stealing the show from the get-go. I did enjoy how she takes her artist father along for the ride when she visits Canticle Creek. It was a different relationship to the ones we crime readers tend to see featured in fiction (it's normally the father of the victim, rather than the police officer!). The sense of place is exemplary. You really get a great feel for the setting, a small rural community amidst a period of drought. As the temperature rises so does the tension, which is beautifully written. All in all, I loved Canticle Creek and I'm excited to see more from this author. Thoroughly readable, highly compelling and one of the best books I've read recently. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Canticle Creek. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Review will be published on damppebbles.com on Thursday 26th October 2023.

Dig deep enough and you’re right down under in this Aussie story of murder in the outback! Jesse Redpath is a police officer for the station in Kulara when she becomes embroiled in the murder of a young girl allegedly committed by a lad she took under her wing! He subsequently dies in a car accident and it’s all looking cut and dried until Jesse takes a drive out to Canticle Creek - could the siting of a new species of Orchid hold the answer? Great characters with fabulous descriptions that take you deep into the world of wallabies, echidnas, bush fires and the fabulous Aussie scenery! Loved it!

Thanks to netgalley for supplying this advanced copy for the purpose of review.

This was a solid mystery thriller. It was a little slow paced but I enjoyed the setting.

A most fascinating story of Australia centred on a cop based in the outback where she has been stationed long enough to become as one with the flora and fauna. When a young man she had been helping to build a life free from drugs and crime leaves for a new life in the city, and she hears that he has brutally murdered his girlfriend and then when escaping in her car, crashed and died with all evidence pointing to him as the killer, she had to go to see for herself as this was so out of character of the boy she knew .she has to investigate even when it is outside hr jurisdiction. With her tracker skills she finds clues missed by the city cops and follows leads that seem to end with new leads each unfolding like a Russian doll. How the case is finally closed with a suspect in plain sight unseen takes a dramatic ending.

I enjoyed this in parts but it wasn’t what I expected from Aussie crime. Bit too drawn out with too much jumping from one scenario to another. Just didn’t hit the spot for me.

When Adam Lawson's wrecked car is found a kilometre from Daisy Baker’s body, the whole town assumes it’s an open and shut case. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek. Where she comes from, the truth often hides in plain sight, but only if you know where to look. When Jesse starts to ask awkward questions, she uncovers a town full of contradictions and a cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets to hide and even more to lose.
 As the temperature soars, and the ground bakes, the wilderness surrounding Canticle Creek becomes a powderkeg waiting to explode. All it needs is one spark.

This is a great story, well written. The descriptions are superb, putting the reader right in the tale. With believable three dimensional characters and a fast pace makes it a terrific read. It has a terrific ending and just when you think it’s ended, it starts again.

TBH the book was completely other than what I had expected. Jesse Redpath encourages a judge to give a petty criminal another chance and he is released into the care of her father. Only days later he runs away and shortly after that is believed to have4 committed a murder in a town in another part of Australia. Jesse travels to this town to try and clear Adam's name.

Honestly I found this a melting pot of twisting narrative almost in the style of a cosy mystery - only this time, rather than the local baker or shopkeeper, it is the supposedly professional police woman who jumps from one suspect to another almost after each hot drink that she has.

The professional who suffers no end of injuries but still manages to plod on racing up and down hills, across rivers and plains whilst puffing on her inhaler. Nil desperandum desrcibes her action but eventually she does seem to have cornered the guilty party only for yet another twist in the plot.

It really didn't do a lot for me too many character and plot lines on top of unbelievable narrative action

I struggled with this book at first I think due to the Australian slang and references. However as the story developed it's interest held me easily. There were plenty of twists and turns leading to an unexpected and exciting ending. The descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Australian outback were incredible and although I've never been to Australia I could easily imagine the beauty and harshness of the land and the climate.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Enjoyable murder mystery, the premise enriched by the connection between the deceased at the protagonist.

Was a real page turner for me, well worth the wait for this.