- Type Book
- Vendor Lisa Ellery
In Hot Ground, Lisa Ellery drops Detective Jessy Parkin into Kalgoorlie on a sweltering night when a mallet thuds into a marker peg and trouble ripples across the goldfields. A veteran prospector, Max Cochrane, vanishes; his daughter is frantic; Jessy is tasked with a search that keeps shifting underfoot. Ellery keeps the investigation rooted in police craft and mine-site detail while the desert’s heat, red dust and diesel hang in the air.
As Jessy digs, business interests, old loyalties and a century of buried stories crowd the case. The closer she gets, the tighter the outback closes ranks and her fragile restart in uniform teeters. Central tension: can Jessy find Max before money and history swallow the truth. I could taste fly grit and see the bitumen shimmer. Tropes: outback procedural, buried secrets.
What you are getting
- Format: Trade paperback
- Pages: 400
- Publisher: Fremantle Press
- Imprint: Fremantle Press
- ISBN: 9781760993191
- Publication date: 2 Sep 2025
- Condition: New
Why this book matters
Ellery’s second novel brings real WA goldfields texture to a tight police search that blooms into a bigger mystery. It follows Jessy Parkin from Private Prosecution into a fresh setting, but it reads cleanly as a standalone. Grounded procedure, high heat and moral pressure deliver that tense rural-crime feel with a lawyer-author’s eye for process.
For readers who enjoyed
- Jane Harper
- Dervla McTiernan
- Chris Hammer
- Garry Disher
- Sarah Bailey
Safe passage
Same-day dispatch before 1 pm ACST. Express Post with tracking. Packed to protect corners. Simple 30-day returns. Pickup available in Stansbury SA.
Quick answers
Is this in stock? Yes. Orders before 1 pm ACST ship today.
Is gift wrap available? Yes. Add a note at checkout.
Do I need to read the first book? No. This works as a standalone.
