Hayley Scrivenor is a former Director of Wollongong Writers Festival. DIRT CREEK is her first novel (published as DIRT TOWN in Europe and Australia). An earlier version of the book was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won The Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. Originally from a small country town,
Hayley now lives and writes on Dharawal country and has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wollongong on the south coast of Australia.
What Happened to Lucy Vale (2025) Lauren Oliver "Formally inventive, swimming in the murky waters of the Discord server and the true crime podcast, this novel will have you thinking twice about girls who disappear. This book is absolutely not to be missed."
Stillwater (2025) (Luke Harris, book 1) Tanya Scott "Tanya Scott explodes onto the crime scene with this rip-roaring debut that I read in a single sitting. Stillwater is an instant classic of the genre."
The Forsaken (2025) (Logan Booth, book 1) Matt Rogers "Blood-soaked, relentless, cinematic. A principled killer and a shadowy conspiracy playing out on Brooklyn's streets - The Forsaken is simply begging to be made into a blockbuster."
The Ones We Love (2025) Anna Snoekstra "Slow, creeping dread. Hot, listless LA. A story about the things we can't say to people closest to us. Anna Snoekstra's The Ones We Love will make your spine tingle in the best way."
When She Was Gone (2025) Sara Foster "Rose Campbell, a former London cop, knows a lot about violence and how it can tear us apart. When Rose's estranged daughter goes missing in Western Australia--with two children from the rich family she is nannying for--Rose will have to dig deep to uncover what really happened. This assured, utterly absorbing novel will have you up late into the night, still turning pages. Sara Foster sensitively and persuasively renders both the banality and the unique horror of violence against women and asks, How far would you be willing to go to save someone you love? This was an absolute highlight of my reading year."
Our Last Wild Days (2025) Anna Bailey "Loyal May returns to her small hometown with unfinished business weighing on her. What unfolds from there will make you feel the heat of southern Louisiana seeping off the page. Anna Bailey is the master of things that move in the dark, with language so lush you feel like you could reach out and touch it. Our Last Wild Days is moody, visceral, stunning - don't miss it."
Upon a Starlit Tide (2025) Kell Woods "To enter a world fashioned by Kell Woods is to be entirely won over by magic and history. Upon a Starlit Tide is enchanting in every sense of the word. Drawing on stories we know well, Kell Woods presents us with something deliciously and thrillingly new, alert to women's secret desires... I could have floated in the lagoon of this story forever."
The Close-Up (2024) Pip Drysdale "With twists and turns set against an LA skyline, Pip Drysdale shows that she is the undisputed queen of the sexy-cool thriller."
Red River Road (2024) Anna Downes "Red River Road takes us beyond the shiny exterior of #vanlife and deep into the secrets we keep. Tension, suspense, and characters who get more than they bargained for--this is Downes at her absolute best."
To The River (2024) Vikki Wakefield "Vikki Wakefield's To the River gets under your skin. Two very different women are brought together in the search for the truth and something like justice. Covered in dog hair and splattered with river mud, this taut, muscular thriller absolutely delivers."
Tipping Point (2024) (Detective Kate Miles, book 3) Dinuka McKenzie "How lucky are we to have Dinuka McKenzie?."
The Search Party (2024) Hannah Richell "The Search Party pitches you forward from the first page, sending you rushing headlong towards its thrilling conclusion. I loved this novel for its multifaceted, multi-voiced take on a single weekend, and a satisfying and emotionally honest portrayal of what we see in others, and ourselves. Hannah Richell's first foray into the thriller genre is simply not to be missed!"
Radiant Heat (2024) Sarah-Jane Collins "A sense of blooming dread, and the deft, finely painted lines of an artist at work. This close and claustrophobic mystery captures something important about disaster - the way it can crest a hill and we find ourselves woefully unprepared. A finely observed and utterly compulsive read."
Dying to Know (2023) Rae Cairns "Cairns shows us what ordinary people can do in extraordinary situations ... A thrilling and wild ride with love at its core."
