Feral Ground
(2026)(Book 18 in the Maya Thorne Australian Outback Thriller series)
A novel by Phillip Strang
When a feral pig hunt turns deadly, Detective Maya Thorne faces her most impossible case yet.
Shane Doherty dies from a single rifle shot during a night hunt on Riverside Station. Four hunters. Three rifles fired. One man dead. All four claim tragic accident whilst darkness and chaos obscure the truth.
But Maya knows experienced hunters don't make mistakes like this.
Her investigation reveals a web of grudges: stolen money, family betrayals, romantic rivalry, and a discovered affair. Each hunter had reason to want Shane dead. The physical evidence supports both murder and accident equally. Ballistics can't determine which rifle fired the fatal shot. The coordination failure that killed Shane could be genuine breakdown or deliberate staging.
Three weeks of intensive investigation. Four suspects with airtight alibis and plausible stories. No confession. No witnesses. No definitive proof.
The prosecutor's assessment is brutal: "I believe someone murdered Shane Doherty. But belief isn't evidence. We'd lose at trial."
For the first time since returning to Warragulla, Maya must close a case knowing the truth whilst being unable to prove it. Someone got away with murder. The question is which one—and whether all four conspired to create the perfect ambiguity that keeps them free.
In the Australian outback, some secrets stay buried in the feral ground.
"Atmospheric rural noir that doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable truth: sometimes justice is impossible, no matter how good the detective." - Fans of Jane Harper and Chris Hammer
Genre: Mystery
Shane Doherty dies from a single rifle shot during a night hunt on Riverside Station. Four hunters. Three rifles fired. One man dead. All four claim tragic accident whilst darkness and chaos obscure the truth.
But Maya knows experienced hunters don't make mistakes like this.
Her investigation reveals a web of grudges: stolen money, family betrayals, romantic rivalry, and a discovered affair. Each hunter had reason to want Shane dead. The physical evidence supports both murder and accident equally. Ballistics can't determine which rifle fired the fatal shot. The coordination failure that killed Shane could be genuine breakdown or deliberate staging.
Three weeks of intensive investigation. Four suspects with airtight alibis and plausible stories. No confession. No witnesses. No definitive proof.
The prosecutor's assessment is brutal: "I believe someone murdered Shane Doherty. But belief isn't evidence. We'd lose at trial."
For the first time since returning to Warragulla, Maya must close a case knowing the truth whilst being unable to prove it. Someone got away with murder. The question is which one—and whether all four conspired to create the perfect ambiguity that keeps them free.
In the Australian outback, some secrets stay buried in the feral ground.
"Atmospheric rural noir that doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable truth: sometimes justice is impossible, no matter how good the detective." - Fans of Jane Harper and Chris Hammer
Genre: Mystery
Visitors also looked at these books