Locust Moon
(2026)(Book 15 in the Maya Thorne Australian Outback Thriller series)
A novel by Phillip Strang
When a plague strips the land bare, it reveals more than devastation—it exposes murder.
A locust swarm descends on Warragulla, consuming everything in its path. When the plague finally passes, Detective Maya Thorne discovers a body in an abandoned grain silo—Keith Venturi, an agricultural insurance investigator, missing for three weeks.
The workshop where he died tells a story of violence and concealment. The evidence scattered across a stripped landscape suggests something bigger than a single murder. Keith was investigating systematic fraud when someone killed him to protect a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise.
As Maya digs deeper, she uncovers a network of desperate farmers, manipulated professionals, and a smooth-talking consultant who taught an entire community how to lie. But exposing the truth means prosecuting her neighbors. Delivering justice means dividing a town already struggling to survive.
When witnesses start receiving threats and the fraud network fights back, Maya realizes Keith died because he asked the wrong questions. Now she's asking the same questions—and someone wants to ensure she doesn't live long enough to find answers.
In the harsh beauty of the Australian outback, where drought has pushed good people to desperate measures, Maya must navigate the complicated line between victim and perpetrator, desperation and criminality, mercy and justice.
Some secrets don't stay buried. The plague made sure of that.
For readers who love Jane Harper's The Dry, Chris Hammer's Scrublands, and atmospheric crime fiction where harsh landscapes reveal darker truths.
Genre: Mystery
A locust swarm descends on Warragulla, consuming everything in its path. When the plague finally passes, Detective Maya Thorne discovers a body in an abandoned grain silo—Keith Venturi, an agricultural insurance investigator, missing for three weeks.
The workshop where he died tells a story of violence and concealment. The evidence scattered across a stripped landscape suggests something bigger than a single murder. Keith was investigating systematic fraud when someone killed him to protect a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise.
As Maya digs deeper, she uncovers a network of desperate farmers, manipulated professionals, and a smooth-talking consultant who taught an entire community how to lie. But exposing the truth means prosecuting her neighbors. Delivering justice means dividing a town already struggling to survive.
When witnesses start receiving threats and the fraud network fights back, Maya realizes Keith died because he asked the wrong questions. Now she's asking the same questions—and someone wants to ensure she doesn't live long enough to find answers.
In the harsh beauty of the Australian outback, where drought has pushed good people to desperate measures, Maya must navigate the complicated line between victim and perpetrator, desperation and criminality, mercy and justice.
Some secrets don't stay buried. The plague made sure of that.
For readers who love Jane Harper's The Dry, Chris Hammer's Scrublands, and atmospheric crime fiction where harsh landscapes reveal darker truths.
Genre: Mystery