BROKE ROAD

A young woman found dead in her new townhouse in Hunter Valley wine country. No forced entry, no signs of struggle. The victim's husband is a mining geologist, and there's a hole in his alibi.

Sent out from Sydney, Detective Rose Riley unearths undercurrents of discontent between the coal industry and grape growers in the district. But then, forensic evidence leads to two unsolved casestwo more women dead in their homes, hundreds of kilometres apartand Riley fears she's looking at a killer on a spree. The scenes at the houses are all the sameno forced entry, no signs of struggle. How was access gained? And why do the victims have gauze in their teeth? Meanwhile, reporter Adam Bowman is working the story, chasing links to a property develop- er, and Riley is drawn back to Hunter, and the scene in the townhouse, which is part of a new housing development on a quiet rural backroad at a place called Red Creek. Matthew Spencer was a journalist at The Australian for twenty years, with long stints running the Foreign News desk and as Opinion Editor. He has written for newspapers and magazines in Uganda and Kenya and been published in The Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald. Broke Road is his second novel. Matthew's first novel, Black River, won the 2023 Danger Award for Debut Crime Fiction, and was shortlisted for a 2023 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction. Matthew has an Honours degree in English Literature from the Uni- versity of Sydney. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Ritu Gupta, and their three children.