ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Bailey is a Melbourne based writer with a background in advertising and communications. She has two young children and currently works as a director of creative projects company Mr Smith. Over the past five years she has written a number of short stories and opinion pieces. "The Dark Lake" is her first novel.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Published in 2017 by Allen & Unwin
The lead homicide investigator in a rural town, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is deeply unnerved when a high school classmate is found strangled, her body floating in a lake. And not just any classmate, but Rosalind Ryan, whose beauty and inscrutability exerted a magnetic pull on Smithson High School, first during Rosalind's student years and then again when she returned to teach drama.

As much as Rosalind's life was a mystery to Gemma when they were students together, her death presents even more of a puzzle. What made Rosalind quit her teaching job in Sydney and return to her hometown? Why did she live in a small, run-down apartment when her father was one of the town's richest men? And despite her many admirers, did anyone in the town truly know her?

Rosalind's enigmas frustrate and obsess Gemma, who has her own dangerous secrets—an affair with her colleague and past tragedies that may not stay in the past.

This one went in today's mail (finally) to the winner of Tea and Mystery Sweepstakes round 34 along with some tea and tea inspired treats.
Enjoy!!

MY REVIEW
I like to find somewhat unknown authors, (hence the amount of debut novels I read) and when I saw a review for this one on Twitter, I instantly ordered a copy.
A very atmospheric novel with a very engaging storyline, and some very relatable characters thrown in for good measure.
With recent international hype about the (very good) debut novel "The Dry" by Jane Harper, I'm surprised Aussie mystery/thriller/crime fiction isn't getting more attention. It should be, and this one should be right up there.
This is quite some debut novel!


(I always add physical postage stamps to my packages. If you are not a collector yourself, check out the I collect postage stamps because... thread to find them a happy home.)

Yay, another Aussie writer who is new to me. This looks very good. Thanks for the ace parcel :-)

I really liked the ideas in this book and thought the basic plot was good. The one thing that really spoilt it for me was the main character having an affair. I understand that relationships don't always work out, but I really don't like people lying like this to the people they are supposed to care about. It really made it hard for me to feel empathy for the main character.
This wouldn't stop me wanting to read other books by this author though, so thank you for the introduction J4Shaw. :-)

And off it goes to yorkshire-lass as part of the wishlist tag game. Happy reading!

Thank you for tagging me with this interesting looking book, I'm sure I'll enjoy it. It may take me a while to get to this as my TBR pile is massive!