Join local writer Pip Fioretti, as she discusses her rural crime fiction, Bone Lands. She will share a presentation on paintings and State Library resources that inspired her to write a novel set in early twentieth century Australia.

In 1911, on a winter's night in New South Wales wool country, mounted trooper Augustus Hawkins discovers the bodies of three young people. From the richest family in the district, they were murdered on a road that Hawkins should have been patrolling, instead of bedding the local schoolteacher.

Detectives arrive from Sydney and the disgraced Hawkins, a traumatised Boer War veteran, comes under fierce scrutiny. With his honour and sanity at stake, he is determined to find the murderer, but also uncovers the dark secrets of those he thought of as friends.

'Bone Lands is incredibly evocative. You can taste the dust and feel the searing heat as Mounted Trooper Hawkins investigates the brutal murder. Hawkins is a terrifically authentic character and this is high quality writing – sharp and descriptive – that doesn't flinch or look away.' David Whish-Wilson

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the night.

$5.00 + booking fee

Non-alcoholic refreshments and nibbles on arrival.

Bookings required.

Enquiries: 8495 5028 or libraryprograms@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au

Pip Fioretti has a professional background in visual arts, having practiced as an award-winning artist and lecturer. She took up writing in 2008 and has had three novels published in women’s fiction and been published in five languages. Bone Lands represents a change of genre for her. She still draws, likes reading, bushwalking and hiking.