Alison is the author of the White Rose series and the New London books,
and is a member of the Australian Crime Writers Association.
She has served in
both the Australian Army Reserve and the Royal Australian Air Force, and now
lives in Tasmania with her family.
Alison is a self-confessed stationery
junkie, loves forests, and drinks too much tea.
Connect with the Author here:
Have you ever enraged a murderer?
Redhead Nell, a civilian psychologist with the US Navy,
takes her dream job at a submarine base to escape a protective family and build
a life of her own. Meeting James, the handsome skipper of the submarine
Scottsdale, is a bonus she hadn’t expected.
When Nell is attacked after a body is pulled from the local
river, two investigations swing into motion, with no obvious link between them.
The killer plots to keep the cases separate and conceal the damning secrets
from his past that would lead to a connection, and his demise.
As his attempts to complete the cover-up fail, his
frustration and rage turn toward the person who stands in his way.
The redhead shrink.
Excerpt:
Nell’s
phone rang as she finished stacking the dishes from dinner in the dishwasher.
“Hello,”
she answered it, expecting James.
“Hello
sweetie,” came Roy’s voice. “How are you?”
“I’m
fine thanks Dad. How about you?”
“Missing
my girl.” There was a moment of silence. “Nell, you need to talk to Andrew.”
More silence. “Nell?”
“Dad,
I’ll talk to him, but he can’t lecture me or question me. I won’t have it.”
“I
just want to talk to you Nell,” came Andrew’s voice. Roy had already handed the
phone over. “I’m sorry I upset you. I won’t lecture you, I promise.”
Nell
stayed silent.
“Nell,
please talk to me,” Andrew begged.
“I’m
not sure what to say Andrew,” she said. “You’ve said that before and it’s never
lasted. I won’t have you interfering in my life again. I don’t want you spying
on me.”
“I
wouldn’t do that to you.” He sounded insulted.
Nell’s
temper took hold at his denial. “Really? Hmm, let’s think. There was Zac, who
you followed to his ex-girlfriend’s house when he returned some CDs. Do you
remember how that ended? Oh yeah, that’s right, you weren’t there when he
dumped me. Then there was Liam. You scruffed him in the middle of our first
kiss. I’ve never been so humiliated in my life. Then of course there was the
incident with —”
“Okay,
okay, I get the message,” Andrew snapped.
“Do
you? Do you really? You mess up my current relationship and I will never, and I
mean never, speak to you again. Stay away. Don’t look anyone up, don’t get your
buddies to check things out. I mean it.”
A
loud clunk, a rustle, and then Roy’s voice came down the line.
“What
did you say to him Nell? He’s furious again.”
“I
told him to leave me alone. I mean it Dad, I can’t have him interfering.”
“You’re
that serious about this guy? Already?”
Nell
almost screamed with frustration. “Don’t you start too. I need you guys, but I
have to be left to live my life. At the rate you’re going, I’m going to hit
menopause before I get a chance to have a serious relationship without one of
you trying to stop it.”
There
was another silence.
“I
love you Dad, and I love Andrew too, but you have to let go and trust me.”
“Nell?”
Andrew
again. They had to stop playing pass-the-phone like this.
“I’m
sorry sis. It’ll kill me, but I will back right off. I promise, double-cross my
heart.” The sincerity in his voice quenched her anger in an instant. She
couldn’t stay mad when he spoke like that. He was her big brother, her
life-long buddy.
“Pinkie
promise?” she asked, tongue in cheek.
“Pinkie
promise? You know I don’t do that girly stuff,” Andrew replied. “You’ll have to
make do with a double-crossed heart.”
“Okay.”
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