The Last Waterhole

An Australian Outback Thriller

Perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer, and Garry Disher

In the underground town of Coober Pedy, where eight hundred people live in dugout homes carved from red earth, water means survival. When the town's only water supply is contaminated, Detective Senior Constable Alex Reilly is called to investigate.

What appears to be a routine water quality complaint becomes murder when Harold Finch, the town's water expert, is found dead in his underground laboratory. Toxicology results reveal deliberate poisoning. And someone has sabotaged the water supply that keeps the entire community alive.

Reilly has been in Coober Pedy for six months—long enough to know the isolated desert town's power dynamics, but still marked as an outsider. As she investigates Finch's death, she uncovers corporate interests eyeing the town's water rights. International mining companies. Corrupt officials. And a conspiracy that threatens not just Coober Pedy, but dozens of vulnerable communities worldwide.

With temperatures soaring in the South Australian desert and the town's water supply compromised, Reilly has days to identify the killer before eight hundred people face a life-or-death crisis. But the conspiracy reaches from Coober Pedy's underground homes to corporate boardrooms across multiple countries—and someone is willing to sacrifice an entire town to protect their interests.

In the harsh Australian outback, where the nearest help is hours away and water is worth more than gold, one detective must expose a global conspiracy before her community dies of thirst.