Books with author Garry Disher

`a masterful achievement? Magpies We have come here to scratch for gold.Once we had a house, a business and a Packard sedan,but they are gone now, seized by the bank.The year is 1934, the time of the Great Depression. The place is a settlement of miners' dugouts far from the nearest town. Fifteen-year-old Neil and his parents have come from Adelaide, hoping to strike it lucky, but the gold is elusive. Then the American Ivan and his daughter Kitty arrive, mysterious and aloof. Soon rumours spread: Ivan killed a man; Kitty helped him rob banks. Neil is drawn to them despite the rumours. But Kitty saw him shoot the apostle bird. How can he convince her that it was an accident?Tensions come to a head when a digger is found dead, his gold missing, and angry miners form a mob to hunt the Americans down. Neil knows the nearby creeks and scrubland, and he can lead Ivan and Kitty to safety ? if they let him.The Apostle Bird is an evocatively written and compelling study of prejudice, honour and courage from Garry Disher, bestselling author of The Divine Wind and The Bamboo Flute.

Hart is the son of a wealthy pearling master, Mitsy the daughter of a Japanese diver. Together they unconciously cross the boundaries of class and race, as they swim, joke and watch films in the local cinema. Then their world changes. Hart's mother abandons them for England, a terrible cyclone kills Mitsy's father and cripples Hart and most terrible of all - the war starts. As Japanese bombs fall on northern Australia, loyalties are divided, and love and friendship are put to the test. This is a beautifully crafted story evoking a war-devastated Australia and its agonising consequences on young adults forced to leave their childhood behind.

Leah Flood is on the run. The cops are after her and she has to find herself a place to hide, a bolthole. The irony is, Leah is a cop too. But she s a cop who made a mistake, who ratted on some colleagues. Leah knows she s in the right, but that doesn t seem to matter to the guys who are chasing her. Hitting the road, Leah gets a lift with Mitch and Tess. They appear to be two young joyriders out for a good time until their car is pursued and shot at. Mitch loses control and the car crashes down an embankment. Mitch is killed and Leah and Tess are on the run. But who are the attackers pursuing? Leah thinks it s her, but Tess is sure she s the one they re after. What is she hiding? Pursued by a violent hit-man and a car full of goons, Leah has to find a way to keep both her and Tess out of trouble. But they can t run forever.

The shadow of the Black Hall broods over the City of the Half Dead - a place where almost all the men and boys have lost a hand, an arm, a leg in mysterious accidents - or are they accidents? Renny, a teenage loner living rough, stumbles upon the Hall's grisly secrets. A tale of grim horror by award-winning author Garry Disher, starkly illustrated by artist Shaun Tan.