by Fleur McDonald
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia, 2025
Review
by Margaret Walsh
Zara Ellison is an investigative reporter, and her partner, Jack Higgins, is a police officer. They move to Kalgoorlie looking to make a fresh start.
The Prospect is loaded with interesting, and, what is equally important, believable characters. From Jack’s immediate superior, Senior Sergeant Martin Rogers, to the eccentric prospector Ted, each character has an abundance of life. You can easily imagine sitting down and having a cup of tea or a beer with these people.
The book swirls around an intricate story involving grey nomads, prospectors, mining companies, and motorcycle gangs. I delight in complex plots, and The Prospect fills that role perfectly with enough red herrings to make the book an extremely satisfying read for any crime fiction enthusiast. I am not going to share any. Half the fun of reading a book like this is to find them for yourself.
The story is also a bit of a fish-out-of-water story, as Zara and Jack adjust to life in Kalgoorlie. Zara is starting afresh in a new place with no contacts to aid her in finding stories, while Jack is adjusting to being back in uniform. This adds another layer to the dynamic between the characters.
This book is a bit of a departure for Fleur McDonald. While her Detective Dave Burrows books are excellent, they can be of a slightly more gentle nature than The Prospect. This book is an all-out, gritty crime novel. It is Outback Noir at its finest.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. The Prospect is an excellent and thrilling ride of a book. In a word, fabulous.
Publisher’s blurb
When you dig, will you strike gold … or unearth dangerous secrets? An exciting new series from the queen of rural crime.
No matter how much or how little you find, you will never, ever own the gold. It will always own you.
After a scandal, investigative reporter Zara Ellison and her partner, policeman Jack Higgins, have moved to Kalgoorlie, but they are each struggling with this fresh start. The wild mining town has its own rules, and its inhabitants— drawn by the lure of gold and riches— guard their secrets carefully.
Zara feels adrift in the swirling red dust of the lawless bush city, without sources or any leads for the hard-hitting stories she’s known for. Jack is out of the detective squad and trying to find his feet back in uniform.
On an isolated stretch of highway, a pair of grey nomads is involved in a devastating accident which leaves more questions than answers. Zara starts digging for her own kind of gold, while Jack’s investigation sends him on a parallel path towards a dangerous smuggling ring.
In the wide-open spaces of the outback, some secrets are buried deep.