#x1C;Packs a real wallop. . . . An epic and ambitious mystery set against the vast backdrop of Central Australia, where indigenous and white people live side by side in an uneasy truce. #x1D;-Vogue(Australia) #x1C;Incorporates geophysical data, race politics and aboriginal spirituality into a seamless, often hilarious stream of narrative. [It] has all the hallmarks of a first of a very successful series with the potential to forge a new sub-genre of detective fiction-that of a feisty, female indigenous sleuth whose intelligence and tenacity prove superior to force and ignorance. #x1D;-The Sydney Morning Herald #x1C;Witty, knowing, at times downright hilarious. The plot is absorbing and Hyland#x19;s characters are originals. . . . As Emily Tempest untangles the knot of a murder, she also comes to rediscover her past, her belonging and her self. #x1D;-Brisbane Courier Mail Emily Tempest, a feisty part-aboriginal woman, left home to get an education and has since traveled abroad. She returns to visit the Moonlight Downs #x1C;mob,#x1D; still uncertain if she belongs in the aboriginal world or that of the whitefellers. Within hours of her arrival, an old friend is murdered and mutilated. The police suspect a rogue aborigine, but Emily starts asking questions. Emily Tempest, a modern half-aboriginal sleuth, is a welcome successor to Arthur Upfield#x19;s classic detective. Adrian Hylandworked with aboriginal communities in Central Australia for ten years. He now teaches at LaTrobe University in Melbourne. This is his first novel. From the Hardcover edition.