When She Was Gone is finally in the shops in Australia and the US, New Zealand and Canada, and I’m so excited to finally be able to share this story with you!
What’s it about?
The story starts on a remote beach in the southwest of Australia where early one morning an au pair called Louisa vanishes with the two young children in her care.
At first, there is little clue to what has happened, but the young children belong to a high profile and very wealthy Australian family called the Fishers - and so the news spreads like wildfire, upping the stakes and drawing media, police, search teams and onlookers to the tiny settlement between Dunsborough and Eagle Bay.
The story is told mostly from two points of view, and the first is the senior detective in charge of the case, Mal Blackwood. He’s about to retire after having had a dream career, during which he’s won two police medals. but he’s going through a tricky time in his personal life, and being pulled into this final huge case threatens to derail him.
Meanwhile, Rose, Louisa’s mother, has been estranged from her daughter for a long time, but still loves and cares for her daughter very much - and she’s also a former police officer and hostage negotiator who has her own insights into how the investigation should run. When she spots holes in the police efforts, she starts to do her own thing - much to the annoyance of Blackwood.
And then a disturbing piece of evidence is found on a nearby strip of beach, and it becomes clear to all of them that they are in a race against time to bring Louisa and the kids safely home.
Why did you write it?
My last book, The Hush (2021) was a near-future dystopia, and You Don’t Know Me came out in 2019, so another psychological suspense thriller was well overdue and I was itching to find a good story! Once I had the initial concept of the au pair and the missing kids, I quickly knew that the remote southwest beaches of WA would make the perfect setting, and when I hit on the character of Louisa’s estranged mother Rose the story grew from there. By incorporating the wealthy Fisher family, I also got to play with ideas around wealth, power, misogyny and control, so I could build depth into these characters and relationships. It’s been an absolute labour of love to get this into tip-top shape and I hope you love the story.
Where can I find it?
There’s a link to all the different ordering options on my website - and where possible please support your local independent bookseller too!
Where are your events?
My events kick off tomorrow evening (2nd April) with Dymocks Joondalup in WA, where I’ll be talking to my great mate Dervla McTiernan at the Joondalup Civic Centre (tickets still available). This will be followed by an event at Beaufort St Books (Mount Lawley) on Thurs 3rd April, talking to David Whish-Wilson, and then I’ll be at Books in the Brewery (Maylands) on Mon 7th April, and Open Book (Mosman Park) on Friday 11th April. There are also two events in the southwest, with Dymocks Busselton at Poppy & Pip cafe (8th April) and Capel Library (9th April) - both with the amazing Natasha Lester, author of The Mademoiselle Alliance.
If you miss out on these there are more Perth events coming and I’m also heading to Sydney in May. There’s a complete list, with links, on my website. Hope to see you there - I can’t wait to spend an evening sharing even more of the story and chatting about all things writing.
What else have you written?
I have eight other stories out in the world - although right now some are easier to find than others. You can find details of all of them on my website, and most are available in paperback in the US/Canada. After changing publisher in Australia, only The Hush and When She Was Gone are still in print right now (crazy, I know - I’m working on it!) - but the others are all available on Kindle (except The Deceit) and audio (except Come Back to Me).
What’s next?
I’m halfway through my next draft, and hoping there won’t be such a gap before I can bring Book Ten to you! More on that very soon.
Finally, thank you…
I hope you’re excited to find this one - many thanks and much gratitude for all your support. Some of you have been on this newsletter for over a decade now - and that means more than I can say.
Share this post