Dark Country

Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2022 Longlisted for the William M B Berger Prize for British Art History 2022 Guardian Art Book of the Year 2021 A dazzling, boldly original work that tells the powerful and passionate stories of a group of extraordinary women as glimpsed through their still life paintings What is contained in a still life – and what falls out of the frame? For women artists in the early twentieth century, such as Dora Carrington, Vanessa Bell and Gwen John, this art form was a conduit for their lives, their rebellions, their quietly subversive loves for men and women. But for every artist whom we remember, there are those whose work is almost forgotten. In This Dark Country, Rebecca Birrell conducts a dazzling fusion of group biography and art criticism, exploring, from the celebrated to the overlooked, the structures of intimacy that make – and dismantle – our worlds. 'A brilliant book ... A truly radical aesthetics fit for the twenty-first century at last!' - Thérèse Oulton '[A] wonderful book. I am impressed and fascinated. It is beautifully written' - Celia Paul

The second novel featuring FBI agent Georgina O'Neil finds her faced with her most challenging and disturbing case yetGenna Dark, a singer on the verge of stardom, goes missing. Her mother and grandmother, both country and western stars, were kidnapped and murdered 20 years apart as they were about to hit the big time. Is there a connection or is this the work of a copycat? Is Genna Dark about to follow the family tradition? FBI agent Georgina O'Neil and ex-detective Leroy La Portiere find themselves embroiled in the investigation to find Genna Dark, when a sudden and catastrophic illness leaves Georgina on the outside of the FBI, fighting for her life while struggling to save the singer and hold on to everything dear in her life.

Innocent lives threatened … A corrupt enemy … A country in crisis … There’s a saying among drug cartels: “Plata o plomo”—silver or lead. It’s a concept Ryan Weller knows well, and when a group of American missionaries are taken hostage in the slums of Jalousie, Haiti, nothing comes closer to the truth. With the mission’s CEO unable to meet the ransom, only one option remains: to issue a contract for their rescue. To protect their people, GOSPEL turns to an unconventional savior: Dark Water Research. Although the contracts remit is strictly salvation rather than salvage, Ryan and his team of veteran contractors are the ideal solution—they know the turf, have the skills needed to recover the missionaries, and they know the right people in-country to help grease the wheels. But when Ryan learns there’s more to one of the missionaries than first meets the eye, he’s thrust headfirst into a pitched battle against a brutal drug smuggling operation. Headed by the elusive Mister Smith, the CIA-funded network provides a direct conduit to the heart of the United States’ ravenous narcotics trade, and it’s a venture Smith will move heaven and earth to protect. With Haiti reeling from their recent presidential assassination and its warlords and cartels continually vying for control of the island’s streets, Smith relies on the chaos to keep his shipments on course and the money flowing to his unscrupulous pockets. For Haiti to thrive, Smith’s network must fall—and Ryan Weller is a man determined to see it happen.

From the international award-winning Australian writer Bronwyn Parry comes a gripping novel of love and suspense - the second in her Dungirri series. Dark Country was voted Favourite Romantic Suspense Novel by the Australian Romance Readers Association. They've considered him a murderer for eighteen years, so no one in Dungirri is surprised when 'Gil' Gillespie returns and a woman's body is found in his car. Wearied by too many deaths and doubting her own skills, local police sergeant Kris Mathews isn't sure whether Gil is a decent man wronged by life, or a hardened criminal she should lock up. She does know he's not guilty of this murder, though, because she is his alibi. Gil isn't used to feeling anything for anyone. But there's a teenager here who has his eyes - a daughter he never knew existed. And the sergeant's fiery tenacity stirs his blood. He can't acknowledge either. He's made too many enemies in the Sydney Mafia and amongst corrupt cops. Kris's alibi might have saved him from a murder charge but her dedication to finding the truth has made her a target. Gil is surrounded by wilderness, but there's no place to hide because his enemies have most of the town on their side, and they know that the one thing most punishing would be harming the few people he cares about. The other novels in Bronwyn Parry's gripping Dungirri series are As Darkness Falls and Darkening Skies. Praise for Dark Country: 'there is a strong romantic plotline even while the suspense is so well maintained the novels [As Darkness Falls and Dark Country] qualify as rattlingly good crime reads -- The Australian 'A great thriller ... Verdict: gripping.' -- Herald Sun 'loyalty and romance combine with all the action to make a memorable story' -- Woman's Day

“A smart, rich country noir” from the acclaimed author Kentucky Straight and The Good Brother (Stewart O’Nan, bestselling author of Henry, Himself). Chris Offutt is an outstanding literary talent, whose work has been called “lean and brilliant” (The New York Times Book Review) and compared by reviewers to Tobias Wolff, Ernest Hemingway, and Raymond Carver. He’s been awarded the Whiting Writers Award for Fiction/Nonfiction and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award, among numerous other honors. His first work of fiction in nearly two decades, Country Dark is a taut, compelling novel set in rural Kentucky from the Korean War to 1970. Tucker, a young veteran, returns from war to work for a bootlegger. He falls in love and starts a family, and while the Tuckers don’t have much, they have the love of their home and each other. But when his family is threatened, Tucker is pushed into violence, which changes everything. The story of people living off the land and by their wits in a backwoods Kentucky world of shine-runners and laborers whose social codes are every bit as nuanced as the British aristocracy, Country Dark is a novel that blends the best of Larry Brown and James M. Cain, with a noose tightening evermore around a man who just wants to protect those he loves. It reintroduces the vital and absolutely distinct voice of Chris Offutt, a voice we’ve been missing for years. “[A] fine homage to a pocket of the country that’s as beautiful as it is prone to tragedy.”—The Wall Street Journal “A pleasure all around.”—Daniel Woodrell, author of Winter’s Bone

In the same creepy vein as Philip K. Dick and Thomas Harris, Etchinson's award-winning fiction is justly known for its creepy ambiance.

They've considered him a murderer for eighteen years, so no one in Dungirri is surprised when 'Gil' Gillespie returns and a woman's body is found in his car. Wearied by too many deaths and doubting her own skills, local police sergeant Kris Mathews isn't sure whether Gil is a decent man wronged by life, or a hardened criminal she should lock up. But she does know he's not guilty of this murder, because she is his alibi. Gil isn't used to feeling anything for anyone. But there's a teenager here who has his eyes - a daughter he never knew existed. And the sergeant's fiery tenacity stirs his blood. He can't acknowledge either. He's made too many enemies in the Sydney Mafia and amongst corrupt cops. Kris's alibi might have saved him from a murder charge but her dedication to finding the truth has made her a target. Gil is surrounded by wilderness, but there's no place to hide, because his enemies have most of the town on their side, and they know that the one thing most punishing would be harming the few people he cares about.

Too often people mistake monsters for gods. When a ravaged corpse is discovered in Pretoria, South Africa, Esmé Snyder--an occult-crime expert--is called in to investigate. But she doesn't know the scope of what she's up against. Esmé is the target of a cat-and-mouse game with a serial killer who uses the paranormal to do his bidding, with the intent of becoming a god on Earth. With assistance from her team--a brusque detective, eccentric millionaire, stoic priest, hawkeyed secretary, and handsome British forensic criminologist--Esmé hopes to find the killer before he strikes again. But the clock isn't all that's working against them. The media catches wind of the threat against the citizens of Pretoria, and their reported speculations promise a post-Apartheid Satanic Panic. As the body count grows, Esmé must figure out who is behind the heinous crimes before she ends up the final sacrifice. Dark Country highlights the multicultural mythologies, magic, histories, beauty, and horror of living in pseudo-modern South Africa.