Waiting on Wednesday – Red Dirt Road by S. R. White

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this latest entry, I check out an intriguing and fantastic upcoming new Australian murder mystery novel with Red Dirt Road by S. R. White.

Red Dirt Road Cover

Amazon Book Depository

Last year I was lucky enough to receive a copy of a fantastic novel from a new-to-me author, S. R. White, with Prisoner. Prisoner was an awesome and compelling crime fiction read that featured a complex and deeply impressive investigation in the remote Australian outback. Emphasising interrogation scenes and clever crime scene investigation, this was an extremely good piece of Australian crime fiction that I had an outstanding time reading. As such, I have been very interested in reading more books from White, and I was very happy to find out that he has a new novel coming out in a few months’ time.

This new novel from White is Red Dirt Road, which is currently set for release in January 2023. Red Dirt Road has another great sounding narrative to it that will see White’s recurring protagonist, Detective Dana Russo, travel to a new town and investigate two crazy murders. Set in a very remote location, it appears that Russo will be trapped in town with the potential murderer and must work to uncover why and how this crime occurred. I really love the sound of the cool plot that White has come up with for Red Dirt Road, and I have a strong feeling that this is going to be one of the better Australian novels of 2023. I love the sound of this unique case and I look forward to grabbing this book next year.

Synopsis:

One outback town. Two puzzling murders. Fifty suspects.

In Unamurra, a drought-scarred, one-pub town deep in the outback, two men are savagely murdered a month apart – their bodies elaborately arranged like angels.

With no witnesses, no obvious motives and no apparent connections between the killings, how can lone police officer Detective Dana Russo – flown in from hundreds of kilometres away – possibly solve such a baffling, brutal case?

Met with silence and suspicion from locals who live by their own set of rules, Dana must take over a stalled investigation with only a week to make progress.

But with a murderer hiding in plain sight, and the parched days rapidly passing, Dana is determined to uncover the shocking secrets of this forgotten town – a place where anyone could be a killer.

A gripping and vividly atmospheric story from the international bestseller, this is a searing story perfect for fans of Jane Harper, Chris Hammer and Garry Disher.