Rose McHugh – The Unseen Library

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (ebook – 3 June 2025)

Series: Southern Highland Mystery – Book 2

Length: 384 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Australian screenwriter Joan Sauers returns to the Southern Highlands with another cosy and compelling mystery Whisky Valley.

Back in 2023, I had the pleasure of reading Joan Sauers’s first book, Echo Lake, a cosy Australian mystery that really stood out thanks to its great use of several small towns in the picturesque Southern Highlands as a background setting. While not my usual cup of tea, I quite enjoyed Echo Lake, especially as I drive through the Southern Highlands all the time, and I was curious when Sauers released a sequel novel last year. This second book from Sauers, Whisky Valley, proved to be another fantastic read, that combines entertaining characters with beautiful locations and a clever mystery.

Plot Synopsis:

A missing violinist. A rising flood. A race against time. Intrigue, music and danger collide in Whisky Valley.

After nearly being murdered last year, Rose McHugh battles anxiety as she uses her investigative skills to find her son’s best friend, a famous violinist who is missing along with his priceless violin.

As floodwaters rise, Rose uncovers secrets and lies among the missing man’s fellow musicians, as well as their patron and her enigmatic psychologist husband.

But when a body is found, can Rose shield her son from suspicion?

Whisky Valley was a genuinely nice and enjoyable mystery novel from Sauers, who provided a great balance between character moments and the underlying murder narrative. Bringing back protagonist Rose McHugh as she continues her troubled settlement in her beloved Southern Highlands, Whisky Valley quickly introduces a new crime involving a missing violinist with connections to Rose’s son. Determined to solve the case before her son is suspected, Rose soon uncovers deeper secrets beneath the musical world of the victim and uncovers details of a troubled family.

I quite enjoyed how this new mystery from Sauers unfolded, and there was a certain amount of uncertainty and alternating suspects that will keep readers guessing until the end. Indeed, I felt that the mystery in Whisky Valley was stronger than that of the first book, and I really enjoyed just how captivating and suspenseful events got as this book progressed. This great mystery blended well with the other key aspects of the book, including the protagonist’s continued exploration of her new local area, her various relationships and friendships, including a new romance, and the fallout from the trauma of Echo Lake. This allowed for a quite emotionally rich novel at times, especially with a lot of compelling conflicts and complex problems coming out of the woodwork. Sauers did a great job building up a lot of different issues in the plot and slowly resolving them throughout the course of Whisky Valley, and you come away a lot closer to the relatable protagonist of this novel as a result.

While I did enjoy Sauers’ latest mystery, my favourite part of Whisky Valley had to be the author’s excellent use of the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales as a backdrop for her mystery. Sauers has a clear love of the Southern Highlands, which is quite evident in this series, as the protagonist lovingly describes various picturesque places found throughout the area. As someone who spends a bit of time visiting or travelling through the Southern Highlands, it was really entertaining to see the protagonist explore various locations I was familiar with throughout the course of the book, and it helped to give a sense of realism to the plot at times. These locations also serve as compelling backdrops to the crimes and drama of the story, and thanks to Sauers’ great descriptions, you can really envision some of the remote locales where murders are taking place, even if you’ve never been to this unique part of Australia. Throw in some interesting dives into the region’s history and culture, which is a fantastic inclusion to the book, and you come away really appreciating Sauers’s use of the Southern Highlands in this series, especially after how well she uses it in Whisky Valley.

Joan Sauers continues to impress with her compelling and heartwarming cosy murder mystery series. Her second book, Whisky Valley, was another great read that combined a fantastic mystery with some interesting character moments a wonderful background setting. An excellent read that I enjoyed checking out.

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Echo Laker Cover

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Trade Paperback – 2 May 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 375 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed Australian screenwriter Joan Sauers makes her crime fiction debut in a big way with the clever and enticing mystery novel, Echo Lake, a riveting read that makes great use of its iconic Australian setting.

Following an ugly divorce, historian Rose McHugh decides to completely uproot her life and move out of the hustle and bustle of Sydney. Following her dreams of a rural lifestyle, Rose moves to the Southern Highlands of Australia, buying a rustic cabin outside the town of Berrima. However, despite her hopes of an idealised and quiet life in the countryside, Rose is about to discover that the Southern Highlands have some big secrets.

After an encounter with a local thug, Rose makes an intriguing discovery of an undeveloped roll of film buried in her back garden. Burning with curiosity, Rose develops the photos, only to discover that they contain the last known pictures of a beautiful young woman who went missing six years earlier and who the police suspect was murdered. Fascinated by the mysterious turn of events, Rose decides to do her own digging into the case.

However, rather than the fun adventure she was expecting, Rose soon finds herself in grave danger when one of the people she talks to winds up dead. Going against the advice of the police, Rose continues her investigation, working with a cohort of new friends from around the local towns. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she discovers that there is something sinister going on in her new home. Can Rose uncover the truth before it is too late, or will she also end up a cautionary tale of the Southern Highlands?

This was an excellent first novel from Sauers, who takes the reader on a magical and entertaining journey into a great Australian setting with this gripping murder mystery. Echo Lake is a fantastic read that really does a good job of drawing you in with its scenic and beautiful locales before hooking you with the captivating mystery. Sauers starts the story off strongly, showcasing the location while also introducing you to protagonist Rose McHugh, whose complex history, relationships, and canine companion makes her quite an appealing character. The initial chapters focus on her getting her bearing in the various towns of the Southern Highlands, including meeting members of the supporting cast, before she is dragged into the mystery of the missing woman thanks to a discovery of film in her backyard. From there the mystery develops at a quick pace, as a witness is murdered, and Joan finds herself both a target and a suspect. Doing her own investigation, she uncovers several new clues that slowly begin to unravel the mystery, which becomes her new obsession. At the same time, Sauers provides an intense and compelling examination into Rose’s life in the Southern Highlands, as well as her complex history and desires for the future. There are some moving moments as Rose attempts to get her life on track and this ties nicely into the final revelations about who the killer is and how they have been targeting people. This results in an intense and captivating conclusion that I was pretty hooked to, and this ended up being a really good and entertaining read.

I quite liked how Echo Lake turned out, and Sauers did a fantastic job of creating a novel that was both exciting and heartfelt. Echo Lake falls within the cosy mystery subgenre as the book is often focused on Rose’s life and amateur sleuthing rather than scenes of death and carnage. I felt that the author got the right balance of character development, scene setting and personal drama within Echo Lake that served as a great counterbalance to the crime fiction side of things. You really get to know and appreciated Rose and the cast of supporting characters, and it will be fun to see them again if Sauers ends up doing a sequel. I will admit that I wasn’t always the biggest fan of the protagonist, mainly because Sauers gave her psychic vibes (a major cliché for me) and she makes a lot of silly decisions. Despite this, I still really enjoyed her emotional journey, and she served as a great focus for the plot. Sauers also produced a great mystery in Echo Lake, and I liked how twisty and complex it got in the places. The raft of intriguing and memorable supporting characters worked to create multiple possible suspects, each of whom may have had a connection to the case, and you are left wondering for a good portion of the novel who might have done it. I think the eventual reveal of the killer was done well and Sauers set it up with some clever clues. As such, this ends up being a very impressive read and I had a great time getting through this classy and compelling read.

While I loved the story and characters, for me the best and most iconic part of Echo Lake was the author’s brilliant use of setting as she explores the Southern Highlands of Australia. The Southern Highlands is a historical area of Australia that lies between Canberra and Sydney, and which is now filled with picturesque small towns that cater to the tourist trade. Sauers’ is clearly a fan of this area and makes great use of this setting throughout Echo Lake, featuring several notable local towns and bush locations, often in entertaining and clever ways. Due to a lifetime of travelling between Canberra and Sydney, I am well familiar with these towns, and I can say that Sauers did a pretty awesome job of capturing their feel and layout. You can really sense each town’s distinctive vibes through Sauers’ writing, and I loved how she captured the beauty and sense of community that they have. The author goes out of her way to feature as many iconic places from these locations as possible, including several of the better cafes, stores, pubs, and even the local dog park. I was personally happy that Sauers featured the iconic and fun antique shop, Dirty Janes, in her novel (a favourite of my wife/editor), and Echo Lake often came across a bit like a tourist brochure at times.

However, the really impressive setting descriptions in Echo Lake come when Sauers looks at the bushland that surrounds the central town locations. Many of the most dramatic moments of Echo Lake occur out in the ancient bush and walking trails the area is known for, and the author does a beautiful job showing how isolated, quiet and hauntingly beautiful these bush locations can be. These descriptions run the gauntlet from awe-inspiring to extremely sinister, depending on the tone of the story, but they always work to enhance the book no matter the scene. As such, I was deeply impressed by the authors use of setting, and I loved how well she featured this familiar Australian location into this amazing novel.

Overall, Echo Lake was a great first novel from Joan Sauers who produced a comfortable and intriguing Australian murder mystery. I loved the interesting story and striking settings of Echo Lake, which work wonderfully together to produce a captivating and entertaining read. A fantastic novel that is really worth checking out.

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