A fresh and pacey high-stakes crime drama, Fiona Hardy’s Unbury the Dead will have you strapped in and gripped to the page.
Best mates Teddy and Alice are hired hands with flexible moral boundaries. Whatever the mess, they can be relied upon to fix it with no questions asked. But sometimes it’s not as simple as cleaning up.
Teddy is searching the suburbs for a missing teenager with her occasional sidekick Art, while Alice’s mission is to drive one of Australia’s richest men along Victoria’s east coast to his final resting place before anybody finds out he’s dead.
But when a surprise revelation sees their cases collide, Teddy and Alice turn the tables on their wealthy employers to shake out the truth.
Hardy knows a thing or two about suspense. She has spent over a decade reviewing crime books, reading hundreds of procedurals, psychological thrillers, spy novels, mysteries and whodunits.
“All that reading did work to hone my favourite aspects of crime fiction: protagonists that work a little outside of the law; slightly younger, less cynical and wizened characters; relationships that cross the line between rival and friendship and murky moral quandaries,” says Hardy.
Drawing inspiration from gritty characters with flexible morals, best mates Teddy and Alice were born. These two don’t hesitate to get their hands dirty when there’s a pay day on the line. With echoes of the iconic Thelma & Louise, Teddy and Alice are two women you want to stay on the right side of.
Unbury the Dead is a mighty debut by a new bold voice in Aussie crime – a superbly fresh and pacey high-stakes drama with two irresistible heroines.
Fiona Hardy is a writer, bookseller and reviewer from Melbourne. Previously, she has written books for kids, including the CBCA Notable How to Make a Movie in 12 Days, and How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life, which won the Children’s Peace Literature Award.
Fiona’s short story Green Thumbs was recently shortlisted for the 2024 Scarlet Stiletto won the HQ Fiction Award for Best Thriller. This is her first book for adults, and she’s sorry to the people from ASIO who have probably been alerted to her alarming Google search history. She lives on Wurundjeri land with her husband and daughter.
Unbury the Dead is published by Affirm Press and is available from all leading book sellers including QBD Books.
Image: Unbury the Dead – courtesy of Affirm Press