Canticle Creek

Product Information

Award winning Australian author Adrian Hyland makes a return to the publishing scene with Canticle Creek, an evocative and tense crime fiction novel. Trying to help likeable young tearaway Adam Lawson find a better future, Northern Territory police woman, Jesse Redpath convinced a judge to suspend his sentence provided he took a job at the local roadhouse and a room at her father’s house nearby. With her father being a well-known artist, she also hoped he would encourage Adam to take his obvious artistic talent more seriously. However, a week later Adam had run away, following a woman he met to Victoria and three months after that Jesse heard he had died in a car crash after murdering a woman called Daisy Baker and stealing her car. Knowing this didn’t sound like the Adam she knew, Jesse and her Dad headed to Canticle Creek, the small Victorian town where Adam had been living to find out more about what happened. Adam had hitched a ride to Victoria with a girl he’d recently met and was now being accused of her murder, then after stealing her car, he lost control of it on a nearby country road and crashed killing himself outright. Seems like Nash has enemies. And what looks like a close knit community might just be cover for dark secrets. They decide to go, in spite of the fact both are uncomfortable in big crowds. No wonder. (I love all these hyphenated descriptions.)

Canticle Creek - Kindle edition by Hyland, Adrian. Mystery

Ben Redpath is a sought-after artist, and he’s willing to give Adam a go. Adam is fascinated by the paints, but he lasts only a week before he takes off south, possibly following some woman he’d been seen chatting to. Restless, seeking the good life. My review of Moonlight Downs aka Diamond Dove - Emily Tempest #1 - which won the 2007 Ned Kelly award for best first fiction. I quite enjoyed this Aussie crime novel. I found the lead character, Jesse, a likeable and intelligent character. When Jesse hears that Adam is dead and allegedly killed a woman, she and her dad head to Canticle Creek to find out more because they knew Adam and can't believe that he would commit murder. There they meet some intriguing characters including artists, welcoming families, aggressive loggers and ex drug addicts. With some very tense scenes, Jesse is determined to find out what really happened in relation to Adam's death, and someone else out there is equally determined that she doesn't... Kenji Takada, a Japanese artist, was just passing through when he came across Canticle Creek, captivated he painted it and decided to put down roots and stay. Here he captures the landscape and leaves his own mark on the area. His daughter and granddaughter are the continuing strong influence on the area. an entertaining and engrossing novel. Hyland has written the ideal story for a long, hot summer, where fire always seems a possibility.’ ― The Canberra TimesBen was a much sought after artist and as such they were welcomed into the home of Lucy, daughter of distinguished Japanese artist Kenji Takada, her husband Sam, and their sixteen year old, wise beyond her years daughter, Possum. Jesse Redpath has a new job in a new town, Satellite – the stormy weather that greets her first few days on the new beat seems like a sign for what’s to come. A local has died in what seems like an accident, but Jessie isn’t so sure that ‘accident’ wasn’t planned. All evidence seems to point to Nash, but Jessie’s not sure about that either.

Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland | 9781761151163 | Booktopia Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland | 9781761151163 | Booktopia

She had earned herself a law degree, didn’t like that side of the law, so surprised everyone by training with the Territory police. She knows her people and she knew Adam. No way he did that. Its a fantastic read, bringing to life modern Australia in vivid colours. I thoroughly enjoyed it and really hope the author has more in store for Jesse!

The Sydney Morning Herald

Adam Lawson was a loveable rogue, he left his graffiti everywhere but Jesse could see potential in his graffiti, when he came up before the magistrate, Jesse persuaded the magistrate to allow Adam to live with her father and work at a local bar, this worked well, her artist father could see Adam's talent and nurtured it. I thought the mystery was quite original, and I loved most of the characters, especially Jesse and Possum. The only thing that was hard to swallow was that a police officer from another jurisdiction would be so well tolerated in the middle of a murder investigation. But as long as you can accept that, it's a fast-paced, satisfying ride. Another thing I really enjoyed was the incorporation of visual art and conservation in the storyline, giving Hyland's writing the opportunity to shine as he describes the paintings and the environment. This author has been on my radar for his Emily Tempest series, but this recent release (a standalone) is the first of his novels I've read. I'll be moving Diamond Dove up my TBR to read soon. Blazey Best was a great choice of narrator for this audiobook. The action steps up, and at one point, just when I thought everything was wrapping up on a pretty good yarn, it heats up again and gets even better. So she leaves the Territories for Melbourne on a period of leave to investigate. Trying to find out why Daisy was killed, and by whom, brings danger to Jesse and all who are trying to help her. The final scenes where the rogue fires are threatening to engulf both evidence and investigators was just amazing.

Canticle Creek (Adrian Hyland, Ultimo) | Books+Publishing

Change plays an important role too. Nadia wants to change her life; Sam suddenly broadens his artistic horizons so late in life and Dom wants to redevelop the area to boost the local economy. At the same time there are those resistant to change and what it entails, the logging that scars the landscape and building work that destroys natural flora and fauna. Daisy Baker’s love of nature is clear from her artwork and activism, her murder was not the senseless crime it first appears. Seemingly disparate elements all skilfully woven into a storyline that is cautionary and modern but also with a rich vein of old-fashioned power and greed running through it. It’s been a decade since I have read Adrian Hyland’s Gunshot Road and Diamond Dove yet both Australian crime novels remain favourites, so I jumped at the opportunity to read Canticle Creek. The flamboyant fellow cruising in to greet us turned out to be Clive Carpenter, the senior curator. He was flaxen-haired, with a wheat-bag belly, a bright blue suit and a nose like a burst sausage.” When Jesse sees an invitation to a National Gallery exhibition in Melbourne, she notices that two of the featured landscapes are one of her father’s and one by the late Kenji Takada. The title of Takada’s is ‘Canticle Creek’, the place Adam’s body was found. Adrian Hyland is the award-winning author of Diamond Dove, Gunshot Roadand Kinglake-350, which was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for non-fiction in 2012.His books have been published internationally, including in Britain and the US, and translated into a variety of languages, including German, French, Swedish and Czech.Though the case was pretty much closed, Jesse started doing some digging of her own and soon started to ruffle a few feathers with her snooping. The writing is fluid, slow and languid at times before a sudden burst of high activity and danger. The action is gripping, quite exhilarating, conveying a genuine sense of urgency and jeopardy. Life and death that almost feels tangible with some remarkably powerful, visceral and disturbing imagery at play. A spate of new, seemingly random crimes, have Jesse and friends jumping for cover as the danger to their own lives becomes apparent…and the dots don’t seem to be connecting as they should. When Kulara police officer Jesse Redpath learns about the death of Adam Lawson, a young man from her Northern Territory community, the circumstances don’t make sense to her. Serendipitously, an invitation for her artist father to an exhibition in Melbourne, gives Jesse the opportunity to visit Canticle Creek and do a little investigating of her own. Working in the small town of Kulara in the Northern Territory kept police officer Jesse Redpath on her toes. Her days were long and tiring, but she felt she was starting to get the crime rate down to a minimum.

Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland — Readings Books Review: Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland — Readings Books

The witty, funny and descriptive nature of the storyline was interesting and gave way to a good imagination. I loved the characters and how the author focused more on female protagonists. Although Daisy was already dead, author makes us fall in love with a character who doesn’t even make an appearance except in prologue and in memories. But Jesse Redpath isn’t from Canticle Creek. Where she comes from, the truth often hides in plain sight, but only if you know where to look. When Jesse starts to ask awkward questions, she uncovers a town full of contradictions and a cast of characters with dark pasts, secrets to hide and even more to lose.

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Senior Constable Jesse Redpath is unwelcome and surplus to requirements, as far as Victorian lawmakers are concerned. She’s out of her territory, in both senses of the word, and has no jurisdiction here. Jesse and Ben were devastated when they heard that Adam was dead, he had murdered a young girl and smashed a stollen car killing himself in the process..............this wasn't the Adam that they knew so they set off for the small town of Canticle Creek a short distance from Melbourne to investigate.