The Spinster and the Madman (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781543404494)

Probationary Constable Gina Palumbo is looking forward to an impromptu trip to the Blue Mountains, which was organized by her girlfriend; it's a chance to unwind before reporting for her first day of duty.

Her plans are thrown into chaos after a strange and unsettling encounter with their friends' next-door neighbor. The elderly lady introduces herself as Sylvia, the only child of Daryl Jacob Thompson, a notorious murderer who tortured and killed eight young women in the 1970s, burying them in his orchard in country Victoria.

Gina soon finds herself enmeshed in the story of Sylvia's horrific past, until she begins to question the potential impact of such violence and terror on a person's psyche.

As Sylvia's tale races toward its deadly conclusion, Gina must draw on all her internal resources to discover the truth before it is too late.