The Della Marsh Notebook

Della Marsh came to Phillip Island to disappear. Former court reporter. Former investigative journalist at The Age. Former woman with a reputation, a career, and a life that had become too heavy to carry. She arrived on the island three years ago with a smallholding outside Cowes, a horse named Matilda, two rescued Staffies called Biff and Ollie, and a visiting magpie named Polly who treats the farmhouse as her own. She writes heritage trails and cheese profiles for the local Gazette. She tells herself that's enough. But when bodies start turning up — on the Penguin Parade boardwalk, at the Saturday farmers market, in a Grand Prix hospitality tent, at the Nobbies in the fog — Della's instincts fire whether she wants them to or not. Alongside Police Chief Jack Flint, and occasionally guided by the quiet observations of retired barrister Leroy Cunningworth, she finds herself doing the one thing she came here to stop doing. Seeing what others miss. And following it to the truth. Twelve murders. One island. One woman who is very slowly — story by story — finding her way home. Includes: Dead Light • Dark Honey • Pit Noise • Still Water • Wrong Feet • Closing Time • Last Frame • Pink Water • Sweet Nothing • Final Charter • Last Crossing