Having an affair with a married man is always risky, more so when that man is the father of your star pupil. And when his wife has just written a book about a murder with strange parallels to your own situation, then the affair is positively dangerous.

Kate Byrne is aware of these risks, yet continues her affair with Thomas Marnes, hoping his wife Veronica does not know.

When late-night phone calls and unexplained car troubles begin to effect her, it is too late to tun back. She must weather the storm as she is carried on an unstoppable tide of fear.

A Child's True Book of Crime is a stunning first novel, from the talented Chloe Hooper. It is a hard book to classify - part thriller, part satire, part literary fiction - and even part children's story. But it is the inability to classify the book which makes it so intriguing. It is unlike any other book.

A Child's True Book of Crime, by Chloe Hooper
Vintage, 2002

Other Outstanding AUstralian Fiction

Attempts to Draw Jesus, by Stephen Orr
A Charm of Powerful Trouble, by Joanne Horniman
The Artist is a Thief, by Stephen Gray