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R. Bownds Author of Australian Mysteries - News - Freebies - August Newsletter 2026
Published 24 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader.
Continuing our 1969 Queensland adventure.
After cutting East, we headed north from Miles through Taroom and across the mountains towards Cracow. It wasn't raining in this part of Queensland, and the roads were dry, dusty, potholed, and rough. The mountain road, no wider than two vehicles. A sharp drop off on the downside and a steep bank of rocks, trees (both alive and dead) and underbrush on the other. Dad out in front with the car and caravan, my brother Des in the centre driving the Landrover with trailer and bringing up the rear, my brother Alf in the Thames Trader truck.
The climb was slow, then Dad stopped the car. Laying across the road from one side to the other was the biggest snake we'd ever seen. It stretched from one side of two lanes to the other and down the steep mountainside, disappearing among the rocks, unable to see its head. The body of this Rock Python would've easily been a good foot in diameter at its thickest. We waited until we had enough room to drive around safely. After the snake had got halfway across the road, we drove our vehicles by without difficulty. At the top of the range, we pulled over to let the vehicles cool and have lunch. While waiting, we picked up several fossilised large snake vertebrae. I haven't been back there since, but I wonder sometimes if we'd still find any of these fossils today.
Cracow back then was a small town, comprising a few shops, a hotel and a petrol station. It was night, and being low on fuel, we looked for somewhere that was open, to no avail. Dad and Alf walked into a farm and asked the farmer if we could buy some fuel off him, which he sold us without hesitation. Enough to get us back on the road towards the next town, Theodore.
From Theodore we continued north to Banana before turning west towards Moura, crossed the Dawson River to Rolleston. North again through Springsure and on to Emerald, where we camped on the banks of the Nogoa River. With only five dollars left to our names, Dad went into Emerald looking for work, but due to the long drought, no one was hiring. It was here he was told about the sapphire fields, and with no other option available, we packed up and moved on to try our luck.
Outside the Rubyvale store we bumped into once again Ronald Biggs; he denied having ever been near St George and introduced himself with a different name than the one he'd previously used. We bid him goodbye and never saw him again.
Did we strike it rich? No, but we sure had some fun.
The ghost town of Cracow today.
The Devil's Revenge
The latest in The Mara Mysteries is available now.
Some men hide in plain sight. That's what makes them dangerous.
When Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Bannon is pulled from his posting in country Victoria and handed a cold case by Detective Superintendent Turner. A fourteen-year-old girl raped and murdered in an empty house for sale in Cheltenham. He inherits more than a file. He inherits a failed investigation, and the uncomfortable suspicion that whoever did this won’t stop at one. The first breakthrough doesn't come from the case file. It comes from a second body. A woman found strangled on St Kilda Beach, her night at a local hotel ending the way the killer planned from the moment he followed her. As Bannon, Sergeant Mick Ryan, and Detective Sergeant Brad Kingsley piece together the evidence, the investigation pulls them deeper into a world of lonely victims, buried secrets, and a man who selects his targets. And with another woman already in his sights, time is not on their side. The killer is organised, methodical, and hiding in plain sight behind a tradie's ute, a dating profile, and a patient, predatory calm. But Bannon has his own complications. A divorce grinding through the courts. Three children he barely sees. A posting at the end of all this that may or may not be waiting. And in a small town north of Melbourne, a missing sergeant and a web of corruption that someone very much wants left alone. A gripping police procedural set in Melbourne's bayside suburbs, where the danger wears an ordinary face and the cost of the job is measured in more than time. This is the fourth book in the Mara Mysteries Series. This book is written in Australian English. It contains Australian slang, Australian Idioms, Australian wit and humour. You will find a glossary of all Australian terms used at the end of the book.
I have paperback copies signed or unsigned of all my books available through my website or direct through my Payhip store. Including glossy cover paperback copies of the short story Murder on the Murray.
Also the ebook of Betrayal in the Dust is now only available through my website.
I write women’s suspense novels for readers who want to escape into stories filled with complex, independent heroines living life on their own terms. Through my newsletter, I share exclusive content and create a community that celebrates dreaming big.
Hello Reader In my last newsletter I started the story of our trip from South Australia to Queensland back in 1969 including our encounter with the great train robber Ronald Biggs. After we dropped Ronald Biggs and the man he was travelling with off in St George we continued up the Moonie Highway. It was still raining and flood water lay everywhere to the point where it was dangerous to even drift one wheel off the bitumen in fear of being bogged or worse. Not great on a narrow road not much...
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Hello Reader The Devil's Revenge Pre- order now live on Amazon. Release date 30th of June 2026. Some men hide in plain sight. That's what makes them dangerous. When Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Bannon is pulled from his posting in country Victoria and handed a cold case by Detective Superintendent Turner. A fourteen-year-old girl raped and murdered in an empty house for sale in Cheltenham. He inherits more than a file. He inherits a failed investigation, and the uncomfortable suspicion that...
