R. Bownds Author of Australian Mysteries - The Devil's Revenge - Pre Order Now Live!


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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 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.


The Mara Mysteries - Books 1, 2 and 3.

The Mara Mysteries Additional - A Weekend at Joe's

The Jack Smith Series - Book 1

Available Now Through Amazon


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Unique Stories from Australia's Outback

51 Percy Street, Warwick, QLD 4370
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