Aussie Crime Novelist Adrian Hyland at SCENE OF THE CRIME

[J. Sydney Jones]

Mystery Down Under: Adrian Hyland’s Outback

May 7, 2010 by Scene of the Crime | Edit

Australian author Adrian Hyland joins us at Scene of the Crime to discuss crime down under. His protagonist is the college-educated, half-aboriginal Emily Tempest, who
has, in the series opener, Moonlight Downs (published as Diamond
Dove in Australia) returned to her native Outback in Australia
after years of traveling the world. Back in her native village, she is
drawn into solving the murder of one of the community leaders in a
“beguiling first mystery,” as the New York Times Book Review termed
the work. The Sydney Morning Herald felt the novel
“incorporates geophysical data, race politics and aboriginal
spirituality into a seamless, often hilarious stream of narrative.”
Hyland, who worked with aboriginal communities in the Northern
Territory, Australia, for a decade, won Australia’s Ned Kelly Award for
this first novel.

Hyland’s second installment, Gunshot Road, just out in the U.S., continues Emily Tempest’s sleuthing career in a blend of outback setting and cultural investigation. Publishers Weekly found
this an “outstanding” work and Booklist called it “better than
his debut.”

Adrian, it is a real pleasure to have you with us at Scene of the Crime.

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