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The Bolthole

Brief Description
A rising star of crime fiction Sunday Times Outback noir has a new star The Times Located off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks. Over the centuries the Islanders have cultivated a... Read More
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Detective Sergeant George Manolis and Senior Constable Sparrow travel to a remote Australian island to investigate the death of a rich newcomer to the community

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A rising star of crime fiction Sunday Times

Outback noir has a new star The Times

Located off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks.

Over the centuries the Islanders have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency, independence and resilience. But times are changing: multimillionaires from the mainland are building immense clifftop mansions and filling the skies with private planes and helicopters. A quiet paradise is being transformed into a bolthole for the rich and privileged. And the locals aren't happy.

Richard Marlowe, a wealthy "blow-in" to the island, goes missing, last seen wading into the ocean for a dawn swim. A shark attack is blamed, but things don't add up. Reuniting for a new investigation, Detective Sergeant Manolis and Senior Constable Sparrow arrive on the island, but their presence isn't welcomed, either. Faced with hostility from both Islanders and newcomers, their attempts to locate the missing man are derailed by a civil war over limited resources, a fragile environment, and fractured community dynamics.

REVIEWS FOR THE STONING

Political crime fiction of a high order Sunday Times

Deliciously dark outback noir Guardian

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529443097

Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 02 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: MacLehose Press

Illustration: N/A

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Peter Papathanasiou was born in northern Greece and adopted as a baby to an Australian family. His writing has been published internationally by The New York Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, Daily Telegraph, The ABC, SBS, Huffington Post. He also holds an MA in Creative Writing from City University, London, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Australian National University. His first book, a memoir Son of Mine was published in 2019 by Salt.

Also by Peter Papathanasiou

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  • The Bolthole
    "A rising star of crime fiction" Sunday Times "Outback noir has a new star" The Times Located off the coast of South Australia, Kangaroo Island lies surrounded by violent seas harbouring deadly great white sharks and forgotten shipwrecks. Over the centuries, the Islanders have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency, independence, and resilience. But times are changing: multimillionaires from the mainland...
    Paperback
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  • The Invisible
    β€œOutback noir has a new star” The Times Burnt-out from police work, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage. β€œA...
    Paperback
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  • The Pit
    Outback noir has a new star - Mark Sanderson, The Times With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in. Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region....
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  • The Stoning
    Longlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2022: Debut Fiction Longlisted for the ABIA Book Awards 2022: Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year A small outback town wakes to a savage murder. Molly Abbott, a popular teacher at the local school, is found taped to a tree and stoned to death. Suspicion falls on the refugees at the new detention...
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  • The Pit
    Outback noir has a new star Mark Sanderson, The Times A rising star of crime fiction Joan Smith, Sunday Times Delivers another larger-than-life, take-no-prisoners slice of outback noir. A truly original writer Emma Styles, author of NO COUNTRY FOR GIRLS With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to...
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