When We Fall

Shortlisted for the 2023 ACWA Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction

Shortlisted for the 2023 Davitt Award

‘It isn’t strangers you need to worry about here. Blood lines run deep and in unexpected places. Every victim, every accused, we’ll know. The past runs alongside us all the time. Some days it spills into the open.’

In the wild, coastal town of Merritt, Alex Tillerson and her mother make a shocking find on the beach. The police claim it’s an accidental death, but there are whispers of murder and that it is not the first.

Bella Greggs was found dead at the bottom of a ravine but drowned in salt water. Maxine McFarlane was pulled from the ocean but with no water in her lungs. Black feathers were found with both bodies, but what do they mean?

As Alex fights for answers to honour the dead and to discover why her mother fled town as a teenager, good people keep looking the other way, memories become unreliable, and secrets threaten to reveal the past.

Alex discovers the truth never dies but it can kill…

Praise for When We Fall:

'A vivid, twisting story that keeps you guessing to the end. This is top-shelf Australian crime.' – Mark Brandi, author of Wimmera and The Others

‘Atmospheric and absorbing, When We Fall is an absolute page-turner.’ – Sara Foster, author of The Hush

'A suspenseful, rattling thriller with an ending that will have you gnawing your fingernails to the bone.' – Fiona Hardy, Readings

‘A wonderful storyteller. The combination of art, death and small town secrets makes for a sinister, complex tale that I could not put down. I’ve loved all of Aoife’s books but I think this is the best yet.’ – Sarah Bailey, author of The Housemate