"I really, really enjoyed the book. It was an absolute page-turner, rising tension, as well as a lovely mystery yarn." - Karen Joy Fowler -- Winner of the 1997 Ditmar Award for Best Novel Shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award -- A mystery within a mystery. Unemployed university graduate Mel Kirksley is hired to discover the author of an anonymous crime novel from the 1860s. What she finds is nothing less than a true-life detective story, a thinly described autobiographical tragedy set against the backdrop of the Gold Rush. As Mel digs deeper, the line between biographer and subject starts to fade, pulling Mel deeper into a maelstrom where past and present are thrown together. -- "An ingenious well-paced mystery story." - Brenda Niall, The Age