An English backpacker is on trial for murder in Australia . The tabloids say she killed her lover, fed his body to crocodiles then hid the evidence. She refuses to say what happened. She is trapped within a jail cell and inside her mind in a place of guilt, horror and emptiness, her only companion an ancient creature of the crocodiles who inhabits her dreams Only one person knows and can help her. But he and his helicopter have vanished in the place that locals call The Empty Place with a few fragments of metal from it found washed out to sea. Everyone is convinced he has perished. Is there any way out for Susan. She is determined to plead guilty to protect her child from the deeds of the father. She refuses to reveal what occurred. She awaits conviction and sentencing, expecting to spend her life in jail. But the detective who discovered Susan's identity continues to seek the truth. He knows there must be another story to explain why. He must discover the past of this man she murdered to unlock the secret. The rest of officialdom just wants to lock this girl up and throw away the key. As time ticks away towards the trial, Susan's sanity is falling apart - guilt for what she has done, lonely depression at the prospect of years in prison without her child. She loses hope when the helicopter vanishes and lives inside herself in her own empty place. Yet she must still keep alive the fathers good legacy for the sake of the child. In her mind she sees an escape, she will return to her lover and his crocodile spirit - end it all and be free of this misery. Her friends and the detective suspect her suicide plans. They are desperate to help but powerless to protect her from herself. They must keep seeking truth. It is a race against time. Can the truth be uncovered before the trial ends. Susan is increasingly desperate too. She wants her escape, she must keep the truth hidden, the investigation is closing in. She must divert them. She has a plan, her own death will be the diversion and will bury the secret forever.
About the Author: Graham Wilson lives in Sydney Australia. He has completed and published nine books, including three in the Old Balmain House Series. The first book, Little Lost Girl, tells the story of a small girl who went missing 100 years ago with her best friend and was never found, leaving a trail of grief down through generations until the finally her story is discovered. It is based in the real Balmain, an early inner Sydney suburb, with its real locations and historical events providing part of the story background. This second book, 'Lizzie's Tale' begins in the same setting, It is the story of a working class teenage girl who lives in this house in the 1950s and 1960s, It tells of how she becomes pregnant she is determined not to surrender her baby for adoption, and her struggle to survive. The series concludes with the book 'Devils Choice' which follows the life of Lizzie's daughter Catherine and the awful choice she too must make through confronting her mother's rapists. Graham has also written five novels in this Crocodile Spirit Dreaming Series. The first novel 'An English Visitor' tells the story of an English backpacker who visits the Northern Territory and becomes captivated and in great danger from a man who loves crocodiles. The second book in the series, 'Crocodile Man', follows the consequences of the first book based around the discovery of this man's remains and the main character being placed on trial for murder. This third book, 'Empty Places', is about the struggle of the main character to retain her sanity in jail while her family and friends desperately try to find out what really happened on that fateful day before it is too late. Book 4, 'Lost Girls' is the story of four missing backpackers whose lives are revealed in this man's diary. It is also the story of the search for the main character who has vanished too. Book 5, 'Sunlit Shadow Dance' concludes the series and begins with a girl who appears in a remote aboriginal community with no memory and how she rebuilds her life but alongside this come dark shadows that threaten to overwhelm her. Graham has also written a family memoir "Children of Arnhem's Kaleidoscope." It tells of his life growing up in a remote aboriginal community in Australia's Northern Territory. It also tells of his surviving an attack by a large crocodile. In his non writing life he is a wildlife veterinarian working with zoo animals and on national parks.