NEW OUTBACK AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION FOR 2025: GUNNAWAH By RONNI SALT

2025 is shaping up to be a big year for Australian crime fiction with a virtual flood of new books by some of our best writers, including Michael Robotham, Dervla McTiernan, Michelle Prak, Shelley Burr and Garry Disher, to name a few. There is also a very promising looking first novel by Indigenous author Angie Faye Martin, Melaleuca, due out in June. First out of the block, however, is Ronni Salt’s impressive debut, Gunnawah (Hachette, 1 January 2025).

Set in the Riverina in 1974, Gunnawah is an engrossing mixture of crime, historical reflection and a coming of age story. Like a lot of good crime fiction, it is set in a period of change, as the local community around Gunnawah awaits the benefits of a proposed irrigation scheme, including those after quick illegal dollars. While across Australia broader social reforms are occurring under the Prime Ministership of Gough Whitlam.

Into this time of flux comes nineteen-year-old farmgirl Adelaide Hoffman, who applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, as the first step in her plan to escape the small town that has not always been good to her. The paper’s owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide, puts her straight to work covering the proposed irrigation project. What starts as a routine assignment soon puts Adelaide on the trail of a much bigger story. Water is money in farming communities, and when Adelaide starts asking questions, it’s like she’s poked a bull ant’s nest. Someone will do whatever it takes to stop Adelaide and Val finding out how far the river of corruption and crime runs.

The pseudonymous, rural-based Ronni Salt is well known for her political commentary as a citizen journalist on the old Twitter, and Gunnawah is a nicely written piece of crime fiction with a subtle overlay of social commentary. The story starts gradually, but Salt’s wry portrayal of the social and political dynamics of the small town keeps the reader very engaged, and there is a good sense of unease as those with any knowledge of the Riverina in the 1970s will know where it is all going.

The characters are an interesting collection of the familiar and the quirky, and there is a nice smattering of humour as they interact. Adelaide and Val are terrific, as is the enigmatic Wayne Trevaskis, who grows with the story, and there is not a false note with any of the characters. The mysteries at the core of the book are well conceived, with lots of strands and surprises to them, and it all builds to an exciting and unexpected conclusion.

Salt describes Gunnawah as having the tone of ‘Muriel’s Wedding meets Fargo in rural Australia’, but I think it is more than that. There is a strong crime story underpinning the quirkiness, and the occasional flash of gunfire and violence adds the necessary excitement and tension. It is also quite moving at times, and there is plenty to reflect on. The depiction of small town Riverina in the 1970s, warts and all, seems to be spot-on, and Salt nicely captures the mood of the times.

If I have any complaints, it is that she tries to cram too much into the plot, especially towards the end when another infamous event in Australian history raises its head, perhaps unnecessarily.

In all, Gunnawah is a confidently written and highly enjoyable crime novel, with a great cover, that sets an early high bar for 2025. A great summer read that fans of Australian rural crime should definitely put on their ‘to read’ list!

Gunnawah is released in Australia on 1 January 2025. It is released in the United Kingdom in June 2025. Thanks to the publisher and the Canberra Weekly for an advanced copy of the book for review.