Seventeen years ago, the little town of Rainier was rocked by a serial killer. Now, to help the town stay afloat, those closest are in talks with a true crime tour company about adding Rainier's dark past to their walking tour, highlighting the death of 3 people. Only not everyone is on board. So when the body of the tour guide is found in the fountain, killed in the same manner as one of the victims 17 years ago, the town is thrown into chaos as they begin their desperate search for 

Shelley brings the town of Rainier to life with an array of complex characters and an atmospheric setting perfect for lovers of Aussie crime fiction. The building tension will draw you in as you take grapple to solve the mystery, only nothing and no one is as it seems. 

Reading the blurb, I had no idea that RIPPER would be connected to Shelley's debut thriller, WAKE. So imagine my delight when Lane, our PI with a fractured past, enters the chat. Without spoiling WAKE for those who haven't read it (and you really should because it is fantastic), we last saw Lane being convicted and sentenced to prison. This is where we now find him three years later, and in the same prison as Jan Henning-Klosner, the the man infamously known as the Rainier Ripper.

When Lane interjects during an inmate attack on Jan that saves his life, the prison governor places Lane in the infirmary with him in hopes he can extract information about any unknown victims. Including the identity of Jane Doe, referred to as Eva Novakova, whose body was found buried and with her baby cut from her stomach. 🤯

Do you have to read WAKE to read RIPPER? It would definitely help to know Lane's back story, and it's important to note that the whodunnit would be spoilt if reading RIPPER first as it is mentioned during Lane's chapters, so I would suggest reading WAKE first to enjoy the unravelling of both mysteries. 

*A big thank you to the team at @hachetteaus for gifting me a copy of RIPPER.