Black Light

A cracking supernatural crime mystery from the twice winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Australian Science Fiction Novel. This charming spooky novel is set in Pelican River, south-west of Perth, in the 1920s. With all the charm and cosiness of a BBC TV period drama, the story plays out in the aftermath of the First World War and is centred around the eccentric and newly widowed Ruth, her butler Rutherford, and her aunt Julia together with Ruths inventor neighbour Gordon and his raft of hounds, and the elusive and sinister demon, Mr Nor. Humour abounds and the characters explore the new ideas in science and physics of the era, as well as the development of science fiction itself, with the cameos by the likes of Mr H.G. Wells. This novel also bears the traces of the effect of war on a nation and its people, and the complex question of attitudes towards Indigenous people at the beginning of the last century. This charmingly spooky novel is set in Pelican River, southwest of Perth, in the 1920s. With all the charm and coziness of a BBC TV period drama, the story plays out in the aftermath of the First World War. It is centered around the eccentric and newly widowed Ruth, her butler Rutherford, and her aunt Julia, together with Ruth's inventor neighbor Gordon and his raft of hounds, and the elusive and sinister demon, Mr Nor. Humor abounds and the characters explore the new ideas in science and physics of the era, as well as the development of science fiction itself, with cameos by the likes of Mr. H. G. Wells. This supernatural crime mystery also bears the traces of the effect of war on a nation and its people. Ruth Black is an English novelist left widowed by the mysterious death of her husband during the Great War. She immigrates to Australia and settles in the sleepy coastal town of Pelican River to repair her broken heart and work on her next novel. But her quiet life is thrown into disarray when Aunt Julia arrives with an urgent, dreadful message. Ruths life is in danger and the threat is from a source not entirely of this world. With the assistance of her butler Rutherford, and her good friend the inventor Gordon Duncombe, Ruth finds herself caught up in a hair-raising race to defy her impending doom.