Devil Mountain by Inessa Jackson

A wickedly dark police procedural with a hint of the supernatural, this crime novel is Dinuka McKenzie meets The Bluffs.

When Detective Sergeant Anastasia Brown is sent to investigate a grizzly murder in a small NSW town, she welcomes the chance to run from heartbreak and humiliation. But she quickly discovers that this is no ordinary murder. A popular doctor’s body has been found on the mountain, chained and burned, with arcane symbols carved into the soles of his feet – and the boy who found him swears he saw a ghost lingering in the trees.

Is this a clever killer with a flair for the macabre? Or the work of an elusive Wiccan coven that worships on the mountain? Or, even stranger, are the local murmurs of the mountain being haunted more than just folklore?

As the investigation grows ever murkier, Ana realises that everyone in town has a secret… and some are deadly.

About the Author: Inessa Jackson is a Sydney crime writer living on the land of the Garigal people, within the Eora Nation. Her debut novel, Devil Mountain, won the Affirm/Varuna Mentorship Award. Her first murder mystery was runner-up for the 2023 Banjo Prize and short-listed for the 2022 ASA/HQ Commercial Fiction Award. Before she fell in love with crime writing, Inessa backpacked around the world, worked in corporate PR then settled in to life as a stay-at-home mum. When she’s not writing, Inessa is reading, swimming at Manly beach and walking her loyal assistant, Billy the Cavoodle. She has a passion for travelling to far-flung places … and is terrified of sheep.

26 May 2026
 

Devil Mountain by Inessa Jackson ISBN 9781923419230