A clever integration of whodunit, historical fiction and wall-to-wall satire, Bloody Colonials is a wickedly satirical piece of crime fiction set in a forbidding landscape-where big fish battle to the death in a dangerously small pond. Set in a fictitious early NSW penal colony, somewhere to the vaguely tropical north of Sydney, the book ruthlessly exposes the follies of the times, while retaining an essential faith that some humans are okay — subject to a few imperfections. There’s a giggle on every page, but an underlying seriousness which the cruelty of the subject matter deserves.

Bloody Colonials is a wonderfully entertaining and occasionally hilarious romp through early days of colonial Sydney, full of affectionately drawn characters whose intentions may be sometimes diabolical, but who are somehow lovable at the same time.

Shameless Halloran, convict stablehand, has a problem. He knows of a murder but doesn’t dare tell anyone. Who can he trust? Every figure of authority in this early Australian penal settlement is a potential suspect-all have dark pasts and ruthless ambitions.

So the canny Irishman enlists the help of a young doctor, newly arrived, as respectable front for his sleuthing. What follows is a tension-packed and hilarious romp as the odd couple lurch erratically towards an unlikely revelation.

Author Stafford Sanders, a graduate in English Literature, has won multiple awards for his journalistic and broadcasting work.